What it means to be cisgender
Cisgender: masculine adjective. Opposite of transgender. For the "actress and activist Calpernia Addams," to feel comfortable with one's biological gender. "This is how we could define cisexuality, that condition in which gender identity and biological sex perfectly match. We hear about it more and more often, yet there is still a lot of confusion about it. What does it mean to be cisgender? Can a cisgender person be gay? What is the difference between cisgender and transgender? In our article, you will find all the answers to these questions!
Watch this video and find out which transgender stars have gone through a transition path!
Definition
According to the academic journal "Transgender Studies Quarterly", the coining of the word cisgender dates back to the 1990s and is attributable to some groups of transgender activists who wanted to find a correct way to define those who, unlike them, experienced a total correspondence between gender identity and biological sex assigned at the time of birth.
In Italy, the concept of cisgender is not yet completely clear, since this term entered Italian dictionaries only in 2020, five years after the prestigious Oxford Dictionary. The Treccani dictionary, for example, defines cisexual that person who, "in the context of gender studies, positively perceives the correspondence between their gender identity and their biological sex" and, without too many words, the Zingarelli confirms this definition, recognizing in the cisgender that 'individual in which biological sex and gender identity coincide ”. But what, then, is the origin of this word? Going back to its etymology, we know that the term cisgender is composed of the word "gender" and the prefix "cis" whose Latin meaning is "on this side, on this side". It is no coincidence, in fact, that cisexual is considered the opposite of transsexual, in which the prefix "trans", on the other hand, means "beyond".
What it means to be cisgender
So, after tracing the origin of the term cisgender, let's try to shed some light on what it means to fall into this category. A person is cisgender when, in fact, he identifies with the biological sex assigned to him at birth. Thus, a woman is cisgender when she accepts as her own the primary sexual characteristics, for example the genitals, with which she was born, and therefore recognizes her gender identity as female. The same, of course, also applies to the cisgender man who, in turn, will identify himself as male.
Cisgender and transgender
As we have previously highlighted, cisexuality is considered as an antithetical condition to that of transsexuality. A person is transsexual when he does not recognize himself in the gender he belongs to, but in the opposite one, and experiences what in medical terms is called "gender dysphoria", or a state of malaise due to one's gender inconsistency. In this case, the subject may eventually decide to undertake a transition path, undergoing surgery and hormonal therapies to change the sex.
Cisexuality and sexual orientation
When addressing delicate issues such as gender identity and sexuality, it is important to reiterate a fundamental concept that is not yet clear to most people: there is no correlation between being cisgender and a certain sexual orientation. In fact, cisexuality has no influence on a person's sexual preferences, as does transsexuality. Those who recognize themselves as cisgender, or, conversely, transgender can be, in fact, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, monogamous, asexual, polyamorous or queer regardless of what they perceive as their own gender identity.
Privilege cis
That of cisexuality is considered a privileged condition because the cisgender individual is at ease with himself, lives a harmonious relationship with his biological sex and recognizes himself in the image he sees in the mirror. What may seem obvious to us are not at all obvious for transsexual people who, on the contrary, can feel a strong sense of discomfort towards their own person and, in the worst case, experience real mental disorders. But the privilege of cisgenders begins at the individual level and also extends to all other areas of society. In general, in fact, cis people are less subject to discrimination and, at worst, to aggression than trans individuals.
Gender stereotypes
However, even cisgenders can be victims of stereotypes that limit their individual freedom. For example, society often expects cis individuals to respect the social role considered best suited to their gender. Therefore, a cisgender man, in order not to suffer offenses and harassment, will have to behave like a true "male", according to that retrograde and stereotyped imagination that wants him to be strong, confident, sporty and capable of carrying out all those activities considered to be male prerogative. Likewise, a woman with feminine sexual characteristics will be expected to have an elegant and staid attitude, a well-groomed look, a docile character and a propensity for motherhood and housework.
