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.

  • derelict@lemmy.world
    5·
    1 year ago

    I’m not sure if it is their origin, but in organic chemistry nomenclature, cis refers to a molecule whose interesting bits are on the same side (imagine both of your arms up or both of your arms down), and trans to one whose interesting bits are on opposite sides (like if one of your arms is up and the other is down). In the gender metaphor, the two ‘interesting bits’ are your current identity and your birth identity - cis for when they are the same, and trans for when they are different.