Gender and Sexuality Studies Glossary

The privileging of masculine perspectives, norms, and experiences as the default or universal standard against which all others are measured.

A term describing a person whose gender identity corresponds with the sex they were assigned at birth.

Adrienne Rich's concept that heterosexuality is a political institution enforced through social, economic, and cultural mechanisms rather than a natural default.

The performance of gender, typically in an exaggerated fashion, often for entertainment. Drag challenges the notion that gender expression is fixed or natural.

The belief that categories of people (such as men, women, or specific racial groups) have inherent, fixed characteristics. Gender studies scholars generally critique essentialism.

A range of social, political, and economic movements and ideologies that share the goal of defining and achieving political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes.

The classification of gender into two mutually exclusive categories of masculine and feminine, which gender studies scholars critique as failing to account for the diversity of gender identities.

The external manifestation of gender identity through clothing, hairstyle, behavior, voice, and other characteristics. May or may not conform to socially expected norms.

A person's internal sense of their own gender, which may or may not correspond to the sex they were assigned at birth or to their gender expression.

R.W. Connell's concept describing the culturally dominant ideal of manhood that legitimizes patriarchal power and subordinates women and non-dominant masculinities.

The cultural and institutional assumption that heterosexuality is the standard, normal, or default sexual orientation.

A framework analyzing how overlapping systems of oppression based on race, gender, class, sexuality, and other axes create distinct experiences of marginalization.

An acronym referring to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer/Questioning, and additional sexual and gender minority identities.

Laura Mulvey's concept describing how visual arts and media depict the world from a masculine, heterosexual perspective, objectifying women for male pleasure.

A gender identity that does not fit exclusively within the categories of man or woman. Nonbinary people may identify as both, neither, or as a different gender entirely.

The treatment of a person as an object or thing, particularly the sexual objectification of women's bodies in media, advertising, and everyday interactions.

A social system in which men hold primary power in political, economic, familial, and cultural spheres, and in which women and gender minorities are systematically disadvantaged.

Judith Butler's theory that gender is not an innate quality but is brought into being through repeated stylized acts, creating the appearance of a stable gender identity.

An umbrella term reclaimed from its pejorative use to describe non-normative sexual orientations and gender identities. Also used as a verb meaning to challenge normative categories.

A human rights framework asserting the right to have children, not have children, and parent children in safe and supportive environments, with attention to racial and economic equity.

Gayle Rubin's concept describing the set of social arrangements by which biological sexuality is transformed into gendered human activity and social organization.

The pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attraction to others, commonly categorized as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, asexual, or other identities.

The epistemological position that knowledge is socially situated and that marginalized groups may have distinctive insights into how power structures operate.

Cultural norms of masculinity that are harmful to men and society, including emotional suppression, aggression, dominance, and the devaluation of femininity.

A term for people whose gender identity differs from the sex they were assigned at birth. An umbrella term that includes a variety of gender identities and expressions.