cis, cisgender (adj.) | pronounced [zis].
Cis or cisgender is a term for people whose gender identity is consistent with the sex ascribed to them at birth based on their genitalia. Cis persons identify with the gender ascribed to them based on their innate physical characteristics. That is, for example: Cis men are men who were assigned male at birth and identify with it.
The term "cis" or "cisgender" is opposed to the terms "trans", “transgender” or "transsexual". It was introduced in the 1990s by trans* activists who sought linguistic equality for cis and trans people. The term was intended to counteract the fact that only cis men and cis women were referred to as men and women in terms of the social norm, while trans people were linguistically marked as deviant (Aultman 2014:61-62). U.S. professor and trans activist Susan Stryker (2008) suggested that the terms cis man and cis woman, respectively, should be used in the same way as the terms "Black woman" or "white man."
Thus, the designation as "cis" or "cisgender" is, on the one hand, a positive means of identification for cis persons. It is, on the other hand, political, because it points to privileges granted to cis people. This mechanism is referred to as cissexism: Cis persons are rewarded for fulfilling the assumption that all people in a society are or should be cisgender, not trans (Eisner 2013:22).
However, the juxtaposition of "cis" and "trans" leaves intersex people out. They experience discrimination and violence even when they identify with the gender assigned at birth - whether it is inter or another gender (Spahn & Wedl 2018:235).
Assigning male or female gender to cis people does not mean that they meet, want to meet, or are able to meet the societal demands that come with it. Cis women may also be deemed not "correctly" feminine or not feminine at all and be socially sanctioned for this, for example, because their gender expression, body shapes, behavior, or non-heterosexuality do not meet the feminine norm. The prefix "cis" draws attention to the fact that there are no "born" women, but that the assignment of being a woman is always also an instruction or a requirement (Ahmed 2017:14-15).
Quellen
- Ahmed, Sara. Living a Feminist Life. Duke UP, 2017, S. 14-15.
- Aultman, B. „Cisgender“. In TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, Volume 1, Numbers 1-2, KeywordSection, Duke UP, 2014, S. 61-62.
- Eisner, Shiri. Bi - Notes for a bisexual revolution. Seal Press, 2013, S. 17, 22.
- Spahn, Annika & Wedl, Juliette (Hrsg.) Schule lehrt/lernt Vielfalt – Praxisorientiertes Basiswissen und Tipps für Homo-, Bi-, Trans*- und Inter*freundlichkeit in der Schule. Edition Waldschlösschen, 2018, S. 235.
- Stryker, Susan. Transgender History. Berkeley, CA: Seal, 2008.
Das Glossar soll sich im gegenseitigen Austausch mit Leser*innen weiterentwickeln.
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