Cis vs Trans Debate – Is Cis really a Slur?
We regularly come across people taking extreme offence at our usage of the prefix cis, to describe people who are not trans, so we wanted to write something down explaining why we, and other organisations, do this. Simply put, we use the prefix cis, to highlight people, or groups we may be talking about, who are not trans. That’s it. For us, it’s an entirely neutral term.
That’s the very essence of it. It’s neutral. We’re well aware that some people would prefer the terms ‘Adult Human Female/Male’, Biological, Natal, or dare we even say, Normal. However, not only are those terms able to be applied to trans people too (we are, after all, normal, biological, human, and most of us are adults), but cis prevents the word trans becoming an outlier in language that means something akin to ‘other’.
We’re not an ‘other’, as it were, but the opposite side of the same human experience. As luck, science, and reason would have it, there are also historical, geographical, and scientific uses of the word cis and trans, that show that cis is being used entirely correctly.
The Origins of the prefixes, “Cis” and “Trans”.
The prefixes cis and trans, are derived originally, from Latin (which is about 2,700 years old), where they were commonly used to denote spatial relationships:
- “Cis-“ meaning “on this side of”, and
- “Trans-“ meaning “on the other side of”
These directional prefixes were used in Roman geography to describe regions in relation to Rome. So:
- Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina): referred to the part of Gaul that was on the same side of the Alps as Rome—hence, “cis-“.
- Transalpine Gaul (Gallia Transalpina): described the region of Gaul on the other side of the Alps from Rome—hence, “trans-“.
These terms served as neutral geographic descriptors relating to, in this example, the Alps, and where Rome was in relation to certain parts of Gaul.
“Cis” and “Trans” in Chemistry
The terms were adopted into chemistry in the 19th century to describe different configurations of molecules, particularly in organic chemistry. For example:
- Cis-isomers have functional groups on the same side of a double bond or ring structure. Hence, cis.
- Trans-isomers have the functional groups on opposite sides. Hence, trans.
An example of this would be:
- Cis-butene has both methyl groups on the same side. Cis.
- Trans-butene has the methyl groups on opposite sides. Trans
This usage maintains the original Latin meaning: describing relative positions to one another, whether in geography, or modern science.
“Cis” and “Trans” in Relation to Gender
In modern sociological, and medical language, these prefixes have been applied to describe gender identity in relation to sex assigned at birth, because they are the proper grammatical prefixes.
- A cisgender person is someone whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth. On the Same Side as, means Cis.
- A transgender person is someone whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. On the Other Side of, means trans.
These terms are not judgments or political labels/beliefs, they are merely tools allowing people to be accurately descriptive. The opposite of trans, is naturally cis.
Why People Who Are Not Trans Are Cis
The logic here follows directly from the oppositional nature of the prefixes as they have been used throughout recorded history:
- If a person’s gender identity does not align (on the opposite side) with their assigned sex, then they are trans.
- If it does align (on the same side), then they are logically, and consistently, cis.
These are mutually exclusive categories in this context: if one is not trans, then one must be cis, because there is no third category under this framework. It’s a matter of logical dichotomy, just like “cisalpine” and “transalpine” describe opposite positions relative to the Alps.
Some might feel that “cis” is a label that has been imposed upon them, and would often prefer ‘normal’, but ‘cis’ is simply a neutral descriptor of one’s existence as a non-trans person, and it’s logically, and factually accurate. Just like “right-handed” or “left-handed”. You don’t have to identify with the label emotionally, for it to be descriptively accurate.
A similar thing happened in the 1980s with the gay rights movement. People who were not gay, frequently rejected the word heterosexual, as a word meaning not homosexual. They preferred normal, and did not want labels thrust upon them, but in fact Hetero, and Homo are similar oppositional prefixes. In the end, the word entered common usage.
So, is cis a slur, after all?
The words “cis” and “trans” have long, neutral histories in Latin, geography, and science, denoting relative positioning. When applied to gender, they retain that neutrality. If someone is not transgender, then by definition they are cisgender. It’s not a matter of ideology, but of linguistic and logical consistency, grounded in centuries of usage.
Many transphobic people do not like the word cis, because they see themselves having grown up, as natural or normal. This is often because people, like this, like to feel like they fit in (even in bigotry). So, to be called cis, means that you are simply one side, of the same human/societal coin, in which the other side are trans and gender diverse people. Cis reduces othering.
It makes trans people just as normal, makes it more difficult for us to be squeezed to the edges of society, and allows the free use of descriptive terms, such as woman, and man (for those who use them). When this is accepted, and understood, especially in relation to binary identities like woman and man, then men and women can come in two varieties, and it makes it difficult to segregate, or other, trans people.
After all, trans women (as an example), are adult human females, biological females, and natal females, too, they just have trans in front of their gender, instead of cis because of a variety of scientific reasons. We are therefore not surprised that the pushback against this term is so strong from extreme right wing voices.
Removing the word cis from language, and society, allows trans people to be further harmed, as we will then lack the comparative language to describe ourselves.
If “trans” exists, and it clearly does, then “cis” must logically exist as its complement, and given it’s used with the same neutrality that trans is, cis cannot, therefore, be a slur.
Same Side As
Cisalpine Gaul (Gallia Cisalpina)
Cisisomers
Cisbutene
Cisgender
Other Side Of/Than
Transalpine Gaul (Gallia Transalpina)
Transisomers
Transbutene
Transgender
