A cis woman is someone who identifies as a woman and whose assigned sex at birth was female.
Cis women typically use the pronouns “she” and “her.”
Cis stands for “cisgender.”
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It describes a person whosegender identitycorresponds to the sex they were assigned at birth.
As with all gender identities, using the term “cis” can help an individual express themselves.
It also aids others in communicating with a person more accurately and respectfully.
(Similarly, a cis man is someone who was assigned male at birth and identifies as male.)
What’s the Difference Between Sex and Gender?
Although the terms are often used interchangeably, sex and gender are not the same.
It’s also possible for them to be aligned or different.
Sex
Sex is a biological and physiological designation.
It refers to a person’ssex chromosomesand the characteristics assigned by those chromosomes.
Inwardly, this may inform how a cis woman would be expected to dress and act.
In fact, cisnormative standards influence the appearance expectations of people of every gender.
By doing so, they end up reinforcing gender stereotypes and further fueling cisnormativity.
Cisgender vs. Transgender
Cisgender is the antonym fortransgender.
A transgender woman identifies and lives as a woman, but her gender assigned at birth was male.
(Likewise, a transgender man was assigned female at birth, but identifies as a male.)
Others contend that cisgender is used as a default category to assert that someone is “not transgender.”
As such, some activists have proposed using the term non-transgender instead.
Cisgender is one of many different gender identities.
A person may identify with one gender, multiple genders, or no gender.
Clayton JA, Tannenbaum C.Reporting sex, gender, or both in clinical research?JAMA.
