Trans 101
Cisgendered
Cisgendered means that a person has the same gender as an adult as they were thought to have as a baby/child. It means that they are not trans. The majority of the people reading this blog are cisgendered. Cisgendered is a new word, and isn't used very much outside of the trans/femminist/gender theoretical(?) communities, but it is a good new word.
Using 'cisgendered' to describe people who aren't trans puts trans people and cisgendered people on an equal footing. Unlike when you use 'non-trans', which turns trans people into something different, something other, something not normal.
Some cisgendered people balk at being called 'cisgendered'. Some of us trans people laugh at this wryly.
Bad synonyms for cisgendered are 'genetic girl/guy', 'non-trans', 'normal'.
Edited to add: Aren't words powerful! I hate it when people dismiss people's arguments by saying that what they're talking about is 'just semantics', when semantics refers to the important thing that is *meaning*.
Cisgendered means that a person has the same gender as an adult as they were thought to have as a baby/child. It means that they are not trans. The majority of the people reading this blog are cisgendered. Cisgendered is a new word, and isn't used very much outside of the trans/femminist/gender theoretical(?) communities, but it is a good new word.
Using 'cisgendered' to describe people who aren't trans puts trans people and cisgendered people on an equal footing. Unlike when you use 'non-trans', which turns trans people into something different, something other, something not normal.
Some cisgendered people balk at being called 'cisgendered'. Some of us trans people laugh at this wryly.
Bad synonyms for cisgendered are 'genetic girl/guy', 'non-trans', 'normal'.
Edited to add: Aren't words powerful! I hate it when people dismiss people's arguments by saying that what they're talking about is 'just semantics', when semantics refers to the important thing that is *meaning*.