Cisgender

Are you cisgender?

What does cisgender mean?

When we're born, we're assigned as a boy or a girl depending on what genitals we possess. Sometime later in life, we question this, and where some people find their way to different places on the gender spectrum, others are happy to stick with the label given at birth - this makes that person cisgender. It simplifies the conversation on gender and removes the rigidity of the gender binary that has existed for so long. Gender is an essential part of what makes you YOU, so it's great to have the language to express it to others.

What does it mean to be cisgender?

To be cisgender means that you identify with the sex assigned at birth. For example, if you were assigned as female at birth and still identify as that gender, then you are cisgender.

What's the difference between cisgender and straight?

Cisgender applies to what gender you identify, whereas 'straight' is a definition of your sexual orientation. You can be cisgender and straight (heterosexual), or you can be cisgender and identify as LGBTQIA.

What is a cis woman or a cis man?

A cis woman or cis man is a person who identifies as the gender given at birth. It's just another way of saying cisgender but further identifies which sex you identify with too.

Is cisgender the opposite of transgender?

Gender isn't binary like that. It is more realistic to say that cisgender and transgender are at different ends of a scale. A person who identifies as another gender to the one assigned at birth might identify as transgender. However, they may identify as non-binary or gender fluid and not see themselves as transgender or cisgender. There is a whole spectrum of genders.

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