Cisgender

{{gender}}
'''Cisgender''' (sometimes shortened to '''''cis''''') is an adjective term for any person whose [[gender|gender identity]] traditionally aligns to the [[Biological sex|sex]] they were [[Sex Assignment|designated at birth]] — that is, it indicates somebody who is not [[transgender]] (or more broadly, trans*).<ref name="JarryOoSS"/> ''Cisgender'' is essentially a shorter way to say ''nontransgender''.

It is a neologism coined as an equal counterpart (or antonym) to "transgender", and its first documented usage in English was on the [[Internet]] in 1994.<ref name="DamePoH"/><ref>Dana Leland Defosse (1994-05-26). [http://groups.google.com/group/alt.transgendered/browse_thread/thread/69c04e35666a9a1b/69ebde0bf2af8dc6?lnk=st&q=cisgendered+dana+defosse&rnum=1&hl=en#69ebde0bf2af8dc6 "Transgender Research"]. Posted on alt.transgendered newsgroup.</ref> Ultimately, the cis/trans dichotomy was borrowed from [[Latin]], and has been used for centuries in English and other languages for various [[scientific]] and geographic terminology.<ref name="JarryOoSS">Jonathan Jarry (November 13, 2021). [https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/history-general-science/word-cisgender-has-scientific-roots "The Word 'Cisgender' Has Scientific Roots"]. ''Office for Science and Society''. McGill University.</ref><ref name="WaPoMusk"/> Because of this, cis/trans prefixes were also used in reference to gender presentations at least as early as 1913–1914, in [[German]] language — long before this is known to have first occurred in English.<ref name="DamePoH"/><ref name="Magnus1913"/>

''Cisgender'' is a more precise term than "gender-normative", {{IdEst}}, the claim that someone has a "normal" gender for their assigned sex, as this can be confused with [[heteronormativity]] or the application of gender roles.<ref group=note>One can be cisgender (e.g. identifying as one's sex-assigned-at-birth) and still prefer activities traditionally associated with the opposite gender over activities associated with one's own gender, e.g. a woman who enjoys sports or a man who enjoys housekeeping.</ref> Calling somebody ''cisgender'' makes no statement about their sexual attractions,<ref name="TC18"/> though its equal and complementary relation to the term ''transgender'' has been compared to the relation between the words ''[[heterosexual]]'' and ''[[homosexual]]'' (or ''straight'' and ''gay'').<ref>Cat Lafuente (February 2, 2023). [https://www.thelist.com/77300/right-language-discussing-gender/ "The Right Language For Discussing Gender"]. ''The List''. Quote: "The word cisgender, then, is helpful because it serves as a marker equal to transgender, just as straight is equal to gay. As author and activist Julia Serano told ''Time'' magazine, 'There was a time when there were homosexual people and everyone else was considered to be the 'normal' people. Now people think of themselves as straight or heterosexual.'"</ref>

==Etymology==
The term is derived from a Latin preposition that indicates position relative to the speaker:<ref name="WaPoMusk"/> ''cis'' means "on this side", chosen by analogy to the existing word ''transgender'', itself from ''trans'' which means "on the other side."<ref name="DamePoH">Avery Dame (May 22, 2017). [https://web.archive.org/web/20210514144840/https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/may-2017/tracing-terminology-researching-early-uses-of-cisgender "Tracing Terminology: Researching Early Uses of 'Cisgender'"]. ''Perspectives on History'' (The American Historical Association).</ref><ref name="TC18">Joanna McIntyre (September 18, 2018). [https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-does-it-mean-to-be-cisgender-103159 "Explainer: what does it mean to be 'cisgender'?"]. ''The Conversation''.</ref> In gender, this refers to whether your gender identity matches your ''sex designated at birth'' ({{IdEst}}, designated female at birth, DFAB, or designated male at birth, DMAB) which helps smooth out some connotations of "male-bodied" and "female-bodied" types of phrasing. In illustration of how definitions differ, this was not always how the phrase was used in English: in the 1990s Usenet community, a trans person who underwent [[sex reassignment surgery]] was sometimes labeled "cisgender", because their morphology now "agreed with their gender identity".<ref name="DamePoH"/>

The same terminology has a long history in other fields. In organic chemistry, for example, [[trans fat|''trans'' fatty acids]] are unsaturated fatty acids where the hydrogen atoms on either side of the double-bond lie across from one another, while ''cis'' fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids where the hydrogen atoms on either side of the double-bond stand next to each other.<ref name="JarryOoSS"/> The use of the prefix 'cis-' in various contexts dates back to the 1700s,<ref>[https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cis_prefix "cis-, ''prefix''"], ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref> and has most commonly used in [[chemistry]] following the discovery of molecular chirality by [[Louis Pasteur]].<ref>[https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hlca.201300300 "Molecular Chirality in Chemistry and Biology: Historical Milestones"] by Joseph Gal (2013) ''Helvetica'' 96(9):1617-1657. doi:10.1002/hlca.201300300.</ref>

In geography, several areas use these prefixes.<ref name="TC18"/> [[Thomas Jefferson]] used the phrase "Cis or Trans-Atlantic" in the 1780s, with ''cis-Atlantic'' meaning "on this side of the Atlantic Ocean".<ref>[https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cis-atlantic_adj "cis-atlantic, ''adj.''"] ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref><ref>[https://docsouth.unc.edu/southlit/jefferson/jefferson.html "Notes on the State of Virginia"]. Thomas Jefferson. [ii], 244 p., ill. Philadelphia: Prichard and Hall. M.DCC.LXXXVIII. Via the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's ''Documenting the American South'' project.</ref> Most European locations, such as ''Transoxiania'' (beyond the Oxus) and ''Cisalpine'' (this side of the Alps) use Rome as a reference point for historical reasons. One exception is ''Transylvania'' (beyond the Woods),<ref name="JarryOoSS"/> which is from the point of view of Budapest. In [[South Africa]] under [[apartheid]] there were two "bantustans" on either side of the Great Kei River: Ciskei and Transkei.

For the English language, the term ''cisgender'' is a neologism dating back to the 1990s, but similar terms were used much earlier.<ref>[https://www.oed.com/dictionary/cisgender_adj "cisgender, ''adj.'' and ''n.''"], ''Oxford English Dictionary''.</ref><ref name="WaPoMusk">Sofia Andrade (June 30, 2023). [https://archive.ph/RjyUx "Elon Musk says ‘cis’ is a slur. It’s basic Latin."] ''The Washington Post''.</ref> For example, in the 1914 German language book, ''Lexikon des gesamten Sexuallebens'',<ref>[https://archive.org/details/burchard-1914/page/183/mode/2up?q=cisvestitismus ''Lexikon des gesamten Sexuallebens''] by Ernst Burchard (1914) Adler-Verlag</ref>{{rp|183}} by medical doctor and [[LGBT|LGBTQ+]] activist {{wpl|Ernst Burchard}} (who helped to found the {{wpl|Scientific-Humanitarian Committee}} with Magnus Hirschfeld), the word "cisvestitismus" (as opposed to ''transvestismus'', which around this time was used to refer both to cross-dressers and to people with gender dysphoria, the latter of which were referred to as "total transvestites" and similar terms<ref name="Sutton">{{Cite journal |last=Sutton |first=Katie |date=2012 |title="We Too Deserve a Place in the Sun": The Politics of Transvestite Identity in Weimar Germany |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23269669 |journal=German Studies Review |volume=35 |issue=2 |pages=348 |doi=10.1353/gsr.2012.a478043}}</ref>) refers to people who dress in accordance with the gender role that society gives them at birth.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.transadvocate.com/so-i-hear-trans-people-recently-invented-this-whole-cistrans-thing_n_9982.htm |title=So, I hear trans people recently invented this whole cis/trans thing… |author=Cristan Williams |newspaper=TransAdvocate}}</ref><ref name="WaPoMusk"/><ref name="DamePoH"/> A 1913 book by Hirschfeld explains the term was coined by a patient as a self-identifier rather than proposed by a professional: "The term 'cisvestites' comes from one of my patients."<ref name="Magnus1913">Magnus Hirschfeld (1920). [https://archive.org/details/b29815332/page/168/mode/2up?q=%22cisvestit%22 "Die Homosexualität des Mannes und des Weibes"], 2nd edition. Page 169. Verlag (publisher): Berlin W 15: Louis Marcus Verlagsbuchhandlung. Series: Handbuch der gesamten Sexualwissenschaft in Einzeldarstellungen (band/volume III). ([https://books.google.com/books?id=WwMbAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&vq=cisvestit#v=onepage&q=cisvestit&f=false Link for 1st edition from 1913.])</ref>

When the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' added an entry for ''cisgender'' in 2015, it had already been used for long enough in academic circles that it prompted a "Wait, Cisgender Wasn't in the Oxford English Dictionary Already?" headline from ''New York'' magazine's ''The Cut''.<ref>Erica Schwiegershausen (June 25, 2015). [https://www.thecut.com/2015/06/wait-cisgender-wasnt-in-the-oed-already.html "Wait, Cisgender Wasn’t in the Oxford English Dictionary Already?"]. ''The Cut'' (''New York'' magazine).</ref><ref>Anna Diamond (June 29, 2015). [https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/06/cisgender-oxford-english-dictionary-addition.html "Why the Oxford English Dictionary's Addition of Cisgender Matters"]. ''Slate''.</ref>

==Offensive?==

Some people find "cisgender" to be offensive — [[Heteronormativity|where have we heard that before?]] Although many in the transgender community maintain that it is mostly [[Transphobia|transphobes]], especially [[TERF|TERFs]], who consider it a slur, there are others who have stated that "cis" is offensive for various reasons. Firstly, there are those who believe it is incompatible with the notion of a nonbinary view of gender. This would certainly lend a greater nuance to the debate, but would not make it offensive, merely overly simplistic.

Secondly, there are those who use the term to open a wider attack on transexuality as a whole, citing it as incompatible with radical feminist discourse. These people claim that "no one" has a gender, and that all gender is socially constructed. While it can be [[Patriarchy|shown]] that gender roles and expectations are socially constructed and inherently harmful, this does not mean that gender identity is a myth, especially given that a great deal of evidence<ref>http://press.endocrine.org/doi/full/10.1210/jcem.85.5.6564</ref><ref>https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20032-transsexual-differences-caught-on-brain-scan</ref><ref>https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150213112317.htm</ref><ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402034/</ref><ref>https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2754583/</ref> points to it having a biological cause. It merely states that for some people, the way they were apparently born (physical sex) does not agree with how they see themselves (gender identity), and they wish to change. Everyone else is cis.

Or perhaps those who take offense with the terms are just cissies.

[[Elon Musk|A thin-skinned asshole]] who bought [[Twitter]] and opened the floodgates for formerly-banned [[Nazis]] decided that using the term 'cis' or 'cisgender' was a "[[heterophobia|heterophobic]]" bannable offence.<ref>[https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/elon-musk-twitter-cisgender-18163733.php How Elon Musk’s latest stunt just cemented his right-wing political agenda: Calling someone ‘cis’ on Twitter is now a bannable offense. Here’s why this new policy reflects something much darker] by Soleil Ho (June 22, 2023) ''San Francisco Chronicle''.</ref><ref>Anthony Cuthbertson (May 15, 2024). [https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/x-cisgender-slur-cis-elon-musk-b2545355.html "X users have accounts restricted for using the term 'cisgender'"]. ''The Independent''.</ref><ref>Ellie Abraham (January 11, 2024). [https://www.indy100.com/news/elon-musk-heterophobic-cisgender-term "Elon Musk is now claiming that it is 'heterophobic' to call someone cisgender"]. ''indy100''.</ref>

Far from it, "cisgender" could arguably be a compliment, as the whole point is to put a word to this type of experience which many people have, and this is a way of granting that recognition.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Transgender ally flag.jpg|Proposed flag for cisgender allies of trans people
</gallery>

==Related terms==
* '''Cissexism''', the belief that cisgender people are superior to transgender people. It is the equivalent of [[heterosexism]] regarding [[sexual orientation]]s.
* '''Cisgender [[privilege]]''', the [[transgender]] analogue to male privilege, white privilege, able-bodied privilege, bourgeois-oppressor privilege, ''etc.''
* '''Endosex''', '''perisex''', or '''dyadic''', terms used to refer to people who are not [[intersex]].

==See also==
* [[Political correctness]]
* [[Transgender]]
* [[Transphobia]]
* [[Allistic]] — term for people who are not autistic

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Gender]]
[[Category:Neologisms]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]

Categories: Gender, Neologisms, Identity politics