Cisnormativity

Cisnormativity is the presumption that most people do, or should, conform to the norms about gender assignment in their society. It may manifest as the assumption that everyone by default chooses to accept the gender that their parents or societal [Page 122]authorities have assigned to them, or the assumption that all cultures by default have a gender binary that is similar to or based on U.S. or Western European cultural norms. This may include the use of marked language to describe people who do not fit a culture’s gender binary. For example, cisnormative behavior could involve referring to people as “trans women” or “trans men,” where other people are simply described as “women” or “men.” It may also rest on the premise that, if someone ...