To not really know what 'cis' means?

[BinarySearchTree]

I mean, of course I've looked it up, and I nod along whenever anyone describes me as cis.

But I don't really know what it means. I am a woman. I experience the world as a woman. I look like a woman and I am happy to be described as a woman. I could not be described as a tomboy. I support women's rights and equality.

But I wouldn't say I 'identify' with the female gender. I find it quite constraining and oppressive. But I would say I am a woman. Am I cis? Am I not? I don't understand!

I reject the label "cis" because to me it is an insultingly unnecessary addition to the term "woman", which is all I need to describe me

I don't know what the fuck 'cis' is either could someone explain please? Is it when you're still the same sex/gender that you were born as?

I think that's the proper definition, ComingUpTrumps, but I can't get my head round it. I don't identify with the female gender! I don't even know what it would mean to identify with the female gender. That I should be super caring and like lipstick? I don't know! Does that make me not cis? 😳

Help please!

It's a nonsense word. Reject it.

Yes. Complete bollocks, designed to put us in a box.

Cisgender (often abbreviated to simply cis) is a term for people whose gender identity matches the sex that they were assigned at birth. Cisgender may also be defined as those who have "a gender identity or perform a gender role society considers appropriate for one's sex"

Ciswoman is based on the Latin 'cis', and means 'woman'
Compare with
Nonwoman, from the Latin 'non', meaning 'not a woman'

However the opposite of 'nonwoman' is just woman.

So it's an invalid term.

Respect people's prefixes motherfuckers.

I thought Feminism meant we define ourselves as women and do not have to acceot how others define us. The term Cis seems to have come out of nowhere and no one asked me if I acceot this term to define myself. I do not. It seems to imply that women can not be defined biologically. I am a biological woman not a ^type" of woman.

Araiwa - I know, that's from Wikipedia. But I consider myself to be a woman, though I don't agree that that definition applies to me.

So am I alright to ask people not to call me cis? Would that be offensive? I really don't want to offend anyone but I'm nodding along and not really understanding.

Who came up with this definition?

*that that definition of 'cis' applies to me

It's a science term

cis1
sɪs/Submit
adjectiveCHEMISTRY
denoting or relating to a molecular structure in which two particular atoms or groups lie on the same side of a given plane in the molecule, in particular denoting an isomer in which substituents at opposite ends of a carbon–carbon double bond are on the same side of the bond.
"the cis isomer of stilbene"

but it's used to mean not trans.

I am not trrans and reject the term.

According to the OED

"Derived from the Latin preposition cis, meaning ‘on this side of’, until relatively recently this prefix was chiefly visible in English in the adjectives cisalpine and cismontane (‘on this side of the Alps/mountains’), and in the names of certain chemicals displaying a particular type of molecular symmetry. Since 1994 however, when the word cisgendered was used by an American academic appealing for help with a study of transgender issues, cis– has taken on a new lease of life "

FWR board explains this very well.

I’m not a ciswoman either.

Basically transgender people decided 'we are transgender', then a bit later decided to define everyone else in terms of their own identity.

This is akin to people with one leg defining other people as 'non-amputees'.

It's obviously nonsensical.

Your condition (gender disphoria) is yours, but you don't get to define me as a 'not you'. That's narcissistic nonsense.

It's just offensive rubbish meaning "you're not trans"

Do say "I hate being referred to as cis" if it's that's how you feel.

just say, "I prefer to not be referred to as cis because I do not experience gender as a fun identity to be explored. I find it to be a patriarchal structure which is used to denigrate women. I do not "identify" with such oppression."
Or something.

At it's most basic, in organic chemistry, cis = boat and trans = chair.
That makes you a boat woman.

I don't like it either - it annoys me. I'm a woman - I have all the reproductive bits and related hormones of a woman, I talk and look like a woman, I have the physical characteristics of a woman. I was born a woman, I will die a woman and you won't catch me being cis at any point.

At it's most basic, in organic chemistry, cis = boat and trans = chair.
That makes you a boat woman.

I don't like it either - it annoys me. I'm a woman - I have all the reproductive bits and related hormones of a woman, I talk and look like a woman, I have the physical characteristics of a woman. I was born a woman, I will die a woman and you won't catch me being cis at any point.

Oops - sorry for double post!

It doesn’t ‘mean’ anything. It’s a made-up word with the intended purpose of pushing women further into stereotypes and labels.

Oh sorry, I should have said ‘biological’ women or, actually, I don’t think trans like that and they’re the ones who made up the word after all to suit their agenda.

Hmm. Confused, now.

But one thing I know is I’m not fucking ‘identifying’ as ‘cis’ Just cos someone decided I must.

Fuck. That.

I am “on the side of” women in this debate. Biological women that is. The only reason I could describe myself as cis (on the side of women) is to show my female solidarity. But quite simply I don’t need that term, thanks very much because I’m not interested in having a them (trans women) vs us (biological women) fight. We are all humans and deserve dignity and respect. Please don’t attempt to take mine to make yourself feel better and validated.