Trans 101

[nyecamden]

CisgenderedCisgendered 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

Comments

[faerierhona]

I hate the term, though less now I know it's origin (I didn't know what it literally meant, only how it was used, until BiCon). My reasons for hating it are stupid, however, (it's that I hate the sound of the word. It sounds like slime on woodshavings, but my synesthesia is my issue!) so I use it. I am constantly questioned on it by people who have never heard it before, and quite often get hostile reactions. The most common one is "why not just say woman?". I point out that I have trans friends who are women too, and most just don't get why it's not OK to say "natural woman" and "trans woman". But we'll get there.

[bondagewoodelf]

So, I wonder what you think about the term I've seen used: "womyn-born womyn" (in that spelling)?

I, ehm, have a similar problem with that one (including the spelling) as you appear to be having with "cisgendered"

[faerierhona]

arrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! My eyes and ears and AAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

(does that answer the question?)

[bondagewoodelf]

It surely does, and I think we are in agreement about this here *grin*

[bondagewoodelf]

There's more of these words lately.

Monosexual
Neurotypical

I've not heard a good one for 'not polyamorous' ... monamorous? it's not 'monogamous', which would be the same as 'not-polygamous'.

[savethewabbit]

i've never heard of these... monosexual means "of one sex", and i honestly do not see trans people of having two sexes or anything similar. i like neurotypical even less, but yeah :\ do you have any links/articles re: the use of these terms by chance?

[bondagewoodelf]

Well, monosexual and neutypical are not used for transgender issues.

monosexual is the opposite of bisexual (or other forms of polysexuality)

neurotypical is used for people 'that are not on the autism spectrum'

both terms can be gleaned on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monosexual
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotypical

[savethewabbit]

ah, alright, sorry - i didn't understand you weren't referring to trans words. it's all very clear now. thanks for taking the time to reply!

[nakedfaery]

I don't particularly like the word, but then again I don't like many labels really. I tend to think that people are just people and accept that some people feel comfortable and validated when they use labels. I know a few people who've been through transition that aren't happy to be described as trans either. I personally believe the term cisgendered is too limiting, but that's just MHO.

[nyecamden]

It's just a description, and if it's a trans person talking about their experience/comparing that with cisgendered people's experiences, I don't think that's something that should be stopped at all. Cisgendered people have more privilege and when they complain about being labelled, I have no time for them.

[bondagewoodelf]

For the record, I really like 'cisgendered'. Also, it made instant sense to me, being a chemistry graduate.

[self_etcetera]

yes this

[rhialto]

It always makes me wonder where Cis(s)ylvania is then (since Transylvania is at the other side of the forest (silva = forest in Latin)).

[natalie_456]

here here! Plus its nice to know Chemistry can spawn things in rather removed dimensions.

[numberland]

I think it's a good idea to have such a term but I do find it difficult wrt intermediate cases. I know many people who are gender queer so definitely not cis-gendered (as I've heard it used) but not necassarily trans either (ditto). I guess the main problem is when someone uses the term for a particular person assuming they identify a cis just because they are presenting as their original gender on that day. Grrr.

So, yes, good term but should only be used when it is clearly applicable. But that applies to any categorisation generally.

[nyecamden]

Yes, I was thinking about that. Cisgendered/transgendered is very much a binary thing.

[shemale]

Genderqueer people who don't have any problem identifying their body with the sex it was assigned at birth are cissexual and not cisgender.

[numberland]

I haven't heard the term cissexual much at all, generally it's just cis which obviously doesn't help