Cisnormativity

Cisnormativity or cissexual assumption is the assumption that everyone is, or ought to be, cisgender. The term can further refer to a wider range of presumptions about gender assignment, such as the presumption of a gender binary, or expectations of conformity to gender roles even when transgender identities are otherwise acknowledged. Cisnormativity is a form of cisgenderism, an ideology which promotes various normative ideas about gender, to the invalidation of individuals' own gender identities, analogous to heterosexism or ableism. Cisnormativity is widespread in many areas of society. In speech, cisnormativity manifests as a separation of cisgender and transgender people where cisgender individuals are considered normal and transgender people, an exception. In institutions, cisnormativity may be seen in the ways gender transition is legally regulated, and in the binary division of legal gender in most jurisdictions; schools often enforce a strict division between genders, which leads to the stigmatization of transgender people. Cisnormativity also motivates bullying and harassment in educational settings. In health care, cisnormative attitudes and systems have diverse negative effects on transgender patients, including pathologization, erasure, and distrust towards healthcare practitioners. Cisnormativity is closely tied to heteronormativity. The combination of the two, termed hetero-cis-normativity or cisheteronormativity, represents the societally dominant view that sex, gender, and sexual orientation are all congruent.