Women's Studies 220 University of Michigan- Mid Term

Ableism

The reinforcement of norms that people with disabilities are abnormal and/or deficient. Refers to prejudice against people with disabilities.

Addiction

A chronic disease of brain reward, motivation, memory, and related circuitry that is characterized by impairment in behavior control, cravings, inability to consistently abstain, and diminished recognition of significant problems with one's behaviors and interpersonal relationships. Involves cycles of relapse and remission.

Agency

One's own ability or capacity to control, exert power, and/or be an agent of change in a situation.

Androcentric

The male-centered practice of putting men at the center of one's worldview or emphasizing a masculine point of view.

Androgynous

Physically appearing neither masculine or feminine.

Biological Essentialism

The belief that particular individuals or groups are naturally different.

Cisgender/Cissexual/Cis

adj. Someone whose gender identity coincides with their birth-assigned sex and gender.

Cissexism

The reinforcement of the norm that only cisgender people are "normal" or important.

Classism

The discrimination or prejudice of people based on social class.

Consent

Explicit permission for something to happen; an affirmative, freely-given, and enthusiastic "YES".

Discrimination

The prejudicial treatment of a person based on their actual or perceived membership in a certain group or category.

Eugenics

Encouraging reproduction amongst fit individuals and discouraging reproduction amongst disadvantaged individuals in order to improve the genetic composition of a population.

Feminism

The belief in the social, political, and economic equality of all sexes and genders and the movement around this belief.

Lifestyle Feminism

The belief that there are as many versions of feminism as there are women.

Reformist Feminism

The focus on "balancing the scales", making women equal with men.

Revolutionary Feminism

The focus on the end of patriarchy and sexism as it manifests through the intersections of gender, class, and race. The movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression.

Gender

A socially constructed category that addresses how people "should" identify, act, or feel based on an assumed match between gender and sex. Gender varies across time and place and from person to person.

Gender Binary

The existence of two distinct and opposed categories for sex and gender (ex. masculine and feminine, man and woman, etc.).

Gender Expression

The way in which people communicate their gender to others through dress, action, speech, etc. This may or may not "match" gender identity and may or may not "match" social norms and expectations.

Gender Identity

A person's sense of what their gender is.

Gender Performance

Similar to gender expression, the work that goes into representing oneself as a person with gender.

Gender Role

The expectations that come with being associated with a particular gender (ex. "women are nurturing"; "men are strong", etc.).

Health

The state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not just merely the absence of disease.

Hegemony

A term meaning dominance, authority, or supremacy.

Heteronormativity/Normative Heterosexuality

The cultural bias that privileges and promotes heterosexual relationships over non-heterosexual relationships.

Heterosexism

The reinforcement of norms that only heterosexual people and their relationships are "normal" and important.

Homophobia

The irrational prejudice against LGB people.

Ideology

A system of ideals; a way of looking at or understanding things.

Implication

A possible effect or result despite not being explicitly stated (ex. "what are women's health implications" = "why does this matter for women's health").

Internalization

To make an idea or attitude internal, personal, or an important part of the kind of person someone is and how they act, think, feel, etc.

Intersectionality

The acknowledgment and addressing of the way that institutions of oppression intersect due to biological, social, and cultural categories that make up a person's identity (ex. a woman is not only a woman).

Intersex

adj. Someone whose physiological make-up does not fit into normative binary categories of "male" and "female". May be "diagnosed" at birth or later in life. This is a replacement for the word hermaphrodite, which is biologically impossible. Not all intersex people are genitally ambiguous.

Marginalization

Social exclusion and a relegation to a lower social standing.

Medicalization

Defining or treating a normal physiological process as a medical condition.

Menarche

An individual's first menstrual cycle.

Misgender

To refer to someone using a word (ex. dude, lady, etc.), pronoun (ex. she/her, he/him, etc.), or form of address (ex. sir, ma'am, etc.) that does not correctly reflect the gender with which the person identifies. Misgendering can be intentional or unintentional but is harmful either way.

Misogyny

The hatred of women, girls, and female-identified individuals. Actions associated with misogyny include violence against women, objectification, sexual discrimination, harassment, etc.

Norm

Something that is usual, typical, or standard in society, often dictating what types of behaviors are normative.

Mythical Norm

The notion that the norm or default takes the shape of the privileged (white, middle class, thin, male, heterosexual, christian); often invisible to those who are privileged.

Objectification

Treating or thinking of someone as an object. Sexual objectification is treating or thinking of someone as a sex object.

Oppression

The exercise of authority or power in an unjust manner.

Paradigm

A basic set of beliefs that make up a worldview or way of seeing the world. In general we try to see and explain things so that they are consistent with our paradigms or beliefs and in agreement with our worldview (ex. biomedical, holistic, etc.).

Passing

Being read or perceived to be a member of a certain community based on that community's cultural signifiers such as appearance, clothing, or behavior. Passing can be negative because the person being "passed" is not "really" who/what they are being perceived as. People can pass under groups such as race, gender, class, religion, and more.

Paternalize

To treat in a paternal, overbearing, or controlling manner in which autonomous decision making is reduced.

Pathologization

Defining or treating a normal physiologic process as an illness or disease.

Patriarchy

A system of society in which men hold the power while excluding women from that power.

Person/People of Color (POC)

An inclusive term for people who lack white privilege: Black, Asian, Latin@, Native, etc. NEVER SAY "COLORED PEOPLE". THAT'S RACIST.

People with Disabilities (PWD)

People with mental or physical difficulties, making it more difficult for them to navigate physical and social situations around them. DON'T SAY "DISABLED PEOPLE". THAT'S NOT PREFERRED.

Position

How a person stands in a given society or culture, influencing social status.

Power

The ability to act in a particular way, do something or direct and influence others' behavior or course of events. Can make something happen or constrain it.

Preferred Gender Pronouns (PGPs)

The gender pronouns by which someone prefers to be addressed (ex. she/her, he/his, they/their, ze/hir, etc.).

Prejudice

The individual negative feelings towards a particular group of people.

Privilege

Special entitlements, advantages, or benefits granted to/enjoyed by only specific groups or individuals (ex. white privilege, male privilege, able-bodied privilege, thin privilege, etc.).

Queer

An inclusive term for people who do not identify as straight and/or cisgender. This is a political word opposing the gender binary and its coercive enforcement, as well as the violence that heteronormativity and "normalcy" inflict upon people who transgress norms. This is a reclaimed slur, people not identifying as queer should use the term with caution.

Race

A socially constructed category of identification or classification that focuses on genetically transmitted physical characteristics. In actuality is social rather than biological, referring to social groups often sharing cultural heritage and ancestry (this sharing cultural heritage and ancestry is more appropriately known as ethnicity).

Racism

Individual and institutional practices that create and reinforce oppressive systems of race relations and the systematic reinforcement of white power and privilege over people of color. There are three levels of racism.

Institutionalized Racism

The differential access to goods, services, and opportunities of a society by race. This is both structural and normative.

Internalized Racism

The acceptance by members of stigmatized races of negative messages about their own abilities and intrinsic self-worth.

Personally-Mediated Racism

This includes interpersonal interactions such as prejudice and discrimination, both intentionally and unintentionally.

Reproductive Justice

A model recognizing histories of reproductive oppression and abuse that organizes individuals to change the structural power of inequalities and promotes the physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual well-being of women, girls, and other marginalized groups. The ability to choose regardless of identities.

Reproductive Rights

A legal and advocacy-based model that serves to protect an individual's right to reproductive healthcare services.

Sex

Originally presumed to be based on chromosomes but is in fact assigned at birth based on physiological genitalia. Problematically and generally described as the biological differences between bodies (ex. male, female, intersex).

Sexism

The reinforcement of norms that men are more important than women.

Sexuality

The way in which people organize, identify (or not), and act on sexual desires (or lack thereof). The erotic inclinations and how people take pleasure in their own bodies.

Sexual Orientation

A term that describes a person's attraction to others of the same or different sex. Not to be confused with a person's gender expression, identity, performance, and role.

Social Constructionism

A belief that differences between individuals and groups are constructed by social experiences and processes.

Socioeconomic Status (SES)

An indicator encompassing one's income, education, and occupation. Higher SES = power, resources, longer lives, healthier lives, Lower SES = the opposite. There is a connection between SES and race due to internalized racism in America.

Stigma

A mark of shame or disgrace associated with specific circumstances, qualities, or people (ex. people with STI's are often highly stigmatized).

Stereotype

A belief and/or thought about specific types or groups of people/ways of doing things that may or may not accurately reflect reality.

Stratified Reproduction

Reproductive healthcare that is accessible only based on socioeconomic position (ex. wealthy women have access to reproductive healthcare in order to get pregnant but poor women may be criticized for "having too many children").

Trans*

adj. Inclusive term for people who identify as either transgender or transsexual/transexual. Should always be separated by a space (ex. trans women). Not all trans* people wish to reassign their gender by changing their bodies.

Transgender

adj. Someone feeling that their assigned gender identity is different from their gender identity. Do not add an "-ed" to the end of this term, implying that something has been done to the person rather than transgender being a part of their identity.

Transitioning

A period in which a person begins to live their new life as the gender they identify as.

Transphobia

Irrational prejudice against trans* people and others who violate gender norms.

Transsexual/Transexual

adj. Someone feeling that their assigned sex is different from their sex. Both spellings are correct but some feel that the added "s" de-medicalizes the term.

White Supremacy

A system of interlocking racism, patriarchy, homophobia, xenophobia, etc. that forms oppressions against POC. This is not just present in radical fringe groups (ex. neo-Nazis, Skinheads, etc.) but is internalized in the mainstream of American Society.