What are cis and trans alternate types of? I don’t think it’s “gender identity” because wouldn’t that just be man, woman or nonbinary regardless of whether they’re cis or trans? Cis/trans just being a qualifier?

If the answer is “I am cis” or “I am trans”, what is the question?

Edit: Someone came up with the term “gender congruity” and (after looking up the definition of “congruity”) I think this describes what I’m talking about perfectly.

  • Ertebolle@kbin.social
    1·
    2 years ago

    You can think of ‘cis’ and ‘trans’ as meaning roughly ‘this side’ and ‘other side’.

    Before “cisgender” became a widely publicized term, about the only time I ever heard the term “cis” was discussing Cisalpine versus Transalpine Gaul in ancient Rome. (Cisalpine Gaul being northern Italy and Transalpine Gaul southern France, more or less - the parts of Gaul that were on the same side or the opposite side of the Alps from Rome).

    • IHeartBadCode@kbin.social
      2·
      2 years ago

      Chemistry. Cis-2-n-ene vs Trans-2-n-ene. First one is all carbons on the same side and the latter is carbons on opposite sides.

      • KawaiiKurai@kbin.social
        1·
        1 year ago

        That is how I remember it as well.

        For those not well versed in organic chemistry or needs a refresher, where it is the most likely scenario you would encounter such terms, let me clarify a few points:

        1. The -ene suffix indicates there is a double bond in the compound

        2. The -2- indicates that the double bond is on the 2nd carbon, between carbon 2 and 3 (beta position). The placement of the n in the above post is incorrect as the location should be beside the functional group, hence the example should have been “-n-2-ene”

        3. The -n- is a variable for the length of the carbon (e.g. prop- (3 C), but- (4 C), pent- (5 C), hex- (6 C), etc.).

        4. Due to symmetry, you do not see the cis/trans-isomers (aka E/Z and syn/anti) unless until there is at least 4 carbons.

        Hence, the easiest way to demonstrate this, is to show but-2-ene

        Due to priority, the cis/trans is based on the relative position of the alkyl group rather than hydrogen in this compound (review the IUPAC naming system if you want THAT refresher)

        A cis-but-2-ene has the C1 and C4 (alkyls to the left and right of the beta double bond respectively) are on the same side.

        Trans-but-2-ene has C1 and C4 on opposite sides.

        Hope that helps clarify matters for people. If not, look up the topic on your favorite search engine. I highly recommend checking out the Wikipedia entry first though as it may resolve it.

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/But-2-ene

        https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cis-trans_isomerism