(there was demon link text getting up in my face I fixed it. also a cis person isnt cis becaus) |
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| + | '''Cisgender''' is a term for someone who has a [[Gender Identity|gender identity]] that aligns with what they were [[Assigned sex|assigned at birth]]. The term was created for referring to "non-transgender" people without alienating [[Transgender|transgender]] people. For example, if the doctor announces a baby as being a girl, and she is fine with being a girl, then she is cisgender. |
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| − | In [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_studies gender studies], '''cisgender''' and '''cissexual''' are a closely related class of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identities gender identities] where an individual's gender identity matches the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_role behavior or role considered appropriate for one's sex].<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-0 [1]]</sup> There are a number of derivatives of the terms in use, including "cis male" for a male with a masculine gender identity, "cis female" for a female with a feminine gender identity, and "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transphobia cissexism]". |
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| + | Cisgender may sometimes be referred to as cissexual (corresponding to [[transsexual]], not to be confused with a sexual orientation), or shortened to cis. |
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| − | Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook defined "cisgender" as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity", complementing "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender transgender]".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-1 [2]]</sup> A similar adjective is "gender-normative"; Eli R. Green wrote, "The term 'cisgendered' is used [instead of the more popular 'gender normative'] to refer to people who do not identify with a gender diverse experience, without enforcing existence of a 'normative' gender expression."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-2">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-2 [3]]</sup> Jessica Cadwallader characterizes the slightly wider "cissexual" similarly, as "a way of drawing attention to the unmarked [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norm_%28sociology%29 norm], against which [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender trans*] is identified, in which a person feels that their [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_identity gender identity] matches their body/sex".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-3 [4]]</sup> |
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| + | [[Category:Transgender Concepts]] |
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| − | ==Cisgender v. cissexual== |
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| + | [[Category:Gender Identity]] |
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| − | According to Julia Serano, '''cissexual''' is an adjective used in the context of gender issues to describe "people who are not [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual transsexual] and who have only ever experienced their mental and physical sexes as being aligned", while '''cisgender''' is a slightly narrower term for those who do not identify as [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender transgender] (a larger cultural category than the more clinical [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual transsexual]).<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Serano_4-0">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-Serano-4 [5]]</sup> A [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossdresser crossdresser], therefore, could theoretically be "cissexual" but not "cisgender". [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Boyd Helen Boyd], author of ''My Husband Betty'' and ''She's Not the Man I Married'', has argued on her blog that "cissexual" is a less loaded term than "cisgender" and reflects fewer assumptions about the person's relationship to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_roles gender roles] and the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender transgender] community.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-5">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-5 [6]]</sup> |
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| − | ==Origins== |
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| − | Cisgender has its origin in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin Latin]-derived prefix ''[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis cis]'', meaning "to/this the near side," which is antonymous with the Latin-derived prefix "trans." This usage can be seen in the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis-trans_isomerism cis-trans distinction in chemistry], or in the ancient Roman term "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisalpine_Gaul Cisalpine Gaul]", i.e., "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaul Gaul] on this side of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alps Alps]". In the case of gender, however, "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis cis]" refers to the alignment of gender identity with assigned gender. |
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| − | ===Internet use=== |
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| − | The word "cisgender" has been used on the internet since at least 1994, when it appeared in the ''alt.transgendered'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usenet Usenet] group in a post by Dana Leland Defosse.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-6">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-6 [7]]</sup> Defosse does not define the term and seems to assume that readers are already familiar with it. It may also have been independently coined a year later: Donna Lynn Matthews, the charter maintainer of the ''alt.support.crossdressing'' usenet group, attributed the word to Carl Buijs, a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transsexual transsexual] man from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands Netherlands], claiming that Buijs coined the word in 1995.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-7">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-7 [8]]</sup> In April 1996, Buijs said in a Usenet posting, "As for the origin, I just made it up. I just kept running into the problem of what to call non-trans people in various discussions, and one day it just hit me: non-trans equals cis. Therefore, cisgendered."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-8">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-8 [9]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-9">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-9 [10]]</sup> |
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| − | ===Academic and Literary use=== |
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| − | German [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexology sexologist] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkmar_Sigusch Volkmar Sigusch] may have been the first to use the term "cissexual" ("zissexuelle" in German) in a peer-reviewed publication: in his 1998 essay "The Neosexual Revolution", he cites his two-part 1991 article "Die Transsexuellen und unser nosomorpher Blick" ("Transsexuals and our nosomorphic view") as the origin of the term.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-10">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-10 [11]]</sup> He also used the term in the title of a 1995 article, "Transsexueller Wunsch und zissexuelle Abwehr" (or: "Transsexual desire and cissexual defense").<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-11 [12]]</sup> |
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| − | The terms "cisgender" and "cissexual" have more recently been used in publications, such as a 2006 article in the ''Journal of Lesbian Studies''<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-12 [13]]</sup> and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Serano Julia Serano]'s 2007 book ''Whipping Girl'',<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Serano_4-1">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-Serano-4 [5]]</sup> after which the term gained some popularity among English-speaking activists and scholars.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-13 [14]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-14 [15]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-15">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-15 [16]]</sup> Proponents of using the terms rather than terms like "non-transsexual" or "non-trans" have argued that it calls attention to and unsettles the assumption that people, by default, have an internal sense of being male or female that matches the sex marker they were assigned at birth: for example, Jillana Enteen wrote that "cissexual" is "meant to show that there are embedded assumptions encoded in expecting this seamless conformity."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-16">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-16 [17]]</sup> On the other hand, other authors have argued that other terms are more likely to be familiar to readers: for example, Krista Scott-Dixon noted "I prefer the term non-trans to other options such as cissexual/cisgendered... as I think it both centers trans as the norm, and presently offers more clarity to the average person than the cis prefix."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-17">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-17 [18]]</sup> |
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| − | Serano also uses the related term "[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transphobia cissexism]", "which is the belief that transsexuals' identified genders are inferior to, or less authentic than, those of cissexuals."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-18">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-18 [19]]</sup> While having been used by trans activists for some time,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-19 [20]]</sup><sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-20 [21]]</sup> the term "cisgender privilege" has recently appeared in the academic literature and is defined there as the "set of unearned advantages that individuals who identify as the gender they were assigned at birth accrue solely due to having a cisgender identity."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender#cite_note-21 [22]]</sup> |
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Revision as of 00:59, 27 April 2016
Cisgender is a term for someone who has a gender identity that aligns with what they were assigned at birth. The term was created for referring to "non-transgender" people without alienating transgender people. For example, if the doctor announces a baby as being a girl, and she is fine with being a girl, then she is cisgender.
Cisgender may sometimes be referred to as cissexual (corresponding to transsexual, not to be confused with a sexual orientation), or shortened to cis.