Cisgender Privilege

Check out this amazing list from the UMass Stonewall Center (emphasis on my favorites):

• Strangers don’t assume they can ask me what my genitals look like and how I have sex.

• My validity as a man/woman/human is not based on how much surgery I’ve had or how

well I “pass” as a non-transperson.

• When initiating sex with someone, I do not have to worry that they won’t be able to deal

with my parts, or that having sex with me will cause my partner to question his or her own

sexual orientation.

• I am not excluded from events which are either explicitly or de facto (because of nudity)

for men-born-men or women-born-women only.

• My politics are not questioned based on the choices I make with regard to my body.

• I don’t have to hear “so have you had THE surgery?” or “oh, so you’re REALLY a

[incorrect sex or gender]?” each time I come out to someone.

• I am not expected to constantly defend my medical decisions.

• Strangers do not ask me what my “real name” [birth name] is and then assume that they

have a right to call me by that name.

• People do not disrespect me by using incorrect pronouns even after they’ve been corrected.

• I do not have to worry that someone wants to be my friend or have sex with me in order to

prove his or her “hip-ness” or good politics.

• I do not have to worry about whether I will experience harassment or violence for using a

bathroom or whether I will be safe changing in a locker room.

• When engaging in political protests, I do not have to worry about the gendered

repercussions of being arrested. (i.e., what will happen to me if the cops find out that my

genitals do not match my gendered appearance? Will I be placed in a cell with people of

my own gender?)

• I do not have to defend my right to be a part of “Queer,” and gays and lesbians will not try

to exclude me from OUR movement in order to gain political legitimacy for themselves.

• My experience of gender (or gendered spaces) is not viewed as “baggage” by others of the

gender in which I live.

• I do not have to choose between being invisible (“passing”) or being “othered” and/or

tokenized based on my gender.

• People will not assume that I’m a top/bottom based on my anatomy.

• I am not told that my sexual orientation and gender identity are mutually exclusive.

• When I go to the gym or a public pool, I can use the showers.

• If I end up in the emergency room, I do not have to worry that my gender will keep me

from receiving appropriate treatment, or that all of my medical issues will be seen as a

result of my gender.

• My health insurance provider (or public health system) does not specifically exclude me

from receiving benefits or treatments available to others because of my gender.

• My identity is not considered “mentally ill” by the medical establishment.

• I am not required to undergo an extensive psychological evaluation in order to receive

basic medical care.

• The medical establishment does not serve as a “gatekeeper,” determining what happens to

my body.

• People do not use me as a scapegoat for their own unresolved gender issues.

...please note quite a few of these also apply to folks who are perceived as cisgender ("individuals who have a match between the gender they were assigned at birth, their bodies, and their personal identity")