What does CIS mean?

The whole concepts of cis or trans depend on someone being able to take two things and compare them to see if they match, according to a list of paired sets which no-one has yet laid out: sex, and gender.

Start with "sex". Most people use this word to mean whether you have a male or female body (at birth, and at several other times in your life). This physical aspect most people agree is unchangeable. However, someone yesterday was adamant that what they call "sex" is changeable, but wouldn't say what "sex" is. So, I cannot answer unambiguously what my sex is until it is defined.

Now, gender. How do I identify my gender? If my child said 'I've been learning about gender identity at school, what's mine?' what would I tell them?

Next, we need to see the list of "matching" gender identities for each sex. I have assumed that a feminine gender identity matches a female sex, but this seems very regressive and suggests that femininity and being physically female have some sort of overlap, which does not sit right with me, so am looking forward to being corrected, with clearly defined terms.

There are people who aren't trans who aren't cis (a portion of non-binary people, as well as other genders in other cultures, such as the Tahitian/Native Hawaiian māhū, who do not neccessarily perscribe to Western culture).

Oh really? This is interesting:

The mahu might be a practising homosexual or remain chaste, like a girl making a vow of chastity. What defines them is not how or with whom they make love, but that, having been born with the sexual organs of a man, they have opted for femininity, usually from childhood, and that, helped by their family and community, they have become women, in their way of dressing, walking, talking, singing, working and often, but clearly not necessarily, of making love.

www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-20-autumn-2010/men-women-pacific

A trans table is a table assigned to be a wardrobe at creation. A cis table is a table assigned to be a table at creation. All types of tables are tables. No debate.

Come on, at least try to be logically consistent within your own universe of belief.

Come on, now. Logic is a social construct, you know.

This is why I don't use the prefix "cis". Some people have defined it as "having a gender identity which is feminine if you are female and masculine if you are male".

Some have defined it as "anyone who does not identify as trans". And then in that definition "trans" doesn't only mean "transgender" but also "gender variant", agender, and any one of many things under the trans umbrella.

I also have been unable, despite asking for years, to ascertain how I find out what my gender identity is.

So until these concepts are unambiguously defined, I can't be sure whether I'm "cis", trans or neither. Anyone else telling me which I am is making some big assumptions here.

A cis woman is a woman who was, to use the gender critical terms, observed to be female at birth.
So a transman is cis?

A cis man is a man who was observed to be male at birth.
So a transwoman is cis?

Come on, at least try to be logically consistent within your own universe of belief.

Word salad central!!!!

• A cis woman is a woman who was, to use the gender critical terms, observed to be female at birth.

A cis man is a man who was observed to be male at birth.*

Generally known as a 'woman' and a 'man'.

'Ciswoman' is as necessary and useful a word as cisplant, cisport or cisition. The 'trans' in transgender isn't the positional meaning, it's the 'change' meaning. Transition.

A cis woman is a woman who was, to use the gender critical terms, observed to be female at birth.

There is no other kind of woman. "Cis" is unnecessary.

There are women and trans women.

Hibari's explanation is largely right.

A cis woman is a woman who was, to use the gender critical terms, observed to be female at birth.

A cis man is a man who was observed to be male at birth.

There are people who aren't trans who aren't cis (a portion of non-binary people, as well as other genders in other cultures, such as the Tahitian/Native Hawaiian māhū, who do not neccessarily perscribe to Western culture).

It says nothing about how someone presents, if they fit or enjoy stereotypes, what their interests are, or adhering to sex roles.

Literally just means "not trans."

I don't think this is true. Although the meaning of terms used to describe people's "gender" does appear to be in a constant state of flux (so it's hard to keep up) but as of today, Stonewall's "glossary of terms" defines "cis" as...

Someone whose gender identity is the same as the sex they were assigned at birth. Non-trans is also used by some people

So it doesn't just mean "not trans".

According to Stonewall a person would need to have a "gender identity" to be "cis". And since many women on here say they do not possess such a thing, that must mean, that they are (without prefix) women (presumably by virtue of their female biology).

”Cis is a slur," is the same thing as the "straight is a slur, I'm just normal" shit that straight people have been known to pull out, lol.

Straight doesn’t mean “normal” nor does it mean “non-gay”. It has a specific meaning: heterosexual.

Therefore if you want to claim “cis” is comparable, it neither means “normal”, nor “non-trans”

So if they are comparable, as you claim, cis must mean having a gender identity that matches your sex.

And if that is your claimed meaning, you are then forcing a gender identity on people who don’t have one.. Which is astonishingly self-centred for someone who expects everyone else to accept they are what they say they are, and not what they are objectively.

yesterday, sorry.

The word came up in the seminar DH was teaching today to undergraduate students. He said that he did not want that label imposed upon him and he found its implications offensive. Now awaiting the complaints . . . or maybe not because he's not female.

I don’t ‘feel’ like a woman though. I don’t wear dresses or make up and I really like action movies.
I just AM a woman.

It's sexist.

It's another label.

It's another box to put people in.

It's regressive.

In gender context its been bastardised to mean whatever the person saying it wants it to mean.

That's because "trans" isn't an adjective, it's a prefix. Its meaning can only be determined by what it's modifying. And the same applies to "cis".

It's not the "cis" (or the "trans") we're objecting to - it's the "gender" they're both attached to.

It is offensive to assign a gender identity to people who are not believers.

Just like if you said to me that I must be a Protestant because you don't see me going to Mass.

Like you then tell me "Protestant just means not Catholic" and persist in describing me as Protestant because it fits with your world view, despite me telling you I'm Jewish or atheist.

I will be extra annoyed if you discuss me saying I am clearly Protestant because you can see my work ethic and lack of images of Mary in my house.

I'm not cis. I'm not Protestant. Stop assigning beliefs to me.

Honest to fucking god. I’ve spent a lifetime railing against the gender box society has placed me in, how dare you relegate me to being a subset of my own sex class. No.

I first came across it in chemistry where it's used to describe different isomers in molecules which can exist as a mirror image of each other.

The literal meaning is 'the same side as' and is the opposite of 'trans' meaning opposite side of.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis%E2%80%93trans_isomerism

In gender context its been bastardised to mean whatever the person saying it wants it to mean.

You know I can see how a person who is 100% happy with the stereotypes for their sex in their culture would be happier than somebody who isn't.

That's not "privilege" though.

Also, hardly anyone is cis. Nearly everyone is non-binary.

We don't describe ourselves that way because we don't believe in innate gender identity, only in patriarchal oppression through gender.

Cis is offensive to women. And men.

Being specific is necessary some times. "Cis is a slur," is the same thing as the "straight is a slur, I'm just normal" shit that straight people have been known to pull out, lol.

How lacking in feeling do you have to be in the week that Sarah Everard was snatched off the street and murdered to tell women they are privileged ???

It’s everything you profess to be against.

How about some inclusivity and understanding of someone else’s lived experience??

It is possible for other people to be disadvantaged too you know?

We’re disadvantaged not because we aren’t trans, we are disadvantaged because we aren’t men.

@Babysharkdoodoodood though your husband could be on to something