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Cisgender: Difference between revisions
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The concept leaves little room for a woman who is comfortable with her female anatomy, sees herself as nothing other than a "woman" in accordance with a straightforward biological definition, and yet rejects [[sexism|sexist]] notions of an inherent feminine nature of her personality. She could be a strongly gender non-conforming radical feminist, and yet the mere act of calling herself a "woman" would mean that she has a female gender identity. As such, she would belong in the same category as a conservative woman who strictly adheres to traditional notions of femininity. Furthermore, even if we defined the former woman as "transgender" on the basis of her gender non-conformity, the femininity-conforming woman would have to be seen as being the way she is out of her inherent nature, since being transgender/cisgender is said not to be a choice. Opposite to that, the feminist perspective would posit that the woman who conforms to traditional femininity has internalized sexist oppression, is limiting her freedom, and could mentally break free and embrace gender non-conformity if she were to raise to a feminist political consciousness. | The concept leaves little room for a woman who is comfortable with her female anatomy, sees herself as nothing other than a "woman" in accordance with a straightforward biological definition, and yet rejects [[sexism|sexist]] notions of an inherent feminine nature of her personality. She could be a strongly gender non-conforming radical feminist, and yet the mere act of calling herself a "woman" would mean that she has a female gender identity. As such, she would belong in the same category as a conservative woman who strictly adheres to traditional notions of femininity. Furthermore, even if we defined the former woman as "transgender" on the basis of her gender non-conformity, the femininity-conforming woman would have to be seen as being the way she is out of her inherent nature, since being transgender/cisgender is said not to be a choice. Opposite to that, the feminist perspective would posit that the woman who conforms to traditional femininity has internalized sexist oppression, is limiting her freedom, and could mentally break free and embrace gender non-conformity if she were to raise to a feminist political consciousness. | ||
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... despite possessing female biology and calling myself a woman, I do not consider myself a two-dimensional gender stereotype. I am not an ideal manifestation of the essence of womanhood, and so I am non-binary. Just like everybody else. However, those who describe themselves as non-binary are unlikely to be satisfied with this conclusion, as their identity as ‘non-binary person’ depends upon the existence of a much larger group of so-called binary ‘cisgender’ people, people who are incapable of being outside the arbitrary masculine/feminine genders dictated by society. | |||
And here we have an irony about some people insisting that they and a handful of their fellow gender revolutionaries are non-binary: in doing so, they create a false binary between those who conform to the gender norms associated with their sex, and those who do not. In reality, everybody is non-binary. We all actively participate in some gender norms, passively acquiesce with others, and positively rail against others still. So to call oneself non-binary is in fact to create a new false binary. It also often seems to involve, at least implicitly, placing oneself on the more complex and interesting side of that binary, enabling the non-binary person to claim to be both misunderstood and politically oppressed by the binary cisgender people. -- Rebecca Reilly-Cooper, The idea that gender is a spectrum is a new gender prison | |||
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Another problem with the concept of cisgender arises when considering lesbian women, especially butch lesbians, for whom gender non-conformity feels natural. While every woman can choose to disregard rules of femininity after coming to a political consciousness, some women, especially lesbians, might feel naturally repelled from feminine stereotypes, beginning in early childhood. The concept of gender identity would have it that they are possibly transgender and as such not women, even though they might feel perfectly content with the word "woman" when stripped off of feminine stereotypes and limited to a non-sexist, scientific definition. Yet the concept of "cisgender" groups them together with women who find it easier to perform femininity, effectively erasing their unique experiences with regard to gender. | Another problem with the concept of cisgender arises when considering lesbian women, especially butch lesbians, for whom gender non-conformity feels natural. While every woman can choose to disregard rules of femininity after coming to a political consciousness, some women, especially lesbians, might feel naturally repelled from feminine stereotypes, beginning in early childhood. The concept of gender identity would have it that they are possibly transgender and as such not women, even though they might feel perfectly content with the word "woman" when stripped off of feminine stereotypes and limited to a non-sexist, scientific definition. Yet the concept of "cisgender" groups them together with women who find it easier to perform femininity, effectively erasing their unique experiences with regard to gender. | ||