What is this new buzzword: cisgender?
Every person is assigned a gender identity at the time of their birth. However, some people identify differently from their assigned sex and are included in the term transgender. There are a lot of different terms transgender people use to describe themselves. For example, sometimes the word transgender is shortened to just trans or trans male/trans female. Running parallel to this word is the term cisgender, which means people whose sexual identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. A cisgender man, for example, is a person assigned male at birth who identifies as a man. That often means a man born with a penis. Meanwhile, a cisgender woman is a person assigned female at birth who identifies as a woman—most are born with a vagina and develop other secondary female sex characteristics in puberty.
The prefix “trans-” comes from Latin, meaning “across from” or “on the other side of”. In contrast, the prefix “cis-” means “on this side of”. The prefixes are used to connotate gender transitioning, and how cisgender people experience the “side” of the gender they’re assigned at birth, while transgender people transition to another gender, or side, than the one given to them after birth. The word cisgender was included in language to make it more fair and inclusive for all people. It is largely used by those who are sensitive to issues of gender and identity. The use of the term cisgender as opposed to transgender is largely seen as the key to acceptance of equal division of sexual identification of a person into two categories. By calling cisgender people “cisgender” instead of using a word like “common” or “normal,” creates a neutral niche for both categories to grow comfortably side by side.
Where does the word come from?
Cisgender was coined in academic journal articles in the 1990s. Cisgender people have one of the most common identities in the world and yet, the expression only started to gain broader popularity from around 2007. Cisgender itself took off because the term gives proper contrast between cis and trans experiences, accurately portraying cisgender people without defining cisgender men and women as humanity’s default gender identities. Nevertheless, its general acceptance and endurance as a concept were acknowledged when it was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2015.
What else is important to know about this?
Another term that comes to the table is the cisgender privilege. The term essentially recognizes the benefits or advantages that the so-called normal people are given over transgender people. It has the same associations as the terms white privilege or straight privilege and has equally disastrous consequences. The term comes into play when cisgender people enjoy unfair privileges for being the society’s default identity. For instance, government documents are regularly developed to accurately and efficiently reflect cisgender peoples’ genders. Healthcare is largely catered to cisgender bodies, and cisgender people are never denied access to medical treatment based on being cisgender. Meanwhile, trans people often struggle with updating their documents, regularly face discrimination from healthcare providers, and may be refused treatment under religious freedom claims.
Though the term was designed to bring a balance between transgenders and cisgenders, it is argued to have some negative impacts. The term has gained criticism by activists who viewed it as a harmful distinction between transgender people and everybody else. In this sense, the term can be counter-intuitive and work against transgender becoming more accepted and normalised.

Geetanjali is an enthusiastic reader and a curious person who is intrigued by the far stretched mysteries of human brain. She strongly believes that free living can only be achieved with a free mind, and psychotherapy is the way to go for it.

Geetanjali is an enthusiastic reader and a curious person who is intrigued by the far stretched mysteries of human brain. She strongly believes that free living can only be achieved with a free mind, and psychotherapy is the way to go for it.
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