Gender and Sexuality terms to broaden your understanding of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion<\/p>\n
Note: This \u201cLiving Language Guide\u201d is a curated glossary of DEI related terms, which sometimes offers multiple and differing definitions for some concepts. This should NOT be interpreted as Boston University\u2019s recommended or mandated terminology nor used as such. <\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A person with no (or very little) connection to the traditional system of gender, no personal alignment with the An identity under the nonbinary and transgender umbrellas. Some agender individuals have no gender identity, although some define agender as having a gender identity that is neutral.<\/p>\n Source: National LGBTQ Task Force<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Refers to a person who does not identify with or experience any gender. Agender is different from nonbinary because many nonbinary people do experience gender.<\/p>\n Source: PFLAG.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Describes a person who identifies as having no gender, or who does not experience gender as a primary identity component.<\/p>\n Source: The Fenway Institute<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A person with a gender that is both masculine and feminine or in between masculine and feminine.<\/p>\n Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> As a gender identity it can overlap with an androgynous gender expression but not always. Androgynes may define their identity in a variety of ways, feeling as if they are between man and woman or a totally separate identity.<\/p>\n Source: PennState Student Affairs<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Androgyny describes the blending, in a particular individual, of traditionally male and female characteristics. Androgynous individuals often express themselves in ways that challenge perceptions of gender; thus, they may not appear either feminine or masculine. Though some individuals who have an androgynous appearance may exist outside the gender binary, an androgynous appearance does not necessarily determine a person\u2019s gender identity.<\/p>\n Source: Good Therapy.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A romantic orientation where a person experiences little to no romantic attraction and\/or has no desire to form romantic relationships. Like asexuality, it exists on a spectrum which involves a range of identities characterized by varying levels of romantic attraction. This spectrum is called the aromantic spectrum. Aromantic people can identify with any sexual orientation along with their aromantic identity, or they may just identify as aromantic.<\/p>\n Source: National LGBTQ Task Force<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A romantic orientation is generally characterized by not feeling romantic attraction or a desire for romance. Aromantic people can be satisfied by friendship and other non-romantic relationships. Many aromantic people also identify with sexual orientation, such as asexual, bisexual, etc.<\/p>\n Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> An asexual person does not experience sexual attraction \u2013 they are not drawn to people sexually and do not desire to act upon attraction to others in a sexual way. Unlike celibacy, which is a choice to abstain from sexual activity, asexuality is an intrinsic part of who we are, just like other sexual orientations. Asexuality does not make our lives any worse or better; we just face a different set of needs and challenges than most sexual people do. There is considerable diversity among the asexual community in the needs and experiences often associated with sexuality including relationships, attraction, and arousal.<\/p>\n Source: The Asexual Visibility and Education Network<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A broad spectrum of sexual orientations generally characterized by feeling varying degrees of sexual attraction or a desires for partnered sexuality. Asexuality is distinct from celibacy, which is the deliberate abstention from sexual activity, despite sexual desire. Some asexual people do have sex and do experience varying levels of sexual attraction. There are many diverse ways of being asexual. A person who does not experience sexual attraction can experience other forms of attraction such as romantic attraction, as physical attraction and emotional attraction are separate aspects of a person\u2019s identity. These may or may not correlate with each other – for instance, some people are physically and romantically attracted to women. However, others might be physically attracted to all genders and only emotionally attracted to men.<\/p>\n Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> The sex (male or female) assigned to a child at birth, most often based on the child’s external anatomy. Also referred to as birth sex, natal sex, biological sex, or sex.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from The Fenway Institute<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> The assignment and classification of people as male, female, intersex, or another sex assigned at birth often based on physical anatomy at birth and\/or karyotyping.<\/p>\n Source: Trans Student Educational Resources<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Assigned sex is a label that you\u2019re given at birth based on medical factors, including your hormones, chromosomes, and genitals. Most people are assigned male or female, and this is what\u2019s put on their birth certificates.<\/p>\n Source: PlannedParenthood.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition: <\/strong>Bisexuality is a broad and inclusive term that describes physical attraction, romantic attraction, or sexual behavior that is not limited to one sex. In the scientific language of sexual orientation, bisexuality encompasses both heterosexual (different sex) and homosexual (same-sex) attraction or behavior. In everyday language, depending on the speaker\u2019s culture, background, and politics, that translates into a variety of popular definitions such as:<\/p>\n Some important points to note:<\/p>\n In other words, there are as many ways to be bisexual as there are bi people, just like any other sexuality.<\/p>\n Source: Bi.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Bisexuality is defined in a plethora of ways, including definitions based on behavior, attraction, or desire and may employ binary or nonbinary definitions. Research has not adequately addressed how young bisexual people themselves define bisexuality, whether those definitions change with social context, or whether bisexual people define bisexuality differently from pansexual people. Results indicate that in general, bisexual and pansexual people define bisexuality similarly. Participants modified their definitions of bisexuality depending upon the social context.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from Defining Bisexuality: Young Bisexual and Pansexual People’s Voices<\/a> – Journal of Bisexuality<\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A term used to describe individuals whose gender identity matches the gender identity [girl\/woman, boy\/man] that was assigned to them at birth. (Fish & Karban, 2015, Johnson, 2015)<\/p>\n Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A person whose gender identity is consistent in a traditional sense with their sex assigned at birth; for example, a person assigned female sex at birth whose gender identity is woman\/female. The term cisgender comes from the Latin prefix cis, meaning \u201con the same side of.\u201d<\/p>\n Source: The Fenway Institute<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Attitudes and\/or practices that preference and reinforce the experience of cisgender people at the expense of transgender and non-binary people. Examples: to assume that a sonogram can tell you the gender of an unborn child (i.e.. to assume a child\u2019s gender based on their genitalia); teaching in sexual education that there are two categories of gender\u2014male and female\u2014and that all women are born with vaginas and all men with penises. (Ferguson, 2014; Johnson, 2013)<\/p>\n Source: BUSSW Racial & Social Justice Vocabulary List<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> The pervasive system of discrimination and exclusion founded on the belief that there are, and should be, only two genders and that one\u2019s gender or most aspects of it, are inevitably tied to assigned sex. This system oppresses people whose gender and\/or gender expression falls outside of cis-normative constructs. Within cissexism, cisgender people are the dominant group and trans\/ gender non-conforming people are the oppressed group.<\/p>\n Source: LGBTQIA Resource Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> The policy, practice or advocacy of political, economic, and social equality for women.<\/p>\n Source: Feminist.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Feminism is about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It\u2019s about respecting diverse women\u2019s experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths, and striving to empower all women to realize their full rights. It\u2019s about leveling the playing field between genders, and ensuring that diverse women and girls have the same opportunities in life available to boys and men.<\/p>\n Source: International Women’s Development Agency<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A sexual orientation describing people who are primarily emotionally and physically attracted to people of the same sex and\/or gender as themselves. Commonly used to describe men who are primarily attracted to men, but can also describe women attracted to women.<\/p>\n Source: The Fenway Institute<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> This term refers to a man who is sexually and\/or emotionally attracted to other men.<\/p>\n Source: OutRight Action International<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> The adjective used to describe people whose enduring physical, romantic, and\/or emotional attractions are to people of the same sex. Sometimes lesbian is the preferred term for women.<\/p>\n Source: The Center – The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A person\u2019s gender is the complex interrelationship between three dimensions: body, identity, and social gender. Our body, identity, and social gender (how we present our gender in the world and how individuals, society, culture, and community perceive, interact with, and try to shape our gender) are three distinct, but interrelated, components that comprise a person\u2019s experience of gender. Each of these dimensions can vary greatly across a range of possibilities. A person\u2019s comfort in their gender is related to the degree to which these three dimensions feel in congruence.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from GenderSpectrum.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> A social construction that assigns particular characteristics, norms, and roles to sex and genitalia. Refers to the different roles that women and men play in society. The behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits typically associated with one\u2019s biological sex. Usually refers to those aspects of life that are shaped by social forces or to the meaning that society gives to biological differences. Do not use sex as a synonym.<\/p>\n Source: UMass Medical + UMassMemorial Health Care\u2019s Diversity + Inclusion, Diversity Toolkit<\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A system that constructs gender according to two discrete and opposite categories: boy\/man and girl\/woman. It is important to recognize that both cisgender and Transgender people can have a gender identity that is binary.<\/p>\n Source: GenderSpectrum.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> The social system that sees only two genders and that requires everyone to be raised as a man or a woman, depending on the gender assigned to them at birth.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from LGBTQIA+ Terminology – Umass.edu<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> Process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a mean. Equality is the result.<\/p>\n Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> When gender and gender identity no longer determine one\u2019s life outcomes. In terms of the workplace, that means recruitment, hiring, retention, advancement, salary, overall wellbeing, and more; when everyone has what they need to thrive professionally and are free of gender-based harassment, bias, and discrimination.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from Race Forward<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> The way a person acts, dresses, speaks, and behaves (i.e., feminine, masculine, androgynous). Gender expression does not necessarily align with assigned sex at birth or gender identity.<\/p>\n Source: Adapted from The Fenway Institute<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Gender identity refers to your internal knowledge of your own gender\u2014for example, your knowledge that you’re a man, a woman, or another gender.<\/p>\n Source: National Center for Transgender Equality<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> A person who does not necessarily identify themselves as having a fixed gender.<\/p>\n Source: Beechacres Parenting Center<\/a> Definition:<\/strong> A person who does not identify with a single fixed gender or has a fluid or unfixed gender identity.<\/p>\n Source: HumanRights Campaign.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition: <\/strong>Gender identity refers to an individual\u2019s self-perceived gender. This may be different than the sexual anatomy, the chromosomal sex, the gender role, or the sex recorded at birth (which usually simply reflects external genitalia at the time).<\/p>\n Opposite to the dogma of many years, gender identity appears a durable biological phenomenon. While individuals may make choices related to other inputs in their lives, there do not seem to be external manipulations that truly cause individuals to change gender identity.<\/p>\n Source: Boston University School of Medicine<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Gender identity refers to your internal knowledge of your own gender\u2014for example, your knowledge that you’re a man, a woman, or another gender.<\/p>\n Source: National Center for Transgender Equality<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Our deeply held, internal sense of self as masculine, feminine, a blend of both, neither, or something else. Identity also includes the name we use to convey our gender. Gender identity can correspond to, or differ from the sex we are assigned at birth. The language a person uses to communicate their gender identity can evolve and shift over time, especially as someone gains access to a broader gender vocabulary.<\/p>\n Source: GenderSpectrum.org<\/a><\/small><\/p>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n Definition:<\/strong> An individual whose gender expression is different from societal expectations related to gender.<\/p>\n Source: College of the Environment<\/a> – University of Washington<\/small><\/p>\n Definition:<\/strong> Adjective for people who do not subscribe to societal expectations of typical gender expressions or roles. The term is more commonly used to refer to gender expression (how one behaves, acts, and presents themselves to others) as opposed to gender identity (one\u2019s internal sense of self).<\/p>\nAgender<\/h3>
Androgyne<\/h3>
Aromantic<\/h3>
Asexual<\/h3>
Assigned Sex at Birth<\/h3>
Bisexual<\/h3>
\n
\n
Cisgender<\/h3>
Cissexism\/Genderism<\/h3>
Feminism<\/h3>
Gay<\/h3>
Gender<\/h3>
Gender Binary<\/h3>
Gender Equity<\/h3>
Gender Expression\/Presentation<\/h3>
Gender Fluid\/Genderfluid<\/h3>
\n<\/small><\/p>\nGender Identity<\/h3>
Gender Non conforming (GNC)<\/h3>