What is cisfeminism?

Drawing on Black and WOC feminist and transfeminist critique, this paper advances a definition and analysis of cisfeminism. Most obviously, cisfeminism is feminism that is committed to binary understandings of sex and gender, perhaps also veering into essentialism. However, the paper argues that there is more to cisfeminism than this. Cisfeminism overlaps with but is not synonymous with ‘TERF’ or ‘gender critical’ feminism, in the same sense that, while white feminism functions to uphold white supremacy, white feminists are often not conscious of themselves as participants in racist world-building. A cisfeminist may have trans friends, may believe in ‘inclusion’, may have her pronouns in her email signature - but cisfeminism disavows meaningful solidarity with trans people in the same way white feminism disavows solidarity with WOC. Transness, rather, may be tolerated by cisfeminists insofar as it is not seen to threaten any cisfeminist projects. This paper argues that it is commitment to (biopolitical, governmental) projects, often reliant on binary understandings of sex and gender, that is central to cisfeminism. The gradual, and ramping, conversion of allegedly formerly ‘inclusive’ feminists into transphobic feminists is a reflection of how increasingly trans existence is seen to threaten such projects. Naming cisfeminism and identifying its affective pull can therefore help us to make sense of the growth of overtly trans-hostile feminisms.