Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)

Sexual Orientation is an inherent or immutable enduring emotional, romantic or sexual attraction to other people. Note: an individual's sexual orientation is independent of their gender identity.

From: Human Rights Campaign. (n.d.). Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Definitions. https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-orientation-and-gender-identity-terminology-and-definitions

Related Terms: lesbian, bisexual, pansexual, aromantic, asexual, homophobia, queer, heteronormative

Transgender is a term that includes the many ways that people's gender identities can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth. There are a lot of different terms transgender people use to describe themselves include trans, trans*, trans male/trans female. It is always best to use the language and labels that the person prefers.

Two Spirit refers to a person who identifies as having both a masculine and a feminine spirit, and is used by some Indigenous people to describe their sexual, gender, and/or spiritual identity. As an umbrella term it may encompass same-sex attraction and a wide variety of gender variance, including people who might be described in Western culture as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, gender queer, cross-dressers or who have multiple gender identities.

Gender non-conforming is a broad term referring to people who do not behave in a way that conforms to the traditional expectations of their gender, or whose gender expression does not fit neatly into a category. While many also identify as transgender, not all gender non-conforming people do.

From: LGBTQIA Resource Center, (2020). LGBTQIA Resource Center Glossary. https://lgbtqia.ucdavis.edu/educated/glossary

Related Terms: Non-binary, AFAB (assigned female at birth), AMAB (assigned male at birth), cisgender, androgynous, affirmed gender, deadnaming, gender expansive, genderfluid, transphobia

Femininity is a gender identity based on a set of traits that have been traditionally associated with women. 

In reality, femininities do not map onto biological sex and are instead learned and shaped by socio-cultural practices. There are many forms of femininity and what gets described as feminine differs by region, religion, class, national culture, and other social factors. Any one person engages in many forms of femininity which they adopt consciously and unconsciously, depending on context, the expectations of others, life stages and many other factors. 

From: Gender Innovations. (n.d.) Femininities and Masculinities. https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/terms/femininities.html

Feminism is a social movement and ideology that fights for the political, economic and social rights for women. The original aim of feminism was to declare that men and women are equal, and women deserve the same rights as men in society. The feminist movement has fought for many different causes, such as the right for women to vote, the right to work and the right to live free from violence.

However, feminism is not without its flaws. The movement has long failed many who should have seen themselves reflected. Most modern definitions of feminism should recognize and affirm the inclusion of trans and non-binary people in a vision of women’s equality. 

From: IWDA: International Women's Development Agency. (2018). What is feminism? https://iwda.org.au/learn/what-is-feminism/

Intersectional feminism centres the voices of those experiencing overlapping, concurrent forms of oppression in order to understand the depths of the inequalities and the relationships among them in any given context. It is an attempt to illustrate the interplay between any kind of discrimination, whether it’s based on gender, race, age, class, socioeconomic status, physical or mental ability, gender or sexual identity, religion, or ethnicity.

From: IWDA: International Women's Development Agency. (2018). What does intersectional feminism actually mean? https://iwda.org.au/what-does-intersectional-feminism-actually-mean/

Related Terms: sexism, misogyny, misogynoir, misandry, TERF, male gaze

Masculinity is a gender identity based on a set of traits that have been traditionally associated with men. 

In reality, masculinities do not map onto biological sex and are instead learned and shaped by socio-cultural practices. There are many forms of masculinity and what gets described as masculine differs by region, religion, class, national culture, and other social factors. Any one person engages in many forms of masculinity which they adopt consciously and unconsciously, depending on context, the expectations of others, life stages and many other factors. 

From: Gender Innovations. (n.d.) Femininities and Masculinities. https://genderedinnovations.stanford.edu/terms/femininities.html

Male Privilege is the assumption that being a male in a patriarchal society gives a boy/man greater access to economic and political resources including sexual access to women's bodies and labor. Looking at male privilege intersectionally, we see that not all men have access to the same privileges of  "maleness" as others because of race, ethnicity, class, education, employment status, geography nationality, appearance, and temperament.

Toxic Masculinity is a narrow and repressive description of manhood, designating manhood as defined by violence, sex, status and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything while emotions are a weakness; where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured, while supposedly “feminine” traits—which can range from emotional vulnerability to simply not being hypersexual—are the means by which your status as “man” can be taken away.

From: Male privilege/male dominance. (2013). In J. Myers (Ed.), Historical dictionaries of religions, philosophies, and movements: Historical dictionary of the lesbian and gay liberation movements. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Related Terms: misogyny, sexism, patriarchy