Feminism
A form of social change whose primary target is to address problems associated with the social system of patriarchy, often including other problematic social systems (e.g., white supremacy, heteronormativity)
What is feminism?
The reduction of a person to one aspect of their identity; the person is instrumental and reduced to an object and dehumanized
What is objectification?
A system wherein heterosexuality is constructed as the “norm”, patriarchal gender roles and expectations for heterosexual men and women are normalized, and the experiences of individuals who are not cisgender or heterosexual are made invisible or pathologized
What is heteronormativity?
Overt negativity/hostility/hatred towards women that is grounded in hostile sexism; active attempts to hurt women or bring them down
What is misogyny?
The presumption that, biologically, there are only men and women
The fundamental human right to have equal access to opportunities and resources regardless of gender
What is gender equality?
Overtly negative form of sexism and usually easy to identify because it is seen to disadvantage women
What is hostile sexism?
A social system based on group membership and presumption of gender binary that exists along a continuum and is reinforced at multiple levels of society
What is patriarchy?
Conferring benefits/awards/advantages based on group membership; benefits people whether they want it to or not
What is privilege?
The fear of people who are transgender
What is transphobia?
The social position an individual holds within society that is based on social characteristics deemed important/valuable by that society
What is social location?
Widely accepted to mean the murder of women
What is femicide?
An economic tax system that has implications for access to social services and, thus, the access to choices an individual has
What is neoliberalism?
Barriers or systems that work together to limit, restrict, or immobilize an individual's opportunities/movement/advancement based on group membership
What is oppression?
A form of misogyny that targets trans women and trans feminine people
What is transmisogyny?
The over-lapping of social issues that creates multiple layers of social injustice; simultaneous impacts of multiple forms of oppression/discrimination; coined by Black feminist legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw
What is intersectionality?
A covert or less obvious form of sexism; treatment of women’s accomplishments in bland/lackluster/uninspired ways
What is gender-bland sexism?
A system of beliefs, often institutionalized through laws and policies, that white people are inherently superior to and should have dominance over all over racial groups, particularly Black people
What is white supremacy?
A form of sexism that seems as though it is positive and/or is seen to advantage women, but is still based on the idea that women are inferior because they are fragile, weak, dependent, etc.
What is benevolent sexism?
The advantages and benefits given to cisgender people in our society that are denied to people who are not cisgender
What is cisgender privilege?
The process through which individual beliefs about one’s own experience are changed/altered through engagement with others leading them to connect their personal experiences to larger political/structural issues
What is feminist consciousness-raising?
A term coined by Black queer feminist Moya Bailey to describe a specific form of misogyny and discrimination experienced by Black women
An economic and/or political system characterized by private ownership of the country's trade and industry (sometimes including social services)
What is capitalism?
A concept developed by Laura Mulvey to describe how women are sexualized and objectified by being positioned (in visual representations, media, film) as the object of male heterosexual desire. Assumes heterosexual males are the intended/default audience.
What is the male gaze?
An idealized, dominant, and socially constructed heterosexual masculinity constructed in relation to femininities and subordinated masculinities
What is hegemonic masculinity?