Cisnormativity
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Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be,
Cisnormativity manifests in speech as a separation of cisgender and transgender people where cisgender individuals are considered "normal" and transgender people, an exception. Cisnormative legislation may require mental health diagnoses or sterilization as a precondition for legal recognition of a transgender person's gender identity, and cisnormativity in health care results in transgender people having difficulties finding clinicians who are competent in transgender health care, or being forced into sex-segregated spaces which they feel uncomfortable in. This further causes some transgender people to avoid medical care, or to avoid disclosing their transgender status to practitioners.
Cisnormativity is closely tied to heteronormativity. The combination of the two, termed hetero-cis-normativity or cisheteronormativity,[a] represents the societally dominant view that sex, gender, and sexual orientation are all congruent.
Definition
A related concept is that of cisgenderism (also known as
Manifestations
According to the 2009 JANAC article, "Cisnormative assumptions are so prevalent that they are difficult at first to even recognize", and "cisnormativity shapes social activity such as child rearing, the policies and practices of individuals and institutions, and the organization of the broader social world".
Misgendering
In language, cisnormativity can cause erasure of transgender people's identities, or highlight them as separate from cisgender people.
Interactions with institutions
The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies cites as examples of cisnormativity in legislation laws mandating mental health diagnoses to receive gender-affirming treatments or to have one's gender legally recognized, and laws requiring a trans person to be sterilized before they can change their
Education
Cisnormativity is prevalent in schools. Schools often divide students into binary genders, and perpetuate the idea that boys and girls have respective sets of mutually exclusive "attributes, aptitudes, abilities, and desires".
Passing
Strategies like passing or "going stealth" (not telling people that one is transgender) may be used by transgender people to avoid the disadvantages brought by cisnormativity in the workplace. Non-binary people may adopt preferred gender pronouns that fit with cisnormativity for the same purpose. These strategies reduce discrimination, but also perpetuate cisnormativity further.[18]
Health care
Cisnormative
Cisnormativity also causes trans erasure in health care context, such that medical institutions are unready to treat transgender patients. When a trans patient does seek help, they are seen as an anomaly that disrupts the system.[22] Health care providers often lack education and thus awareness about transgender topics, which causes them to be unprepared to treat transgender people. In 2015, 24% of transgender survey respondents in the United States reported having to educate health care providers about transgender health.[23] Transgender people often feel unwelcome in sex-segregated wards or clinics, and some report being outright dismissed by doctors, or asked to seek help elsewhere, upon revealing that they are transgender. Past or anticipated experiences in cisnormative health care systems cause some transgender people to shy away from health care. According to the 2021 Trans Lives Survey report, 57% of respondents in the United Kingdom avoided seeing a doctor when ill. Some transgender people also avoid disclosing their transgender status to clinicians for fear of mistreatment; this may cause further problems due to inappropriate treatments, or from unintentional revelation of the patient's sex during examination.[5][4][24]
Transmedicalism
Among transgender people, cisnormativity may result in
Non-binary people
Non-binary people as a group are more stigmatized than many other LGBT identities. Cisnormativity can inspire negative attitudes towards non-binary identities, such as the idea that they should "just pick" either masculinity or femininity. Gender fluidity can confuse both cisgender and transgender people, leading to negative attitudes. Cis men may be more likely to exhibit such views, as less latitude is afforded to them with regard to gender roles than to cis women.[10]
Intersectionality with other forms of oppression
Academic literature identifies cisnormativity as
Cisnormativity often appears together with heteronormativity.[27][12] According to Judith Butler, the dominant view of gender assumes a "causal continuity among sex, gender, and desire".[28] In 2012, sociologist Meredith Worthen coined the term hetero-cis-normativity[b] for this phenomenon:
I identify hetero-cis-normativity as a system of norms, privilege, and oppression that organizes social power around sexual identity and gender identity whereby heterosexual cisgender people are situated above all others and thus, LGBTQ people are in a place of systemic disadvantage.[30]
According to Worthen, hetero-cis-normativity is a model to explain antipathy towards LGBT people,[30] and transphobia may be a symptom thereof.[27]
See also
Notes
References
- PMID 36120897.
- ^ Seal Press; 2007.
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ SAGE Publishing; 2021. p. 121–125.
- ^ Lennon, Erica; Millster, Brian J. Cisgenderism. Transgender Studies Quarterly. 2014;1(1–2):63–64.
- SAGE Publishing; 2021. p. 118–121.
- Policy Press; 2018. Condition or movement? A genealogy of trans discourse. p. 43–44.
- .
- ^ .
- ^ .
- ^ a b Frohart-Dourlent, Hélène. Muddling Through Together: Educators Navigating Cisnormativity While Working with Trans and Gender-Nonconforming Students. University of British Columbia; 2016. p. 14–15.
- ^ doi:10.1002/symb.573.
- .
- ^ .
- ^ .
- .
- .
- .
- .
- ^ Baril, Alexandre; Trevenen, Kathryn. Exploring Ableism and Cisnormativity in the Conceptualization of Identity and Sexuality "Disorders". Annual Review of Critical Psychology. 2014;11:389–416.
- .
- ^ James, S. E., Herman, J. L., Rankin, S., Keisling, M., Mottet, L., & Anafi, M. The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey. National Center for Transgender Equality; 2016.
- ^ Vinter, Robin. 'GPs fob us off': most trans people avoid the doctor when they're sick. The Observer. 2021 Oct 10.
- .
- .
- ^ .
- ^ Butler, Judith. Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity. Routledge; 1990. Quoted in Frohard-Dourlent, 2016.
- PMID 36120897.
- ^ a b Worthen, Meredith G. F. Queers, Bis, and Straight Lies: An Intersectional Examination of LGBTQ Stigma. Routledge; 2020. p. xv.