Glossary

A Nigerian Hausa term meaning “men who act like women.”

The state of being cast off. Poststructural explorations find the term’s use inherently disturbing to conventional identity and cultural concepts. One who is abject has been rejected.

An asexual person is known as ace, and they have asexual relationships.

The acronym formed from acquired immune deficiency syndrome, a chronic disease caused by the HIV virus that has disproportionately affected the LGBTQ+ community (particularly gay men, bisexual men, trans women, and men who have sex with men).

Fixing the system from within, trying to fit into the status quo; integrating.

Positive or negative affective evaluations of someone or something.

Intolerance or bias toward an identity or group of people.

Romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior toward both males and females or toward more than one sex or gender.

A couple with children from previous relationships.

Approaching problematic behavior or language with sympathy; asking why the behavior occurred, explaining why it is oppressive, and devising a new course of action collaboratively.

Approaching problematic behavior or language combatively; striving to shame a group or individual for their behavior to serve as a warning to others.

An aesthetic that privileges poor taste, shock value, and irony and poses an intentional challenge to the traditional attributes of high art. It is often characterized by showiness, extreme artifice, and tackiness.

Viewing all people as cisgender, or those whose gender aligns with the sex assigned at birth.

The substance of a story, typically entailing narrative, characters, and dialogue.

Also known as degeneration theory; nineteenth-century theory that homosexuality and bisexuality were akin to criminality, alcoholism, and drug addiction.

The kin or relatives outside the nuclear or single-parent family; may include aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, or others related by blood or marriage.

People who identify themselves as having a third-gender or nonbinary role in Samoa, American Samoa, and the Samoan diaspora. It is a recognized gender identity or gender role in traditional Samoan society and an integral part of Samoan culture. Fa’afafine are assigned male at birth and explicitly embody both masculine and feminine gender traits in a way unique to Polynesia.

In the context of human society, a group of people related by either consanguinity (by recognized birth), affinity (by marriage or other relationship), coresidence (as implied by the word’s etymology, from the Latin familia), or some combination of these.

A deliberately chosen group of people that satisfies the typical role of family as a support system. These people may or may not be related to the person who chose them.

Describes the union of two women in marriage in many African cultures, including the Nandi of Kenya.

A member of a population of homosexual males with markedly feminine gender expression in traditional Neapolitan culture. The plural is femminielli.

The way a story is told, including choices such as editing, cinematography, wardrobe, and framing.

School-based organizations of LGBTQ+ youth and allies who meet to support LGBTQ+ students. This can involve advocacy and activism, as well as a social component.

The range of characteristics pertaining to, and differentiating between, masculinity and femininity. Depending on the context, these characteristics may include biological sex (i.e., the state of being male, female, or an intersex variation), sex-based social structures (i.e., gender roles), or gender identity. Some societies have genders that are in addition to male and female and are neither, such as the hijras of South Asia; these are often referred to as third genders. Some anthropologists and sociologists have described fourth and fifth genders.

The classification of gender into two distinct, opposite, and disconnected forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system or cultural belief.

The distress individuals feel if their gender identity does not match their sex assigned at birth.

The distress a person feels because of a mismatch between their gender identity and their sex assigned at birth.

A person’s behavior, mannerisms, interests, and appearance that are associated with gender in a particular cultural context, specifically with the categories of femininity or masculinity.

The external presentation of gender, through body language, pronoun choice, and style of dress.

The personal sense of one’s gender, which can correlate with assigned sex at birth or can differ from it.

A behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms.

Behavior or gender expression by an individual that does not match masculine or feminine gender norms. Also called gender nonconformity.

Hormone therapy in which sex hormones and other hormonal medications are administered to transgender or gender-nonconforming individuals to more closely align their secondary sexual characteristics with their gender identity.

Also known as sex reassignment surgery; surgical procedures by which a transgender person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble those socially associated with their identified gender.

Biologically, an organism that has complete or partial reproductive organs and produces gametes normally associated with both male and female sexes.

A societal belief that makes heterosexuality the default and assumes that everyone is heterosexual until proved otherwise; normalizing heterosexuality and othering any other identity or experience apart from heterosexuality.

Policies, beliefs, and behaviors that assume everyone adheres to the gender binary, or that everyone is heterosexual.

Viewing all people as heterosexual, or those who feel attraction to the “opposite” sex.

Bias that suggests that heterosexuality, or heterosexual relationships, are superior to any other relationships (e.g., queer, gay, lesbian).

Policies, beliefs, or behaviors enacted by straight people that discriminate against queer people.

Romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between persons of the opposite sex or gender.

A eunuch, intersex, or transgender person. Hijras are officially recognized as a third gender in countries on the Indian subcontinent and considered neither completely male nor female.

A political and sometimes narrative approach that works to establish LGBTQ+ lives as no different from straight lives beyond the genders one is attracted to. It is an assimilation-based approach that invokes the rhetoric of sameness in appeals for civil rights and social acceptance.

Fear or hatred for queerness and queer people.

A person with a romantic attraction to, sexual attraction to, or sexual behavior with others of the same sex or gender.

In psychology, the qualities, beliefs, personality, looks, or expressions that make up a person (self-identity) or group (particular social category or social group).

The event of LGBTQ+ individuals first identifying their sexual or gender identity.

A measure of the probability of occurrence of a given medical condition in a population within a specified period of time.

Heterosexism that an individual believes and therefore replicates and incorporates internally.

Overlapping or intersecting social identities, such as race, class, and gender, and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.

Individuals born with any of several combinations in sex characteristics, including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals.

People born with any of several variations in sex characteristics, including chromosomes, gonads, sex hormones, or genitals.

Used by sexologists, primarily in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, to refer to homosexuals. Sexual inversion was believed to be an inborn reversal of gender traits: male inverts were inclined to traditionally female pursuits and dress and vice versa for female inverts.

In Thailand, describes a male-to-female transgender person or person of a third gender or an effeminate homosexual male.

The preferred term of members of the hijra community in India, referring to the mythological beings that excel at song and dance.

Another term for kathoey.

The word for “in the middle” in Kanaka Maoli (Hawaiian) and Maohi (Tahitian) cultures describing third-gender persons with traditional spiritual and social roles within the culture.

The recognition of same-sex marriage as a human and civil right, as well as recognition by law and support of societal institutions.

Health disparities often found in minority groups can be explained in part by the discrimination they endure, and this discrimination causes stress and illness; Ilan Meyer developed this sociobehavioral theory.

A sociological model, as proposed by Ilan Meyer, explaining why sexual minority individuals, on average, experience higher rates of mental health problems relative to their straight peers.

A meeting place in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century England, generally taverns, public houses, or coffeehouses, where homosexual men could socialize or meet sexual partners.

In Zapotec cultures of Oaxaca (southern Mexico), a person who is assigned male at birth but who dresses and behaves in ways otherwise associated with women; the person may be seen as a third gender.

Literally meaning “male colors” in Japanese and widely used to refer to male-to-male sex in premodern Japan.

An umbrella term for every practice or philosophy of nondyadic intimate relationship that does not strictly hew to the standards of monogamy, particularly that of having only one person with whom to exchange sex, love, and affection.

Couples who have children and who engage consensually in sexual activities with other adults outside each couple.

Deep, close, relationships between two or more people who may engage consensually in sexual activities with others outside the relationship.

A couple and their dependent children; typically assumed to be a heterosexual couple.

The sexual, romantic, or emotional attraction toward people regardless of their sex or gender identity.

Formerly known as Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; an organization that supports the family and friends of LGBTQ+ people as they seek to understand and affirm their LGBTQ+ loved ones.

The practice of, or desire for, intimate relationships with more than one partner, with the consent of all partners involved. A polyamorous family is one made up of more than two sexual or romantic partners and their dependent children.

The proportion of a particular population affected by a condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seat belt use).

A field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of the fields of lesbian and gay studies and women’s studies. Queer theory seeks to challenge and overturn sex and gender binaries and the normative expectations that support those binaries.

A Tanala Malagasy term referring to third-gender males who adopt the behavior and roles of women.

Also known as gender-affirming surgery; surgical procedures by which a transgender person’s physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble those socially associated with their identified gender.

People who have sexual identities that are not straight, including but not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and pansexual.

The way people experience and express themselves sexually and involving biological, erotic, physical, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors.

Pathogens that are commonly spread by sexual activity, especially vaginal intercourse, anal sex, and oral sex.

The Japanese words for “the ways of teenage and adolescent boys,” respectively.

A one-parent-headed family (typically one parent with a dependent child or children).

Stress that emanates from a person’s relationships with other people, other communities, and the general social environment.

Refers to social anthropology and cultural anthropology together, focusing on the study of human culture and society.

Negative, positive, or neutral beliefs about the members of a group that are often unsubstantiated.

A subtle and indirect form of prejudice toward a group that can manifest as the rejection of the policies and initiatives that are designed to help that group achieve equality while also expressing support for the equality of that group.

The Maori word meaning a devoted partner of the same sex.

A concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman.

A concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman.

The condition of individuals who experience a stressful or traumatic event and who not only bounce back but flourish as a result of the event.

A federal law banning discrimination based on sex at schools receiving federal funding. This includes harassment and discrimination for failing to conform to gender expectations and is interpreted to often include LGBTQ+ persons.

A West Sumatran term for women who dress like men and have relationships with women.

Evolving from sex assigned at birth to gender identity.

In South America, a gender identity describing people assigned male at birth who take on a feminine gender role and gender expression, especially through the use of feminizing body modifications such as hormone replacement therapy, breast implants, and silicone injections.

A modern umbrella term used by some Indigenous North Americans to describe Native people in their communities who fulfill a traditional third-gender (or other gender-variant) ceremonial role in their cultures.

The Japanese term for “young person” (although never used for girls); it is a historical Japanese term indicating an adolescent boy, and in Edo-period Japan, considered as suitable objects of erotic desire for young women, older women, and older men.