Yes, We Need Both the Term “Biological Sex” and the Word “Cisgender”

An ode to qualifiers, which bring clarity during confusing times amid the ideological—and rhetorical—battles over transgender identity.

Cyclist Veronica Ivy, a transgender woman, told Trevor Noah in 2022 that she was a “biological woman.”

Some people have gotten it into their heads that the term “biological sex” is an intrinsic, bigoted dog whistle that is only ever meant to degrade the integrity and dignity of trans people.

And on the flip side, we have the people who froth at the mouth at the mere whisper of the word “cisgender,” which they say is the key to Pandora’s box of gender-bending horrors. Free-speech champion Elon Musk notoriously banned the word from X.

Both of these camps are being wildly unreasonable, stubborn and close-minded.