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Cisgender

"Cisgender" is an ideological invention to problematize the norm—simply being a man or a woman. The label forces everyone into a schema in which "trans" is the deviation and "cis" the mirror, thereby presenting the entire construct of gender identity as a universal fact. Anyone who refuses to bear the label is silenced or dismissed as a hater.

Definition according to proponents

Proponents define cisgender as the state in which a person's "inner sense of gender" corresponds to the sex registered at birth. The term is a Latin mirror of "trans" and originated in the 1990s within academic queer theory. Volkmar Sigusch is often cited as its originator (1991); the term spread after 2010 through activist and academic discourse.

Origin: queer theory, not reality

The term became necessary within a theory that defined "transgender" as a deviation from an underlying identity. By labeling everyone who does not claim a trans identity, a rhetorical symmetry arises: man/woman versus cis man/cis woman versus trans. The symmetry is a construction, not a perception — see Judith Butler and performative speech .

In the Netherlands, "cisgender" only became common in policy documents around 2015; before that, people simply spoke of men and women. The addition made it possible to present the entire concept of gender identity as a universal fact — and to base laws, textbooks, and medical protocols on it.

Criticism: circular reasoning and linguistic coercion

The problem is logical. "Cisgender" presupposes that everyone has a gender identity that may or may not correspond to the body. But most people do not report a separate "identity" alongside their body — they are male or female without an inner sense of it. The label retrospectively imposes a construct that they do not possess. This is a textbook example of circular reasoning : the existence of cisgender is presented as proof of the existence of gender identity, while the category itself presupposes the construct.

A second problem is that the label is not falsifiable — anyone who says they have no gender identity is still called cisgender. See unfalsifiable and self-reporting as sources . There is no marker that distinguishes "cis" from "trans"; only self-declaration. The label functions as a profession of faith: by uttering it, you affirm the entire system.

The practical consequences are severe. Based on the cis/trans schema, the category of woman is wiped out, men gain access to women's changing rooms and prisons, and healthy girls are masturbated because they are supposedly not "cis." See sex versus gender and biological sex .

Related identities

• Transgender — the umbrella term to which "cis" belongs as a mirror.

• Non-binary — third position within the same model.

• Agender — an alternative for those who do not claim an identity.

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