What are cis and trans alternate types of? I don’t think it’s “gender identity” because wouldn’t that just be man, woman or nonbinary regardless of whether they’re cis or trans? Cis/trans just being a qualifier?

If the answer is “I am cis” or “I am trans”, what is the question?

Edit: Someone came up with the term “gender congruity” and (after looking up the definition of “congruity”) I think this describes what I’m talking about perfectly.

  • fubo@lemmy.world
    2·
    2 years ago

    To a first approximation, they describe the match or mismatch between a person’s gender identity and their assigned gender at birth (AGAB).

    “Cis” = “my gender identity matches my assigned gender at birth”
    “Trans” = “my gender identity does not match my assigned gender at birth”

    The question being asked is, “Given that when you were born they thought of you as a (boy/girl); are you now expressing or experiencing a (male/female) gender, or a (female/male) one?”

    Logically speaking, this is an xor operation; it asks if two things are the same or different. If boolean variable a represents your AGAB and boolean variable b represents your gender identity, then “are you trans?” is a xor b — is your AGAB different from your gender identity?

    Again, this is to a first approximation. There are people who don’t fit binary labels, and so an xor operation on binary labels doesn’t fit them either.

    • mcherm@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 years ago

      I like the way you express this. “Cis / Trans” isn’t about your gender, it’s about whether your gender has CHANGED. (Although it may not be your GENDER that changed, but what people THOUGHT your gender was.)

      In a similar way, I (a cis male) usually call myself “straight”, but that’s not really accurate. I don’t feel like I’m attracted to whatever gender is different from mine (which happens to be women); I feel like I am attracted to women (which happens to be the gender that’s different from mine).

      Putting it differently, if some magical spell were to transform me into a woman, I don’t imagine that I would then be attracted to men, I imagine that I would be attracted to women. So instead of calling myself “straight”, I should probably be saying that I am “gynosexual” (attracted to women).

      • Holyginz@lemmy.world
        0·
        2 years ago

        I really really love the way you phrased that. Just thought I would let you know. Bookmarking your comment as a discussion point for the future as well.

        • mcherm@lemmy.world
          1·
          1 year ago

          Thank you. It’s a thought that has been rolling around in my head for some time and this was my attempt to put it in words.