Cisgenderism in Family Therapy: How Everyday Clinical Practices Can Delegitimize People's Gender Self-Designations

Cisgenderism is the ideology that delegitimizes people's own designations of their genders and bodies. Family therapy (FT) offers a systemic, non-pathologizing framework for working with people who have experienced cisgenderism. Unfortunately, FT practices, like those of many mental health professionals, are often cisgenderist. The authors discuss literature on cisgenderism, explore implications of therapists’ and supervisors’ cisgenderist practices, and provide a brief self-reflection tool.