Paula Blank argues that the term—coined in the mid-90s to describe people who are not transgender ("'Cisgender' refers to people who feel there is a match between their assigned sex and the gender they feel themselves to be.")—is unlikely to win a permanent spot in the English language.

Of course, there's more at stake in the viability of "cisgender" than mere words. "Cisgender" suggests a commonality among transgender and non-transgender people, at a time when transgender people are struggling for recognition. It tells us that we all experience some kind of relationship between our bodies and our selves, whatever that relationship may be. And it reminds us that those who experience a "match" between their body and their selves have it a lot easier in our society than those who do not. To the extent that "cisgender" helps raise awareness of intolerance and injustice towards transgender people, it serves a crucial political purpose right now. Potentially, "cisgender" could help build consensus on transgender rights.

There's more at stake in the viability of "cisgender" than mere words.
However, the politics of "cisgender" have already proven divisive. Perhaps the most surprising protests are coming from the left—from people, that is, who might otherwise be counted on to support the transgender movement. There are feminists who balk at the idea that cisgender women are privileged in relation to transgender women, who were born as men. Among other potential benefits, such as "passing" as men in a patriarchal culture, transgender women don't have to worry about reproductive rights. The Huffington Post recently collected a grab-bag of very mixed reactions to "cisgender" from the gay community. It's clear that some gay men and lesbians see "cisgender" as a slur, a way of labeling them as elitists or conformists after all (i.e., as not "queer" enough). Some think "cisgender" validates the notion that there are two (and only two) genders, correlating with two (and only two) sexes, just as many are exploring non-binary gender identities, such as "genderqueer."

At first I thought cisgender was unlikely to come into wide usage—back in the 1990s, when I first heard the term—and it certainly seemed like the kind of queer jargon that straight people would never embrace. But in the mid-2000s it started popping up in letters sent to me by straight people at "Savage Love." Most of whom seemed to be straight kids who had taken queer studies courses at liberal universities. (My demo.) At that point I regarded "cisgender" as the new "monosexual," a term coined by bisexual activists in the mid-1990s to describe people who were not bi. "Monosexual" lumped Martina Navratilova and David Sedaris together with Rush Limbaugh and Michele Bachmann into a giant oppressor class... and that struck this monosexual as kindasorta offensive. These days I'm pretty much the only one who uses the term "monosexual," which I only do ironically. (Hey, here's the Monosexual Privilege Checklist. Using "monosexual" ironically is probably on there somewhere but I'm not sure since I couldn't get through the whole thing.)

"Cisgender" is more popular and more widely used than "monosexual" ever was. Non-bisexuals never referred to themselves as monosexuals; but many non-trans people use "cisgender" to describe themselves—particularly straight people who want to demonstrate that they're down with the queers.

But will "cisgender" stand the test of time? Blank doesn't think so. Ten years ago I might've agreed with her. At this point, however, I think "cisgender" is here to stay.