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Cisnormativity, is the assumption that a person identifies with the sex or gender they were assigned at birth. It is the idea that "Male" and "Female" is what everyone is referred to as. For example, having a "Women" and "Men" bathroom.

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This meme expresses Cisnormativity in terms of how it feels to be on the receiving end of these gender "Norms". Having "Women" and "Men" bathrooms can make the community feel as if they have no choice to be one or the other.

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This Social media post on X provides deep meaning to the term Cisnormativity. It shows how one can view the LGBTQ community and be against it all while contradicting oneself. His actions are perceived as a mockery.

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This article highlights one of the main effects Cisnormativity. Cisnormativity has a effects health care negatively in the means of identification. Gender equality is not taken seriously in the eyes of health care professional. They only see "Male" and "Female".

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Hess Stinson described their experiences of childbirth as overwhelming, not just because of the pain, but having to tolerate the crude sexual jokes made by doctors and nurses that were based in cisheteronormativity, with which Stinson does not identify. As a Black queer nonbinary mother, Stinson reflects on never having space made for them to feel affirmed when navigating the healthcare system, where receiving care can often mean risking harm to their mental health.

"I wonder about the ways that I'm sometimes silent because I just want to seem like I'm easy to get along with, so maybe I can find a way to get out of this alive as a Black person assigned female at birth," Stinson recalled.

According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality, 33% of people who accessed health care in the past year reported at least one adverse experience related to transphobia, with higher rates for BIPOC and disabled people. While people are often encouraged to get treated early for any health conditions they may have to avoid long-term health repercussions, cisnormativity can alienate gender-diverse people when attempting to do so.

There are often devastating mental health impacts of navigating cisnormativity when trying to access reproductive care, particularly if the person is also BIPOC, disabled, undocumented, or from another marginalized group. This can take a significant toll on mental health even beyond the risks of transphobic physical harm, which has intensified during President Donald Trump's time in office.

Sabrina Sarro knows this well as a Black Haitian mixed race queer person of trans nonbinary experience. In 2019, they were confronted with transphobia in group therapy that was handled so poorly by the facilitator that it has made it impossible for them to engage in such group services since. They described being in group one day when a woman was talking about body dysmorphia/dysphoria and made the point about how she did not understand why people could get access to hormone replacement therapy, but she could not get speed from an endocrinologist to lose weight.

"When I get really uncomfortable and anxious, I lose my ability to articulate myself," Sarro shared. "I didn't want to diminish her experience, but what she was saying is just completely wrong. Like, she's comparing two very different things."

Sarro detailed how this discussion continued with them sharing an interest in top surgery, after which they were called "mentally ill, sick, and schizophrenic" while the group facilitator, a licensed therapist, failed to intervene. Sarro reflected on the trauma they experienced in a BIPOC space that turned out to be unsafe for them as a queer person, much like queer spaces can reject their Blackness. Sarro is now a licensed mental health therapist committed to holding space for gender-diverse people, especially given how they had been failed by groups and therapists who were supposed to support and care for them.

Angelique Geehan is not cis and uses any pronoun, but they often feel pressure to gender themselves, especially when advocating for their children with healthcare providers.

"When they have gotten hostile, it has usually been connected with indignation or perception that I'm transgressing whatever they're perceiving by racial and cultural identities," Geehan shared. While they reflected on how their name, features, and weight add microaggressions, Geehan noted how being East Asian could never compare to the risks of anti-Blackness in health care.

According to a 2021 journal article based on qualitative interviews with 11 trans and nonbinary (TNB) youth accessing health care, five parents, and five service providers, participants recommended four practical strategies for being more inclusive of gender-diverse bodies, experiences, and identities. These included not gendering anatomy and biological processes, using anatomy-based language, facilitating linguistic self-determination, and using narratives that emphasize self-determined TNB identities to empower and affirm TNB youth.

Lane Kantor, one of the researchers who published that study, is transmasculine and nonbinary. They are currently in medical school, where they see firsthand how much cisnormativity must be challenged. Kantor said that it was crucial for every member of the service provider team to be gender affirming from having all-gender washrooms in the physical space to ensuring the administrative support staff address patients by the right name and pronoun.

A 2019 journal article reviewed the experiences of Black transgender people and demonstrated that "gender affirmation was the only variable statistically associated with healthcare nonuse," further confirming that the harm of cisnormativity for gender-diverse people needs to be addressed.

All the gender-diverse people interviewed for the study felt strongly that cisnormativity in health care had far-reaching negative consequences. Kantor reflected on the harms of using binary gender when instructing students in medical school, with the example of how a statement like risk factors with epilepsy medication for women of childbearing age would be medically inaccurate, as trans women of that age would not be impacted, while trans men would be inadequately screened. This is why Kantor, along with Stinson, Geehan, and Sarro all expressed the importance of having gender-diverse people with intersecting identities of marginalization in healthcare roles.

Geehan felt strongly that patients deserved a more rigorous idea of consent than what they had experienced from service providers, as they recall the violation of having a nurse grab and squeeze their nipple while they were having some difficulties feeding their firstborn child. This recommendation aligns well with Sarro's interest in a community contract for groups that would do a better job of ensuring that gender-diverse people are not harmed as they were before. When thinking about how their experiences could have been improved, Stinson felt strongly that open-ended questions could have made space for them to share what they really needed.

Based on these experiences of gender-diverse people navigating the U.S. healthcare system, the harms of cisnormativity are undeniable. When asked for recommendations on how to better meet their needs, interviewees had no shortage of actionable steps that could be taken, if only medical professionals were willing to invest in challenging cisnormativity.

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Cisnormativity in health care has a negative impact on gender-diverse people

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Hess Stinson described their experiences of childbirth as overwhelming, not just because of the pain, but having to tolerate the crude sexual jokes made

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Kelly touches into the Cisnormativity and what it means. She highlights many ways the world needs to do better in regards to gender. She provides examples and how there needs to be changes to the norm stationed around gender.

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Ask a Therapist: 5 ways to end Heteronormativity and Cis Normativity

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This social media post from instagram. This post expresses the importance of gender inclusion especially in public spaces. The user highlights how there should be more inclusivity especially in the means of restrooms.

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Rose and Blair taps into the difference and connection between cisnormativuty and cisgenderism. They produce examples and where it is often seen in the real world, such as housing, healthcare, and education.

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Tiffany the author of this article taps into what it means to be Cisnormative. They provide examples in regards to how it is shown through television and in the news. They also define what is it means to be heteronormative and cisnormative.

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Tiffany Diane Tso

IRL

You may have seen the terms floating around on social media, but perhaps the best way to define cisnormative behaviors or heteronormativity is by example.

Do you remember Chandler Bing's father on leading the life of a Friends? Longtime fans may recall that the role was played by actress Kathleen Turner. Realistically, Chandler's dad was presumably transgender woman. Throughout her stint on the show, Chandler and the rest of the cisgender gang constantly Turner's character, and she is referred to as a gay male drag queen rather than a woman.

In 2018, we may realize that on an interpersonal level these actions would be considered hurtful (or even ) to a trans parent seeking acceptance from her child. But if we were to deconstruct the Friends gang was incapable of understanding the gender of Chandler's dad, what we'd find, at the heart of the matter, is cisnormativity.

What is cisnormativity?

Cisnormativity is the assumption that a person's gender identity matches their biological sex, otherwise known as being "cisgender" or "cissexual." This assumption often manifests itself in the form of misgendering, which occurs when a person is referred to by the incorrect pronouns or other gendered terms.

Cisnormativity is oftentimes unintentional on the individual level. But making incorrect assumptions about a person's gender identity can be offensive and harmful. Most commonly, it happens to those in the trans community and can lead to the erasure of transness and genders that fall outside of the male-female binary, like genderqueer people and nonbinary people.

The concept of cisnormativity is closely tied to the theory of gender essentialism , in which there are certain innate biological or behavioral characteristics tied to gender. For example, cis women who cut their hair short and dress in a more traditionally masculine style can also be misgendered. It's all about the common assumption that women-identifying people must exhibit a certain femme aesthetic.

Why is cisnormativity harmful?

Recently, it was reported that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was considering strictly defining gender "on a biological basis that is clear, grounded in science, objective and administrable." A memo stated that "the sex listed on a person's birth certificate, as originally issued, shall constitute definitive proof of a person's sex unless rebutted by reliable genetic evidence," .

Trans and gender non-conforming activists have against the memo, saying that it will lead to increased violence against non-cis people and that the restrictive rhetoric is a form of transphobia and transmisogyny .
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What is heteronormativity?

The Friends characters exhibited many signs of transphobia and transmisogyny in their handling of Chandler's dad's identity, but unfortunately, this was not their only misstep. They also expressed homophobic rhetoric. This is exemplified through their treatment of Ross' ex-wife Carol, a lesbian. The root of this homophobia can be traced back to another deep-rooted concept in society: heteronormativity.

Heteronormativity is the widespread, dominant belief that heterosexuality is the norm. In other words, it's the belief that sexual and romantic relationships must be between a man and a woman. Heteronormativity can manifest itself in many different ways, from something as innocent as presuming that a man and woman are romantically involved just because they are eating dinner together to more harmful effects like homophobia .

Many people can relate to the experience of familial pressure to marry, but this can be especially frustrating for people who do not identify as heterosexual. For instance, Tara Daniels, 31, identifies as queer and bisexual. "They know I'm queer," she said about her parents, "but it's not talked about, because I believe some of them are secretly hoping this is a phase and that I'll settle down eventually with a nice man and be 'normal.'"

Examples of heteronormativity

This type of bi-erasure is another byproduct of heteronormativity. Photographer and entrepreneur Lydia Billings, a 27-year-old cis woman who identifies as queer and bisexual, says that because she is married to a man, the common assumption is that she is straight.

"My husband and I practice polyamory, and when I start dating a new male partner, he will often assume I'm straight simply because I'm on a date with him," she said. Presumptions of heterosexuality erase more than bisexuality and homosexuality, it also ignores all other sexualities like asexuality and pansexuality .

Because of its pervasiveness, heteronormativity is often internalized even by people who identify as queer. "There have been many, many signs throughout my youth that I might experience attraction to women," Sophie Stone wrote for Tearaway Magazine . "Signs I completely ignored, because I just assumed I must be straight." And even when people are able to push past a cisnormative mindset, there can be assumptions of heterosexuality for trans men and women.

The intersection of heteronormativity and cisnormativity

While your instinct may be to assume that a femme-presenting trans woman is interested in men, trans women can have any sexuality.

Scout Silverstein, 31, who is trans, gender non-conforming and queer, says, "I still encounter people who ask me when I'm going to find a nice boy to settle down with." This is regardless of the fact that Silverstein has had top surgery and takes testosterone.

However, Furay, a 31-year-old fabricator who identifies as non-binary and queer, makes the point that "because the default in society is being straight and cis, it's no wonder that we emulate" these structures. "It's almost impossible to escape that kind of construct," they said.

"Even for queer folks in relationships, there is usually always a more femme- or more masc-presenting person," Furay says.

How do gender and sexuality intersect with race?

Receptions of non-normative sexuality and gender identities also differ (and can be exacerbated) depending on one's race. For example, Daniels says that within her Black community, there is a certain resistance to the acceptance of Black queerness.

"We're already seen as inferior because of our race," Daniel said. "People see being queer and/or trans as being inferior, so people try to demonize it. I've seen Black and brown folks claim that white people are the ones who started queerness, like it's an effect of colonization."

If you only talk about trans, intersex, non binary and/or gender non-comforting folks (etc) when a political administration is being violent: You are a part of the problem. I have to correct people all of the time in some of the most ordinary spaces to be inclusive of all genders. People who use cis heteronormative language and/or perpetuate the gender binary 364 days out of the year, in their classrooms, in their businesses, in the restaurant, in the airport, in the Lyft, when asking people to vote, in their activism, but then want to be mad at transphobic legislation. Divesting from the gender binary is FREE and can be done at anytime, anywhere. Love, a Trans man and Non- Binary Femme #endwhitesupremacy #divestfromthegenderbinary

A post shared by Ericka Hart, M.Ed. She/They (@ihartericka) on

Of course, just like heteronormativity and cisnormativity exist across the globe (and are not confined to America), queerness and gender nonconformity are also not restricted to American culture. There are also societies and cultures that recognize genders that fall outside the male-female dichotomy. For example, South Asia's , or "third gender," people and Native Americans' identity.

For Furay, growing up in an Asian American household language played a big role. "My brother just had a niece, but my only options are 'aunt' or 'uncle,' and both those options don't feel right to me." However, one feature of spoken Mandarin Chinese that does work in their favor is that third-person pronouns are genderless . "I'm able to avoid falling into the binary of 'him' or 'her' in everyday conversations with some of my Taiwanese family members."
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How can we dismantle cisnormativity and heteronormativity within our own lives?

Multiple people we interviewed said that the first steps to dismantling cisnormativity and heteronormativity are to "ask questions" and "have a conversation," rather than making assumptions. However, if you want to take your support for gender-nonconforming folks even further, Furay says that you can "proactively advocate for changing policy, such as and gender 'X' on birth certificates , gender neutral bathrooms, and changing rooms."

Bathroom policies have been one battleground that trans rights activists have had to fight in recent years. Because public bathrooms are historically gendered, these are areas of discomfort for trans and non-binary people.

Silverstein actively works on "queering" the healthcare system with T-FFED (Trans Folx Fighting Eating Disorders) and New York Transgender Advocacy Group (NYTAG) .

"There are LGBTQIA+ communities in most cities, and a lot of spaces that hold trainings or gatherings for all people," they said. "If you are raising a child, think critically and creatively about the pathways you take in playtime and other choices."

Ultimately, the construction of gender identity begins as early as when babies are still in the womb. Because of the proliferation of cisnormativity and heteronormativity, children are often pushed toward one side of the gender binary before they are given an opportunity to choose. Think: gender reveal parties, dolls for girls, and action figures for boys.

Finally, deconstructing your own gender and sexuality can be a natural starting place. Daniels urges you to ask yourself some challenging questions: "Why do I desire this type of person? Have I ever felt like I was attracted physically, emotionally, spiritually to someone who isn't the opposite gender? Are my preferences my own or have I been influenced in some way?"

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Tiffany Diane Tso IRL You may have seen the terms floating around on social media, but perhaps the best way to define cisnormative behaviors or heteronormativity is by example. Do you remember Chandler Bing's father on leading the life of a Friends? Longtime fans may recall that the role was played by actress Kathleen Turner.

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This image is a perfect example of the word Cisnormativity and its meaning. The way the words were made into the shape of a cad really helps readers articulate the menaning. Since Cisgenderism is produced from Cisnormativity it is very important to show how the two relate to one another.

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This meme brings a little humor to such a sensitive topic. It highlights how foolish Cisnormativity is. Both pizzas are the same, but one is a girl because it has arms.