Feminist glossary
This is a glossary of the main concepts, terms and neologisms in feminism.
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Feminism
The theory holding that men and women should have equal rights socially, politically and economically, as well as a range of political and social movements geared towards achieving this equality.
Anarcha-feminism
Feminism melded with anarchism, seeing the way to gender equality in the dismantling of hierarchical structures in society. Also called anarcho-feminism.
Black feminism
Feminism focussed on the representation of black women.
Chicana feminism
A movement representing Chicana and Latina women. Also known as Xicanisma.
Ecofeminism
A joining of feminism with ecological concerns based on a perceived connection between the causes of the subjugation of women and of the environment.
Indigenous feminism
Feminism combined with concerns about indigenous sovereignty, focussed on decolonization and the empowering of indigenous women.
Individualist feminism
Feminism holding that gender equality can be achieved through equal rights for all individuals without respect to gender.
More often than not, this is a euphemism for libertarian anti-feminists who want to co-opt the label in order to prop up their oftentimes reactionary criticisms of feminism.
Intersectional feminism
Feminism concerned with the ways in which the type of oppression experienced by women is effected by their other identities, such as ethnicity, sexuality, transgender status etc.
Lesbian feminism
A current of feminism advocating that women direct their energies toward other women rather than men, seeing lesbianism as the practical application of feminism.
Liberal feminism
Feminism encouraging women to achieve and maintain their own equality through their own actions and through campaigning for political and legal reform. In a sense, the polar opposite of radical feminism.
Lipstick feminism
Lipstick feminism can be seen as a reaction to the common prejudice that feminists are ugly and hate sex. They embrace, among other things, the idea that wearing make-up and suggestive clothing can be empowering for women.
Mainstream feminism
Feminism as promoted to and accepted by relatively large numbers of people. In recent years, it has come to mean fourth-wave feminism as promoted through celebrities and through popular feminist blogs like Everyday Feminism or Feministing.
Postmodern feminism
Feminism intertwined with postmodern theory and ideals, usually seeing gender and ideas of the feminine as constructs of language. A conscious departure from what is perceived as the "modernist" polarity of liberal vs. radical feminism.
Radical feminism
Feminism based on the idea that an inherently patriarchal society and its institutions are the foundation of women's oppression and must be radically overhauled to achieve equality. To some extent, the term has been hijacked by nominally feminist groups and individuals with anti-sex work and anti-trans views, who use "radical feminist" as a political euphemism in a similar manner to "gender-critical".
Separatist feminism
A type of radical feminism holding that feminists should completely avoid all forms of contact with men. In a sense, the extreme endpoint of lesbian feminism.
Sex worker-exclusionary radical feminism
Radical feminism hostile to and exclusionary of sex workers, seeing their work as colluding with the oppression of women. Adherents are called SWERFs for short.
Trans-exclusionary radical feminism
Radical feminism that excludes transgender women and does not see them as real women. Adherents are referred to as TERFs.
Socialist feminism
A current of feminism holding that patriarchy is connected to capitalism, and that gender equality should be achieved through ending both the economic and cultural sources of oppression.
Transfeminism
Feminism emphasizing the liberation of transgender women and challenging cissexism.
White feminism
Feminism that does not acknowledge the ways in which non-white women may experience sexism differently to white women. It is used to criticize white feminist women who are perceived to be racist. Usually a derogatory term.
Womanism
A social theory geared toward the representation of African-American women. Coined by Alice Walker
Women of color feminism
Feminism focussed on the concerns of women of color.
Waves of feminism
Periods of activity in feminist history.
First-wave feminism
The feminist movement encompassing the 19th and early 20th century, focussed primarily on women's right to vote. The same period also saw women gain the right to education, including a university degree, and as a result to pursue professions such as medicine, and the acceptance of women as legal persons able to own property, etc.
Second-wave feminism
The period of feminism beginning in the 1960s, working towards equal rights for women in other areas, such as equal pay. This period included the push for an Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution. It also saw greater reproductive rights including legalization of abortion in the US and UK.
Third-wave feminism
Beginning in the 1990s, with a focus on individual identity and increasing the inclusiveness of feminism through intersectional theory, in order to represent the unique perspectives of women from a wide variety of demographics, such as women of color and LGBT women. It often focused on individualism and self-expression (e.g. riot grrl), and generally aimed to be less anti-sex and anti-fun than earlier generations.[1]
Fourth-wave feminism
The most recent wave, beginning in about 2012 and concerned primarily with combatting cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and violence against women.
Sexism
Sexism is discrimination based on a person's gender or sex.
Benevolent sexism
Superficially favorable attitudes, words and actions toward women which are actually based on sexist beliefs.
Hostile sexism
Sexism as expressed by overt antagonism towards women.
Institutionalized sexism
Sexism against women upheld by society and its institutions.
Internalized misogyny
Misogynic attitudes and behaviours displayed by a woman.
Internalized sexism
Sexist attitudes toward women as internalized by a woman, manifesting as part of her self-concept.
Male chauvinism
The attitude that men are categorically superior to women, as held by a man.
Misogynoir
Hatred of and discrimination against black women; an intersection of misogyny and racism.
Transmisogyny
Hatred of and discrimination against transgender women; an intersection of misogyny and transphobia.
Sex- and body-related concepts
Bodily autonomy
The principle of having control over one's own body. Relevant to discussions about reproductive justice.
Body positivity
The advocacy of loving one's own body exactly as it is.
Lactivism
Women's activism to remove stigma from breastfeeding in public.
Male gaze
The depiction of women from a masculine point of view as sexualized objects. Coined by film studies academic Laura Mulvey
No means no
An anti-rape slogan emphasizing consent.
Pro-choice
The stance advocating for a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy if she chooses.
Rape
A crime broadly defined as any sex act with someone who has not consented to it.
Rape culture
The normalization and pervasiveness of rape in society as a result of prevailing attitudes towards gender and sexuality.
Reproductive justice
A woman's freedom to make her own decisions regarding reproduction and pregnancy.
Sex-positivity
A positive attitude toward and valuing of sexual freedom, sexual identities and consent.
Sex strike
The withholding of sex from one's partner as a form of boycott or protest, with the aim of achieving a certain goal, such as ending war or violence.
Sexual consent
The expression of uncoerced agreement to participate in sexual activity.
Sexual harassment
Unwanted sexual advances in a workplace or other professional situation where negative repercussions could result from refusal.
Sexual objectification
The treatment of a person as nothing more than a vehicle for one's own desire.
Slut-shaming
The shaming of a woman or girl for being or feeling sexual or having sexual partners.
SlutWalk
An ongoing trans-national movement calling for an end to rape culture.
Topfreedom
A movement seeking to remove legal prohibition and social stigma from women going topless in public.
Yes means yes
An extension of No means no, further stipulating that sexual consent is only valid if expressed explicitly.
Law- and work-related concepts
Androcracy
Government in which the rulers are men.
Career woman
A woman who considers her job, and success in her work, to be important in her life. This phrase is somewhat outdated, and can carry sexist and derogatory connotations.
Double burden
The workload of someone who has to earn a living and perform unpaid domestic duties in the home.
Double day
The extended working day associated with a double burden.
Emotional labor
Term coined by Arlie Hochschild in 1983 to refer to the need for women to keep smiling and present a cheerful countenance, especially in service jobs, while men are more allowed to be grumpy, cold, or neutral in workplaces. Today the term has been expanded to refer to a wide range of soft skills, life management, and domestic tasks.[5]
Gender pay gap
The difference between the average earnings of women and men.
Glass ceiling
A metaphor to describe barriers that stop even the most high-achieving women from rising to the level of power enjoyed by their male counterparts.
Bamboo ceiling
The glass ceiling concept as applied specifically to Asian or Asian-American people, particularly women.
Brass ceiling
The glass ceiling concept as applied to women in law and military professions.
Glass escalator
The phenomenon of men who enter traditionally female-dominated fields of work being quickly promoted over the women.
Nineteenth Amendment
The 19th amendment to the United States constitution, granting women's suffrage in 1920.
Occupational segregation
The separation of people of different demographic characteristics - usually men and women - into different types of working roles within the workplace.
Pink-collar worker
Someone who works in care-oriented professions, or in any field traditionally associated with women.
Second Shift
A synonym for double day.
Title IX
A law in the United States, ratified in 1972, protecting equal opportunity for women in sports, as well as in public education. Initially the focus was on ensuring women's college sports received the same funding as men's, but more recently it has been a focus of Obama-era attempts to combat sexual harassment and sexual violence, and in the 2010s trans rights.[6]
Women's suffrage
The right of women to vote in elections.
Other feminist concepts
Androcentrism
The centering and normalization of men and men's perspectives, to the exclusion of women and non-binary people.
Bechdel test
An imprecise gauge of the presence of women in media, based on the proportion of works that feature two named women who converse about something other than a man. Named for Alison Bechdel
Mako Mori test
A variation on the Bechdel test, gauging the proportion of works that feature a named woman who has her own narrative arc that does not exist to support the narrative arc of a male character.
Brocialist
A male who exhibits socialist or progressive ideology but still manages to be a sexist.<ref>How to Spot a Brocialist: The Guys With Righteous Politics but a Dodgy Attitude to Girls by Sasha Borissenko (10.4.16) Vice.
Cinderella complex
A phrase coined by feminist author Collette Dowling
Foresister
A feminist of a previous generation.
Gender neutrality
The principle of avoiding letting a person's gender affect their treatment or the roles relegated to them.
Gender performativity
A theory produced by feminist Judith Butler
Gender-neutral language
Language and words intended to avoid bias towards one gender.
Herstory
A neologism referring to the presentation of history from a feminist perspective.
Heteropatriarchy
Related to patriarchy; the organization of society in such a way that heterosexuality and cisgender men are favored and given more institutional power than women and LGBT demographics.
Male privilege
The idea that men in society have unearned benefits and privileges not available to women simply by virtue of being men.
Malestream
The idea that mainstream social science findings are biased towards a masculine perspective, which is assumed to be applicable to women as well.
Men's rights movement
An antifeminist movement based on the belief that men, not women, are the real victims of societal discrimination and oppression. Adherents usually assert that feminism has overshot its mark and harmed men.
Patriarchy
The organization of society in such a way that men hold more institutional power than women.
The personal is political
A rallying cry from second-wave feminism, opining that women's personal experiences reflect and are caused by larger political and patriarchal structures.
Phallocentrism
A figurative synonym for androcentrism.
Postfeminism
Any movement reacting to any of the waves of feminism, working to either build on it, address perceived shortcomings, or oppose its continuation.
Pro Feminism
Support of feminism by people who are not deemed to be or do not identify as part of feminism; this term is sometimes used for men, in which case it is the inverse of antifeminist men.
Protofeminism
Fundamentally feminist ideas appearing in a time period before the onset of the feminist movement.
Purplewashing
Presenting an idea or action as feminist while concealing its antifeminist aspects. Is oftentimes used by critics of pornography and sex work as a means of calling out the more oppressive elements of sex-positivity.
Sisterhood
The concept of unity between all women as sharing a universal experience; an important term in second-wave feminism.
Straw feminism
Deliberate misrepresentations of feminism with the straw man fallacy.
Toxic masculinity
Dysfunctionally excessive adherence to stereotypical male gender roles such as aggression, domination and repression of emotions.
Trans inclusivity
The inclusion of transgender women in feminist discussions and in safe spaces.
Triple oppression
The early 20th century theory that the three main oppressions faced by black women - racism, sexism and classism - are connected and must be overcome simultaneously. Somewhat of a precursor to intersectionality.
Women of color
An umbrella term encompassing all non-white women, including those of African, Asian, Latin or Native American descent.
Women-only space
An area where only women are allowed, serving as a space where women can be away from men.
Women's studies
An academic field encompassing study of women and the relationship between gender and politics.
Womon; womxn; womyn
An alternative spelling of woman/women, coined in order to exclude the word "man". Oftentimes used by TERFs as a euphemism for their views.
Gender-identity-related terms
Biological sex
The state of being male, female, intersex or other as defined by physical markers such as sex organs, hormones, gametes and chromosomes.
Cisgender
Identifying as the same gender as the one assigned at birth.
Cissexism
Transphobia as normalized by social systems.
Gender
Any conceptualization of the sociological and behavioural characteristics traditionally associated with a particular biological sex. This term may also refer to gender identity, gender expression or gender role. "Woman" and "man" are the genders traditionally associated with the biological sexes of "female" and "male" respectively.
Gender binary
The classification of gender into two mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories of man and woman, thus excluding people who are nonbinary, gender fluid etc.
Gender-critical
A political self-identifying euphemism used by trans-exclusionary radical feminists.
Gender essentialism
The theory that gender is an externally-measurable attribute tied to biological sex, regardless of self-identity.
Gender expression
One's external presentation and communication of masculine, feminine or other gender through behaviour, dress, mannerisms, personality etc.
Gender identity
The subjective sense of self as being a man, a woman, somewhere in-between or other.
Gender role
A socially-imposed role of being a man, woman or other gender based on one's perceived sex, along with the behaviours and attitudes that are traditionally considered socially acceptable or appropriate for this role.
Transfeminism
Transgender-inclusive feminism; the opposite of TERF.
Transgender
An umbrella term encompassing all individuals who identify as a gender other than the one assigned at birth.
Transphobia
Discrimination against transgender people.
Womyn-born womyn
A cisgender woman. This political term is primarily used in the context of trans-exclusionary radical feminism, encompassing only women who were assigned female at birth and thus excluding transgender women.
Relevant social justice concepts
Atheism Plus
A social movement encouraging progressive atheists to embrace feminism and other social justice issues.
Consciousness raising
Activism aiming to raise the population's awareness of social inequality.
Intersectionality
A theoretical framework which studies how individuals experience privilege and oppression differently according to their combination of different social identities, such as ethnicity, gender, sexuality etc.
Kyriarchy
The concept of a system of interconnected oppressions of different minority groups, in which a person may be privileged for some things (such as being white, and cisgender) but also marginalized for other things (such as being disabled, and gay). Related to intersectionality.
Microaggression
Words or actions regarded as relatively subtle and usually unintentional discrimination or bigotry towards a marginalized group.
Oppression
The unjust domination and subjugation of a demographic of people.
Social justice
Movements to advocate for the poor or members of other marginalized demographics.
Trigger
Anything that causes someone to relive a traumatic experience.
Trigger warning
A caution that the material lying ahead may contain triggers for people who have been through trauma.
Internet neologisms, portmanteaus and abbreviations
Broflake
A derogatory term for a (usually white, heterosexual and conservative) man who is easily offended by advocacy for marginalized demographics.
Bropriation
(Of a man) The stealing of a woman's idea to present as one's own without giving due credit.
Feminazi
A derogatory term, often used in alt-right circles, for feminists who are perceived to be either sexist against men, dare to say something the alt-right doesn't like, or who speak out about topics not believed to be important or real, eg. sexism in the media, rape culture, gender pay gap, etc. Some may also use the term "femistasi".
Libfem
Liberal feminism or a liberal feminist.
Mansplaining
(Of a man) Explaining to a woman something related to her own direct experiences in a way that condescendingly assumes superior knowledge.
Manspreading
The occupying of an undue amount of space by a man spreading his legs wide, in a context where this causes inconvenience or cramping for others.
Not all men
A defensive response based on a misinterpretation of complaints about sexism as generalizations of all men. The phrase has become a popular antifeminist hashtag.
Radfem
Radical feminism or a radical feminist.
Woke
Educated and aware of social justice issues. Also, this term has been appropriated by the alt-right.
Feminist eponyms
Beauvoirian
Relating to French feminist and existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir
Bloomerism
An early form of feminism, named for American 19th century women's rights activist Amelia Bloomer
Butlerian
Pertaining to American feminist and gender theorist Judith Butler
Dworkinian
Relating to American radical feminist Andrea Dworkin (1946-2005).
Dworkinite
A supporter of Andrea Dworkin and her philosophy.
Friedanian
Relating to American feminist writer and activist Betty Friedan
Gilmanian
Relating to American feminist writer and sociologist Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Hooksian
Relating to American feminist writer bell hooks
Paglian
Relating to American feminist social critic Camille Paglia (b. 1947).
Richian
Relating to American radical feminist essayist Adrienne Rich
Showalterian
Relating to American feminist literary critic Elaine Showalter
Wittigian
Relating to French feminist author Monique Wittig
Wollstonecraftian
Relating to English protofeminist author Mary Wollstonecraft
See also
- Feminism
- LGBTQ orientation glossary
- MRA glossary
- Transgender glossary
References
- What Is Third‐Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay, R Claire Snyder, Signs, Vol. 34, No. 1 (Autumn 2008), pp. 175-196 (22 pages)
- See the Wikipedia article on Male gaze.
- Film Theory 101 – Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze Theory, Film Inquiry, Oct 27, 2015
- Masculinity, the Male Spectator and the Homoerotic Gaze, Patrick Schuckmann, Amerikastudien / American Studies, Vol. 43, No. 4, Engendering Manhood (1998), pp. 671-680
- Why was everyone talking about emotional labour in 2018?, Sophie Wilkinson, BBC Three, 24 December 2018
- See the Wikipedia article on Title IX.