The Cisgender reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004
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Cisgender

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Cisgender (cis-, "on this side of, not across;" compare cisatlantic, cisalpine) is a neologism meaning "not transgender," that is, having a gender identity or gender role that society considers appropriate for one's sex. The prefix cis- is pronounced like "sis".

The term was created by Carl Buijs, a transsexual man from the Netherlands, in 1995. Along with the less commonly used cissexual, it originated as a way to shift the focus off of a marginalized group, by defining not only the minority group but also the majority. This is based upon the hypothesis that categorizing everyone will illustrate a difference between equal alternatives, whereas singling out the minority group implies some deviance, immorality, or defect on the part of the labeled group. Some transgender people hope that the use of the word cisgender will increase mainstream acceptance and eventually remove the taboos. Others point out that the term heterosexual is very widely used but seems to have done little for the gay rights movement. However, prior to 1995, there was no standard word used to describe non-transgender people without the use of negative prefixes while still avoiding terms like "normal" or "straight."

Many transsexual communities use the term "non-transsexual" or "non-trans", perhaps because the more scientific-sounding term "cisgendered" has not gained popularity or widespread usage in everyday English. Others, however, consider it inappropriate to define any group by what they are not. Also, cisgender or cissexual replaces many other terms used like biological man or born woman or genetical man or even real woman.

The origination and use of cisgender can be compared to the reclamation of profane words and hate speech, such as nigger and queer.

Some have perhaps jokingly commented that if trans people can be called trannies for short, then cisgender people can be called "cissies".

See also