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CISGENDER

Straight | Gender Identity Alignment

Cisgender Definitions

Cisgender - A term referring to a person who is not transgender. It refers to a person whose gender identity and biological sex assigned at birth are in alignment.

Gender Normative/Gender Straight - A term used to describe someone whose gender presentation, whether by nature or by choice, aligns with society’s gender-based expectations.

Cisnormativity - A term referring to the assumption that cisgender is the norm and that all, or almost all, individuals are cisgender. The presumption that everyone is cisgender unless otherwise specified.

Heteronormative - A term describing the dominant belief or attitude that heterosexuality is the norm. It is the assumption that sexual and romantic relationships must be between a man and a woman.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

Questioning the Assumption of Cis Normality

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Info: Transgender

Cisgender Terminology

Cisgender (often abbreviated to simply cis) is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. Someone who identifies as a woman and was assigned female at birth is, for example, a cisgender woman. The term cisgender is the opposite of the word transgender.

Cisgender has its origin in the Latin-derived prefix cis-, meaning "on this side of", which means the opposite of trans-, meaning "across from" or "on the other side of". In the case of gender, cis- describes the alignment of gender identity with assigned sex

Sociologists Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define cisgender as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity". A number of derivatives of the term cisgender include cis male for "male assigned male at birth", cis female for "female assigned female at birth", analogously cis man and cis woman.

In addition, one study published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society used the term cisnormativity, akin to sexual diversity studies' heteronormativity. A related adjective is gender-normative because, as Eli R. Green writes, "Cisgender 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". In this way, cisgender is preferable because, unlike the term gender-normative, it does not imply that transgender identities are abnormal.

In the language of genetic research, the Latin prefix cis means "on this side" and the prefix trans means "on a different side." In discussing DNA molecules, one might hear such nomenclature as: cis-acting, trans-acting, cis regulating, trans regulating.

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Examples of Cisgender Privilege

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

Transphobia Explained

Common Examples of Cissexism

What Does it Mean to be Cissexist?

Cisgender Privilege: 30 Examples

Heteronormativity Explained

What is Transmisogyny?

Cisgender Explained

Often shortened to "cis," cisgender is a term used frequently in the transgender community. It is an adjective used to describe someone whose gender identity matches their body and the gender assigned to them at birth. In other words, someone who is not transgender, nonbinary, or intersex. A cisgender person, then, is an AFAB (Assigned Female at Birth) who still identifies as female or an AMAB (Assigned Male at Birth) who still identifies as male.

Cisgender individuals are not necessarily people who express or embody only gender-typical or gender-stereotyped behaviors. A cisgender woman, for example, might have a masculine gender presentation (butch) but still identify herself as a woman. Likewise, AMABs who are gay, queer, bisexual, pansexual, effeminate, sissy, or atypically masculine are still cisgender men so long as they identify themselves as men.

Cisnormativity is the assumption that a person’s gender identity matches their biological sex, otherwise known as being “cisgender” or “cissexual.” This assumption often manifests itself in the form of misgendering, which occurs when a person is referred to by the incorrect pronouns or other gendered terms.

Cisnormativity is oftentimes unintentional on the individual level. But making incorrect assumptions about a person’s gender identity can be offensive and harmful. Most commonly, it happens to those in the trans community and can lead to the erasure of transness and genders that fall outside of the male-female binary, like genderqueer people and nonbinary people.

The concept of cisnormativity is closely tied to the theory of gender essentialism, in which there are certain innate biological or behavioral characteristics tied to gender. For example, cis women who cut their hair short and dress in a more traditionally masculine style can also be misgendered. It’s all about the common assumption that women-identifying people must exhibit a certain femme aesthetic.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Info: Gender Identity

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

Heteronormativity Explained

Common Examples of Cissexism

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

Examples of Cisgender Privilege

Cisnormativity

Cisnormativity is the assumption that all, or almost all, individuals are cisgender. Although transgender-identified people comprise a fairly small percentage of the human population, many trans people and allies consider it to be offensive to presume that everyone is cisgender unless otherwise specified.

Examples of cisnormativity are closely linked to gender essentialism and may include statements like, "Men can not get pregnant." Although cisnormativity is rarely deliberate, it is almost always perceived as hurtful and offensive to the trans community. At best, cisnormativity contributes to the erasure of trans and nonbinary experiences. At worst, it is part of a deliberate and calculated system of oppression that includes institutionalized cissexism and transphobia.

Cisnormative is a term related to heteronormativity, heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, gender essentialism, cissexism, and other forms of oppression based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Questioning the Assumption of Cis Normality
Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

Transphobia Explained

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

What Does it Mean to be Cissexist?

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Cisgender Privilege: 30 Examples

Heteronormativity Explained

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

What is Transmisogyny?

Cis-Het

Cis-Het, used as both an adjective and a noun, describes a person who is both cisgender and heterosexual. A person is cis/het if he or she is cisgender, meaning identifying with his or her assigned-at-birth gender, as well as heterosexual, or attracted exclusively to people of the opposite sex. Cis-het individuals are not inherently part of the LGBTQ population but may identify themselves as allies.

People who are cis-het arguably form most of the human population. The common assumption that all or most people are cis-het contributes to cisnormativity and heteronormativity. Most people who are cis/het do not identify themselves as cis-het because they have never had want or need of a specific label to describe their orientation and gender identity.

The use of "cis-het" by the LGBTQ and feminist community has been a source of some controversy, It may be occasionally used in what are perceived as ad hominem or straw-man arguments when addressing cisgender heterosexuals, and this has led to many perceiving it as an insult. In gender, cis-het is a shorthand descriptive term and not a slur.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Common Examples of Cissexism

Info: Transgender

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

What Does it Mean to be Cissexist?

Cisgender Privilege: 30 Examples

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

Questioning the Assumption of Cis Normality

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

Transphobia, Cisnormativity, Cissexism

Similar to homophobia, heterosexism, and heteronormativity (which are directed at homosexual people), transphobia and cisnormativity are directed at transgender and gender non-conforming people.

Transphobia - Fear, hatred, disgust, or intolerance of transgender people. Prejudice directed toward transgender people.

Transmisogony - Negative attitudes, expressed through cultural hate, individual and state violence, and discrimination directed toward trans women and trans and gender non-conforming people on the feminine end of the gender spectrum.

Cisnormativity - Belief in the inherent superiority of cisgender people and, thereby, it’s right to dominance. A term referring to the assumption that cisgender is the norm and that all, or almost all, individuals are cisgender. Presumption that everyone is cisgender unless otherwise specified.

Cisnormativity is a term related to heteronormativity, heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, gender essentialism, cissexism, and other forms of oppression based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Cissexism - Appeal to norms that enforce the gender binary and gender essentialism, resulting in the oppression of gender variant, non-binary, and transgender identities. Cissexism is also termed cisgenderism, cisnormativity or cissexual assumption, occasionally used synonymously with transphobia.

Cisgenderism - Assumption that, due to human sexual differentiation, one's gender is determined solely by a biological sex of male or female (based on the assumption that all people must have either an XX or XY sex-chromosome pair, or, in the case of cisgenderism, a bivalent male or female expression), and that trans people are inferior to cisgender people due to being in "defiance of nature."

Cisgender Privilege - Set of unearned advantages that individuals who identify with their biological sex accrue solely due to having a cisgender identity.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Info: Transgender

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

Questioning the Assumption of Cis Normality

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

Gender Essentialism

A typical gender essentialist phrase might include, "Boys will be boys."

Gender essentialism is the belief that gender roles and stereotypes are the natural result of biological or neurological differences between males and females. Gender essentialists assume that AMABs are by nature men, that AFABs are by nature women, and that the societal roles assigned to both are acceptable based on those differences. Gender essentialism generally denies the natural existence of transgender, intersex, and non-binary people, and tends to be closely linked to misogyny, heteronormativity and cisnormativity.

Examples of common gender essentialist assumptions are "Boys love to play with trucks," and "Girls love to play with dolls." Like other forms of prejudice, gender essentialism exists on both a societal level and an individual level and can be deeply harmful and hurtful. It implies that gender-nonconforming and transgender people are unnatural and tends to reinforce stereotypes that subjugate women.

Wikipedia: Cisgender

Questioning the Assumption of Cis Normality

Info: Straight/Heterosexual

Common Examples of Cissexism

Cisnormativity is Rampant

Wikipedia: Heterosexuality

Info: Transgender

Hetero/Cis Normativity in Our Society

What Does it Mean to be Cissexist?

Heteronormativity/Cisnormativity

Cisgender Privilege: 30 Examples

Transphobia Explained

Info: Homophobia/Heterosexism

Heteronormativity Explained

Info: Gender Non-Conforming

What is Transmisogyny?

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