Why use the word “cisgender”?
By Dr. Charlie Glickman • Jan 12th, 2010 • Category: Blog
We recently received a question about the word cisgender in the blurb for the hot new movie Crash Pad Series Volume 5: The Revolving Door. Since I’m sure that lots of other people have similar questions, I thought I’d explain what the word means and why we used it.
Cisgender refers to people who experience and present their gender in a way that’s aligned with the sex of their body. It contrasts with transgender, which refers to people who experience their gender as different from the physical sex they were assigned at birth. Generally, transgender folks take various steps to bring them into closer alignment, such as wearing clothes of the gender they feel themselves to be, surgery, taking hormones, and having their legal name changed.
The word has been around for at least 16 years, although it has become more well-known since Julia Serrano’s book Whipping Girl came out. The prefix cis means “on the same side” while trans means “on the other side”. Cis and trans are used in chemistry to describe the structures of molecules and, of course, trans is used in a lot of words, such as transport (carry to the other side), transmit (send to the other side), and transcribe (to write in another place). My 10th grade Latin teacher would be glad to see that I remember such things.
The reason that the word cisgender is important to use is that it takes away the idea that being cisgender is “normal.” When we assume that man = cisgender man unless we use the term transgender, we reinforce the idea that cisgender people are normal and transgender people aren’t. Of course, being cisgender is more common but when we use language that reinforces the idea that more common equals normal, we marginalize people who are well within the range of diversity that exists in the world.
Cisgender is also a better term than bio-guy, which was in use for a while, because it shifts the focus from biology to gender. Similarly, the term genetic man isn’t really useful since most people haven’t been genetically tested and there’s no guarantee that someone who looks a certain way will necessarily have any particular genetics.
As far as the blurb for Crash Pad #5 goes, most of the people in the video series are various sorts of queer women and transgender men but this one includes a cisgender guy. That’s somewhat unusual for this series, so we wanted to make sure that customers would be able to make an informed decision. And since there are plenty of guys in the series, we needed to make sure to use language that clarified that, in this case, we’re talking about a cisgender guy.
I’d love to see the word cisgender become used more widely. It’s a really useful concept and it serves a valuable purpose. Use it, pass it on, and help it spread.
Dr. Charlie Glickman >> Dr. Charlie Glickman has been working at Good Vibrations since 1996, when he joined the staff at our Berkeley store. Currently, he is our Education Program Manager and (among other things) runs our in-store After Hours workshop program, our Off-Site Sex Education Program, trains our Sex Educator-Sales Associates and writes copy for our website. In 2005, Charlie received his doctorate in Adult Sexuality Education from the Union Institute and University in Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition, he offers classes on sexuality for psychotherapists and workshops on teaching for sex educators.
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Referring to the section below excerpted from your article, may you please change the phrase “gender of their body,” and, “physical gender they were born to” to read “sex” where the word “gender” is present? Gender, as we both know, is a social construct, and one’s body cannot be born to it, it can only be applied by others who exist within the society into which one is born. I was not born into a female gender, I was assigned the female sex at birth. That, to the best of my knowledge and physiology, aligns with my sex. However, I have never ascribed or presented the associated feminine gender except as a trial in my middle-school years, so it was only the gender of my body for a fleeting few years near the middle of my life.
: “Cisgender refers to people who experience and present their gender in a way that’s aligned with the gender of their body. It contrasts with transgender, which refers to people who experience their gender as different from the physical gender they were born to.”
Thank you for explaining that Dr. Charlie! I have heard the term before but since we’ve been using the “bioguy”, it seems less known. I appreciate,and I am sure others do as well, you folks explaining what we think we know, but obviously not well enough! Keep up the great work, I love reading your blogs!
It makes me sad that there is yet another Crashpad film put out without trans-women being included. End the invisibilization of trans women in the queer community…
@Ellie Thanks for letting us know. Since GV doesn’t actually produce the Crash Pad series, we don’t control who they film. I don’t know if anyone involved with them reads this blog, so they may not even see your comment. You might want to get in touch with them and give them your feedback directly.
Ellie- you do know that “Crash Pad Series: Volume 2: Unlocked” featured transwoman Julie with Michelle Aston, right?
Now, if you’re complaining about her being the only transwoman around on a non-fetishistic film, well, that’s a valid criticism- transgals seem outnumbered by transguys, sadly . . . but I do know that CPS tries its hardest to keep trans women visible and represented in their films and on their website!
Thank you for writing on this subject. I like to use the example of “acoustic guitar.” It was just a “guitar” until they needed to distinguish it from the electric guitar.
With all due respect to your 10th grade Latin teacher, ze may have led you into a too-narrow definition of transgender. [I noticed because you inadvertently invisiblized my gender—and that of some of the Crash Pad performers and producers.]
The late Virginia Prince, who coined the term “transgender,” intended the “trans” to be read as short for “transcendent.” She advocated* that “transgenderists have transcended the gender barrier and become free agents” in regard to the transcended barrier. It’s not a “crossing over” (as in “transvestite” and “transsexual”) but an “escape from” — as escape from gender cage. Many escape from their assigned gender and settle happily into the opposite one, but there are also plenty of people who escape the gender binary altogether.
When you say that Crash Pad Series “includes queer women and transgender men,” you leave out the ones who openly identify as genderqueer. There may also be cast members who identify as genderfluid, neutrois, androgyne, bigendered or one of many other gender-variant identities. They may or may not “experience their gender as different from the physical sex they were born to”; it is the social, cultural, familial, religious, and biological construct of gender that gets handed to every baby human along with their birth sex that they have transcended.
Dana Morrigan, PhD
Managing Editor, Genderfork
http://www.Genderfork.com
*See: Prince, Virginia. “The ‘Transcendents’ or ‘Trans’ People,” first published in Transvestia, vol. XVI, no. 95, 1978, pp. 81–92, reprinted in the International Journal of Transgenderism 8.4 (2005). 06 May. 2009
Ellie, if transwomen feel invisible in the adult industry or the queer community, it is their responsibility to make their presence known. If someone is trans (masculine or feminine) and passing, how is anyone supposed to know you (I mean that in the royal sense) are there if you don’t let us know you are there?
I am queer, kinky and work for a mainstream adult company. I have had the distinct pleasure of watching the emergence and steady growth of quality porn geared towards and created by queer people. The biggest problem that these companies, or any other company with an honest interest in providing quality queer content, run into when attempting to showcase the diversity of our community is the lack of people willing to be in front of the camera expressing who they are.
I did a shoot for CrashPad in August of last year because, among other reasons, I felt I didn’t see enough representation of the type of person I am (queer leatherboi of color and size). The opportunity was there, I took it and am incredibly happy with the results. The CrashPad staff is incredibly welcoming, professional, helpful and fun to work with. If you or anyone you know is interested in increasing the visibility of transwomen in the queer community, and want to use porn as a vehicle to do so, I would suggest filling out a model application and seeing where that leads. Or even doing it yourself.
CrashPad/Pink and White Productions is one of a handful of queer companies actively giving us an avenue to put ourselves out there in the way we want to be seen. The opportunity is there, it’s up to you whether you do something with it or waste it complaining.
@Dana Fair enough. Clearly, part of the confusion is that the prefix “trans” has multiple meanings and I simply figured that it meant the same thing in “transgender” as it does in “transvestite” and my experience is that many other people do the same. Given that both trans and cis are used as prefixes in chemistry, the coining of the term cisgender reinforces this pattern. Thanks for sharing the history of the word. No matter how much I learn about sex, gender, and history, there’s always more.
And you’re right- there are lots of people (both in Crash Pad movies and in the world) who identify as genderqueer, genderfluid, etc. As is often the case, the binary is rather seductive. I certainly didn’t mean to render anyone invisible and I’m glad you pointed that out.
The use of ‘cis’ as a way to provide a name to a subset of men or women who would otherwise go unnamed (or be referred to with terms of privilege such as ‘bio’ or ‘real’ or ‘genetic’) has huge importance.
That CPS and other queer porn companies such as Trannywood, are starting to use integrate this terminology into their marketing is hugely important. I would argue that using ‘cis’ as a descriptor is more important that the simple inclusion of trans men or trans women in their work. Using these terms provides a way of validating and normalizing trans gender identities.
I think it’s interesting to consider the ways that attraction and desire in queer contexts is still very much framed by ‘cisnormative’ ideas about bodies: in other words cis bodies are often seen as more attractive than trans ones. I would argue that this is particularly the case for queer trans women. It’s not to say that CPS hasn’t included some hott queer trans women ( as has been mentioned) in the past and will continue that in the future, I think it’s important to acknowledge that CPS is really blazing a trail when it comes to gently and seductively challenging what we, as a queer community consider desirable and attractive, whether it be around body size, race, and whether we are trans or cis. It’s fair to point out the *relative* dearth or trans women representation in their work but it’s unfair to do so without critically taking stock of the broader queer world (and economy) they’re working in.
Hey Q,
I have to respectfully say that I don’t think it’s as simple as “trans women taking on the responsibility to make their presence known”. It is my, and that of many trans women that I’ve spoken to, perception that the SF “radical” queer community is far more welcoming of transmasculine folks than trans women. It is a lot easier to get work doing porn and to be comfortable doing that porn when you can be confident of the support of the community around your gender and sexuality.
I think that the relative invisibility of trans women in queer porn should not be blamed on Crash Pad, who I know do put effort into representing different bodies, but rather examined as a symptom of the fetishization of masculinity and the lingering elements of misogyny. I think it’s awesome that you wanted to see images of bodies like yours in porn and took the initiative to create them, however I don’t think your confidence in doing so negates the concern that Ellie seems to be bringing up.
I also feel like for trans women to participate in the sex industry comes loaded with a lot of social baggage that isn’t present for trans men. Trans men aren’t seen in the same sexualized light or presumed to be ‘there for sex’ in the same way that trans women often are. There are all kind of reasons that this absence exists, basically.
I would love it if more queer porn was produced with an intention of including trans women in non-fetishizing ways and if there were more conversations on how to avoid replicating patterns of trans misogyny.
On the OP, I’m glad that CPS uses cisgender and transgender instead of “man” defaulting to meaning cis, and trans being the prefix for the other. I think this language, and these concepts, are important to decimate into greater society. Thanks Good Vibrations for posting about this!
I will say however that I would appreciate it if in the write up I was not described as a “boi”, I’m totally not a boi, I’m a transsexual male.
For the record, the choice to use the word “cisgender” in our blurb came from GV, not Blowfish Video. While CPS might use that term, their site doesn’t seem to have a description of the DVD. Instead, they link to their Blowfish.com’s page, which has the phrase “voracious dykes, femmes, butches, and bois (and even the occasional lucky bio-guy)”. When we read that, we decided to change it to “a diverse cast of dykes, femmes, butches, bois and the occasional cisgender male.” Not that I’m trying to slam either CPS or Blowfish. I just want to give credit where it’s due (which, BTW, wasn’t with me. I came into the conversation a bit later.
)
As far as Cyd’s comment about being a transsexual male rather than a boi goes, thanks for letting us know. I’ll pass that along, although you might also want to contact either CPS or Blowfish about that, too.
As a queer trans woman, porn star, and porn producer I have to say that the issues involved with trans women in queer porn are inherently linked to issues trans women face in the broader queer community. This is not a one sided issue of the queer/dyke community shunning trans women, lets face it, alot of us have serious baggage, and tend to perceive other women as hating our bodies and being uncomfortable with us, even when that is not the case. When I was younger and less confident I felt like it was a very political issue, and one that I needed to talk about publicly. Now I look back and see that many of the assumptions I made about other queer people in relation to my body were utterly incorrect. Not that trans women don’t face alot of obstacles in queer community, we do, but we also have to deal with our own internalized self-hatred and stop blaming our friends, lovers and comrades for our insecurities.
If other trans ladies feel strongly about Crash Pad, they should apply to work there. That is the quickest and easiest way to change things.
Hi I love the conversation and I think it is great that you took feedback and changed the wording of the article. I think there was something that might not have been understood. The paragraph.
” Cisgender refers to people who experience and present their gender in a way that’s aligned with the sex of their body. It contrasts with transgender, which refers to people who experience their gender as different from the physical sex they were born to. Generally, transgender folks take various steps to bring them into closer alignment, such as wearing clothes of the gender they feel themselves to be, surgery, taking hormones, and having their legal name changed.”
should read:
“It contrasts with transgender, which refers to people who experience their gender as different from the physical sex they were assigned at birth.”
if this doesn’t make sense please re-read the above comments.
Also as an organizer I know it is important for my organization to check our language and any press with a person (or many if possible) who identifies with the language we are using. Often we will even go to a person who we know to identify with certain language or labels and ask them to write something. We do this because we feel we are less like to misuse language explain a concept we might not understand. With that said I also have to say thank you for even acknowledging the proper use of language as that is more than many/most people do.
@Smitty Thanks for your comment. You raised a good point and I made the edit you suggested.
I also wanted to let you know that I did run my draft past several people, both cis- and transgender, and asked for input and suggestions. I got some good feedback and at the same time, some things weren’t noticed by them, including that.
And while I do agree that it’s often really valuable to ask people who identify with certain language for their participation, I also think that it’s important for allies to speak, even when things come out less-than-perfectly. Of course, allies also need to take feedback seriously and respond with care, which is why I asked for input when I wrote it.