Cis Teen Chapel

Submission 1,489

Part of a series on Catchphrases. [View Related Entries]

About

Cis Teen Chapel is a play on the name "Sistine Chapel" in which "Sistine" is read as two words, "Cis," meaning someone who identifies as their gender assigned at birth and "teen." The term first started to become the subject of memes as early as 2014 and became increasingly popular throughout the 2020s.

Origin

On April 13th, 2014, X^[1] user @solikebasically posted a photo of a group of teens making a gymnastic pyramid, writing, "I've always wanted to see the Cis Teen Chapel in person," garnering over 140 likes in 10 years (shown below). This is the earliest known use of the phrase.

Spread

The joke became increasingly popular throughout the 2020s. On March 14th, 2021, X^[9] user @RileyJohnSavage posted, "you’re telling me a cis teen built this chapel?" referencing the shrimp fried this rice meme, garnering over 295,000 likes in three years (shown below).

On September 15th, TikToker^[2] @__sim0ne_ posted a video at the Sistine Chapel using the same caption as @RileyJohnSavage, garnering over 800,000 views in three years (shown below).

A meme using a similar joke was posted to /r/traaaaaaannnnnnnnnns^[3] on September 16th, garnering over 3,700 upvotes in three years (shown below). A screenshot of @__sim0ne_'s video was posted to /r/196^[4] on September 18th, garnering over 11,500 upvotes in the same span of time. On November 17th, X^[5] user @WholesomeMeme posted the screenshot, garnering over 238,000 likes in three years.

On May 23rd, 2022, TikToker^[10] @lornsassij posted a video using the "cis teen chapel" joke outside the Sistine Chapel, garnering over 4.5 million views in two years (shown below).

On May 12th, 2023, TikToker^[6] @mikaelaistired posted a video where they tell a joke using the punchline "cis teen chapel," garnering over 300,000 views in eight months. On August 22nd, X^[7] user @quebecween posted a meme using the phrase, garnering over 1,500 likes in five months (shown below, left).

On January 18th, 2024, X^[8] user @RileyJohnSavage quote reposted a recent viral post of his, writing, "cis teen chapel on pack watch" as the more recent post surpassed his "cis teen chapel" post in likes and reposts, garnering over 4,100 likes in a day (shown below, right).