The BFD (Big Fucking Dictionary) of Activism and Inclusion

By: Liberate Zealot

An evolving dictionary/glossery of words and terms used by the Hivemind.
*If I've missed any or you know of alternative definitions please let me know!

*I'm trying to be as gender neutral as possible, for a list of gender neutral pronouns see here.

• Ableism - Prejudiced thoughts/speech/actions against people with mental/physical/emotional disabilities (differing abilities). 
• Accesibility - The extent to which a place (often but not always a location) is accessible to everyone, generally, but not always refers to people with disabilities. 
• Advocate - A person who speaks for hirself, hir community, and/or a disadvantaged community.  See self-advocate. 
• Ally - A person from one (normally privileged) group who stands up with and supports members of an oppressed group.
• Androgyn* (e, ous, y) - A person whose biological sex and/or gender is not readily aparent, and/or identifies between the two main genders, who presents as both masculine and feminine, and/or has cast of gender/gender roles completely.
• Appropriation - Specifically cultural appropriation is as aspect of racism where people from a dominant group take on a part of the culture from an oppressed group that they continue to marginalize. Different from cultural appreciation, but it's a thin line. http://www.racialicious.com/2008/09/18/cultural-appropriation-homage-or-insult/
• Aromantic - A person who does not feel romantic attraction/feelings for others. Sometimes, but not always related to being asexual.  
• Asexual - A person who does not feel sexual attraction to others. It can be, but not always is related to being aromantic. 
• Benevolent Sexism - A type of sexism that is based on protecting/caring for men.  Often confused for chivalry and/or female privilege. 
• Bias - Prejudice, an inclination, world view, or preference that limits understanding and impartiality.  Everyone has some biases.
• Bigotry - Intolerant prejudice which glorifies ones own group and denigrates people of other groups/identities. 
• Biphobia - Fear, dislike, hatred of people who are bisexual.
• Bisexual - People who are sexually and or romantically attracted to people of at least two genders. Often is used interchangablely with pansexual. 
• Cis*(gender/sexual/man/woman) - A prefix that means on the same side as. A person (man/male, women/female) whose sex and gender are the same as what they were assigned at birth. 
• Cissexism - Discrimination and prejudice against trans* people. 
• Classism - Discrimination/prejudice against people of different classes, often used specifically for when done by upper-class people against low-classes.  
• Color Blind - The idea of treating everyone "equally" by ignoring (not "seeing") differences.  First used in regards to race, but the idea is used in other areas of inequality/oppression.  Has sense been proved to actually increase/support racism http://www.blogher.com/new-study-finds-links-between-colorblind-ideology-and-racism
• Disability - A physical/mental/emotional "impairment" that results in special needs.  One can be born with, or gain a disability. Some people with disabilities prefer the term differently abled. When discussing disabilities remember to use person first language (person with Autism) and/or the terms/language prefered by the person/group with the disability.
• Discrimination - Prejudiced treatement or people/groups.
• Dominant Culture - The cultural values, practices, and beliefs that is considered the most common, mainstream, influential within a society. Very tied into the white, straight, (Christian), able bodied, able minded, cismale, masculine identity (though this can/does change between cultures and sub-groups). 
• Empower(ed/ment) - When oppressed group members take/feel power, often by refusing to accept the dominant/oppressive culture.  Very tied to choice and liberal feminism. 
• Ethnic(ity) - Divides people into smaller groups based on culture and/or country of origin.  I'm some places it's tied very closely to race in other's it is more seperate. 
• F to M/FtM/F2M - Female to male.An abbreviation used to signify a type sex/gender change, normally used by transsexual men. 
• FAAB - Female assigned at birth. Used in trans* and genderqueer communities to describe the sex/gender doctors/parents assigned/believed one to be.  Can be used by cis/trans/genderqueer people.  
• Female - A sex identification, seperate from gender.  It's based on genitals, genetics, and mental sex. 
• Feminism - "The radical notion that women are people". The belief that women deserve equality and the actions taken to ensure this. A large theory with many subgroups. 
• Gaslighting - Emotional/mental manipulation or policing used to control discredit people who are disagreeing/challenging the gaslighter.http://thecurrentconscience.com/blog/2011/09/12/a-message-to-women-from-a-man-you-are-not-%E2%80%9Ccrazy%E2%80%9D/ 
• Gender - The idea of women and men, sometimes considered to be a social construct, very assosiated with presentation - feminine/masculine and gender roles.  Depending of the person these things are seen as all the same or seperate but informed by each other. 
• Gendered - Assosiated/Having to do with a gender, often tied to presentation or gender roles. Ex. pink and blue are gendered colors. 
• Gender and Sexual Minorities - People who are not heterosexual or cis*. Normally used as an umbrella term, generally not used as an idenity. 
• Genderqueer - People who identity as both/inbetween/neither men and women and or male and female or is in anyway gender noncomformist.  Both an umbrella term and an identity.
• Hate Crime - A crime motivated by the actual or percieved race, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, country of origin, gender, gender identity, or disability of the victim.  Different states and countries protect different groups under hate crime laws (if they classify crimes as hate crimes or offer any protections/punishments for hate crimes). 
• Heterocentric - Placing heterosexuality as the dominant culture. 
• Heterosexism - The belief that everyone is or should be heterosexual.  growing to replace the word homophobic. 
• Heterosexual - A person who is attracted to the opposite sex, specifically refers to male/female, but can refer to to people who care more about gender and less about genitals. 
• Homophobia - Fear/hatred of people who are homosexual (and other non-heterosexual people). Some people dislike assosiating this is phobias which are a legitimate medical problem. Heterosexism is replacing this word in some spaces.  
• Homosexual - A person who is attracted to other's of the same sex.  Sometimes used by people who feel an attraction to only the same gender, but don't care about genitals. 
• Inclusive - Open to and accessible to all peoples (or at least as much as is possible).
• -Ism - A word that means prejudice + power.  Ex. racism can only be down to people of color, sexism can only be done to women.  Not everyone uses this defition and they will probably use insitutional/cultural when discussing this dynamic.  
• Internalized * (Racism/Sexism/Heterosexism) - When an oppressed group has bought into the oppressive ideas/actions and supports the dominance and supremacy of the dominant group.
• Intersectional(ity) - The connecting/relating/intersecting oppressions faced by people who are some combination of non white/straight/cis/male/Christian/wealthy/ablebodied/ableminded/and more). Also refers to the belief/understanding/action based on intersecting oppressions. FAR Intersectionality, http://tigerbeatdown.com/2011/10/10/my-feminism-will-be-intersectional-or-it-will-be-bullshit/
• Intersex - A person who with born biologically intermediate between male and female.  Refers to gentials and genetics.  Can also refer to ambiguous genitals but only one time of sex tissue/organs/genes. 
• Kyriarchy - A continuation of Patriarchy theory that addresses Intersectional oppression/structures. On Archy.
• Lesbian - A woman who is attracted to other women. 
• LGBT - The most mainstream acronym that addresses GSM people. Stands of Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans. It critiqued for lack of inclusion, and also that many communities that call themselves LGBT are less accepting of Bi and Trans people. 
• LGBTQIAQAT - Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Questioning, Androgynous, Two-Spirit. An acronym that lists more types of GSM people. It's rare that all of these will be used at once. 
• M to F/MtF/M2F - Male to Female. An abreviation used to refer to a type of sex/gender change.  Mainly used by transexual women.
• MAAB - Male assigned at birth. Used in trans* and genderqueer communities to describe the sex/gender doctors/parents assigned/believed one to be.  Can be used by cis/trans/genderqueer people.
• Mansplain - The act of a man condecendingly explaining things to a women, speficially about things she knows more of.  Often related to feminism, sexism and/or a woman/female experience. 'Splain is used for the same attitude/dynamic when it does not involve a man 'splaining to a woman. 
• Marginalized - Excluded or ignored opressed people/groups. 
• Misogyny - Hatred of women.  Seeing them as less than and Other.
• MRA - Men's Right Activists. Classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. See http://manboobz.com/ for info on their beliefs/rhetoric. 
• Multiplicity - The quality of having multiple and simultanious social identities. Unlike intersectionality it is not always assosiated with oppression. 
• Naming - "When we articulate a thought that has normally not been discussed." Can refer to the culture and/or individual. 
• Oppression - The systematic and pervasive inequality that results from institutional privilege and power where one group benefits at the expense of another. 
• Othering - An oppressive and kyriarchal/patriarchal method of stereotyping characteristics/roles onto groups as a way to explain oppression. Results in Us and Other categories with Other, naturally, getting the short end of the stick. 
• Pansexual - The attraction to people are various/all types of sex, gender, and presentation. Some people use this interchangably with bisexual, other's see them as distinct sexualities. 
• Patriarchy - The system of oppression that favors men and results in the Othering and oppression of women. On Archy.
• People of Color - A collecting term for people who are of Asian, African, Latin, Middle Eastern, and/or Native/Aboriginal backgrounds.  As opposed to white people from a European background. 
• Polyamory - The practice of having multiple open and honest love/romantic relationships. 
• Prejudice - A, usually negative, bias or preconcieved belief/judgement about a person or group of people.
• Privilege - A right, license, and/or excemption that only some people have access or avialability to because of group memberships. 
• Queer - An umbrella term and/or identity for anyone who is a GSM. 
• Questioning - Someone who is uncertain of hir sexuality/gender identity.
• Racism - Discrimination and/or prejudice against people based on their real or percieved race.  Usually refers to the actions/thoughts of white people against people of color. Can manifest in many ways. 
• Religion - A system of spiritual beliefs, often tied to culture, and normally of an organized variety. 
• Safe Space - And area/location where people are free of oppression and feel able to honestly and openly express their feelings and experiences.
• Self-Advocate - A person who advocates for themselves.  This differentiation from advocate is mainly used amongst disability activists.  
• Sex - The biological classification of male, female, intersex that is based on genetics and or physiological features. 
• Sexism - Discrimination and prejudice based on sex and/or gender, usually by men against women. Can manifest in many ways. 
• Sexual Orientation - A person's sexual/romantic preference/attraction/interest in others. 
• Silencing - The intentional or accidental process in which the voices and participation of people of oppressed groups are ignored, discredited, excluded, and/or inhibited. 
• Social Justice - A term for actions intended to increase the equality/fairness/justice for all oppressed peoples. 
• Stereotype - Blanket beliefs/views about people from different groups. Ex. Blonds are dumb, black people are lazy. 
• System of Oppression - The conscious and un-conscious, organized, insitutionalized discrimination, prejudice, and exploitation of oppressed peoples. 
• Tolerance - Acceptance of the differences of others, does not always mean agreement or support and so is not always the prefered term of activists/advocates. 
• Transphobia - Fear/hatred of people who are and/or are perceived to be trans.  Has the same critiques as the term homophobia and expresses the same ideas as cissexism. 
• Trans* - an umbrella term that includes as variety of people who defy/change their sex/gender.  Normally used to refer to people who are transgender and/or transexual.  Can also refer to drag queens/kings, cross-dressers, and anyone who is any type of genderqueer.
• Transgender - People who identify as a gender different than the one which they were assigned at birth. 
• Transmisogyny - Misogyny as experienced by trans women.  Specifically the increased attention/fear/hatred/violence they experience compared to other trans people. http://juliaserano.blogspot.com/2012/04/trans-misogyny-primer.html
• Transexual - A person who identifies as a different gender and sex than the one they where assigned at birth.  Can refer to people who have had genital reconstuctive surgery and/or those those have not had any surgeries. 
• Two - Spirit - A Native American/First Nations term with no exact English relation.  Best translations assosiate it with the word queer, and/or people who are both men and women.  Can be used to describe several types of GSM identities.
  
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