Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Topic started by: Sarah Dreams on October 02, 2008, 03:58:29 PM

Title: Stupid Question
Post by: Sarah Dreams on October 02, 2008, 03:58:29 PM
Being new to this board and the TS culture, I have a question. What is cisgender and cis* in general?
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: Sephirah on October 02, 2008, 04:04:28 PM
Since the site wiki is temporarily down, maybe this will answer your question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender)

It's not a stupid question, honey, I'd never heard the term until I came here, either. :)
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: NicholeW. on October 02, 2008, 04:07:56 PM
It's actually been used for awhile, butcha know how "we" are!! :laugh: We have these brain-storms that we keep within our own little coteries!! :laugh:

Nichole
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: findingreason on October 02, 2008, 04:22:17 PM
QuoteIt's not a stupid question, honey, I'd never heard the term until I came here, either. :)

Ditto, I didn't either :D. It took a month or so till I knew all the terms used around here on the boards :D
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: Sarah Dreams on October 02, 2008, 04:30:18 PM
So, from what I read, it means that if you were born (fe)male and act (fe)male you are cisgender. Huh? ::)
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: Sephirah on October 02, 2008, 04:35:14 PM
I don't think it's so much about how a person acts so much as it is the belief, for someone cisgendered, that they exist in the right body to match their mind and the way they see themselves.

If they even think about it at all, that is.
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: Constance on October 02, 2008, 04:37:09 PM
Quote from: Leiandra on October 02, 2008, 04:04:28 PM
Since the site wiki is temporarily down, maybe this will answer your question:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender)

It's not a stupid question, honey, I'd never heard the term until I came here, either. :)
I've been to this page before, and I did not in any way understand the "answer" contained therein.
Title: Re: Stupid Question
Post by: Alyssa M. on October 02, 2008, 05:24:27 PM
"Cis-" is just a prefix denoting the opposite of the "trans-" prefix, geekily borrowed from the chemistry concept of cis-trans isomerism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis-trans_isomerism). So it's just convenient jargon, and it's meaning will be just as slippery as the meaning of the "trans-" prefix.

I sometimes like to call cisgender people "cissies." :P