I had went off a bit on a fellow artist fur (who asked not to be named) over the term "cisgender" on Twitter... and he posted a good question which I felt needed to be explored in a more proper setting, as a journal entry.

For those who don't know, "cisgender" is supposedly the compliment to "transgender". According to Wikipedia, Sociologists Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook define cisgender as a label for "individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity" as a complement to transgender. It's meant to be used as a pronoun. For example, "He is cisgender."

We got into a conversation about it, where I expressed my annoyance at how it was being used. After looking it up, it comes off as a technical term, more suitable for an academic context. Outside of that, it starts becoming an unfortunate slur... and that's where the annoyance comes from. When things start getting annoying, they start getting ignored, which for the topic of homosexuality is a very very bad thing.

(BTW, my position on homosexuality is "WHY AM I NOT A HERM YET? GET WITH THE PROGRAM SCIENCE! TWEAK MY GENES ALREADY!!!")

So the fellow artist asked for a word that would mean the same but not be inferred as a slur. I haven't thought of one, and being in an odd writing mood as of late, I thought I'd write out the thought process.

The first thing that struck me as I delve into it is that it's to be a compliment of "transgender", which Wikipedia warns that the definition is shifting, providing examples. For me, though, the "trans" in "transgender" matches with "transit" and "transportation," synonymous to movement. Folk who change genders tend to use "transitioning" or "transitioned" when describing the change. So I refer to "transgender" as a label for those who change their gender that they were born with or assigned to at birth to a different gender that they identify with.

Which, if you hit the Latin books, is incorrect, as the "trans-" prefix comes from Latin to mean "on the other side," or "across from". Kinda makes sense, though, as "transiting" is basically going from one place to another (for various definitions of "place"; as I always say, I'm always "getting there.") "cis-" comes from Latin to mean "on the same side of."

If you notice, that means two sides. Ugh, a complication from ancient times. DAMN YOU HISTORY!!!!

I need to do some more research on this, as the original definitions seem to not jive with current usage, and with current medical science. We also need to "future proof" this, because frankly put, I want boobs as an add-on.