A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Supportive association with another person or group; such association with the members of a marginalized or mistreated group to which one does not belong.
Example: A white heterosexual individual allys with the LGBTQIA+ community by being present at activism events, placing the importance of LGBTQIA+ individuals present at said events ahead of their own importance without seeking special attention for being supportive, and graciously accepts correction from LGBTQIA+ individuals if they use inappropriate terminology rather than becoming defensive and claiming authority that is not theirs. LGBTQIA+ Allyship is not a label one gives themselves; it is a label that is bestowed upon an individual by the group to which the individual is allying and can be revoked at any time.
The name that a transgender person was given at birth and no longer uses upon transitioning.
Example: Missing Transgender individuals are often listed by their deadname on media announcements of their disappearance, which does not serve to assist in locating them and continues to traumatize the missing individual should they see this information circulating.
An individual’s authority over a topic or subject matter due to an individual’s direct lived experience and personal interaction with said subject matter, as opposed to authority over a topic or subject matter from academic experience\.
Example: A Transgender individual has experiential authority above cisgender people in regard to the social struggles of Transgender people, having personally faced the challenges endemic to the Transgender experience.
A concept which is used to examine the attribution of fixed, intrinsic, innate qualities to women and men. In this theory, there are certain universal, innate, biologically or psychologically based features of gender that are at the root of observed differences in the behavior of men and women.
Example: Gender Essentialism is the basis of the TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism) movement, which seeks to invalidate the experiences of Trans women by claiming they are not actually women at all.
The result of marginalization of multi-dimensional social identities which reflect underlying power structures that produce inequality, that is more than the sum of individual risk factors.
Example: A disabled Transgender person experiences intersectional marginalization in the form of not receiving appropriate support from organizations due to existing in the intersection of multiple at-risk identities.
To refer to a Transgender person using a word, especially a pronoun or form of address, that does not correctly reflect the gender with which they identify.
Example: Media outlets and national missing persons organizations often misgender Trans missing and murdered persons to an extreme degree, using gendered language notably more frequently than they would when referring to a cisgender missing or murdered person.
The authority an individual grants to another individual, group, or organization based on instinct, social norms, accepted beliefs, etc., as opposed to authority an individual grants to another individual, group, or organization based on that individual’s critical reasoning for the reason for that authority.
Example: A White middle-class citizen grants perceived authority to law enforcement based on the societal belief that law enforcement is infallible and has the best interests of the general public in mind; whereas a low-income person of color may not have that perceived authority based on their personal experience of being underserved or harmed by law enforcement.
The continued damage done to an individual after their death due to negligence or bias against that individual’s social identity or class in life.
Example: A transgender deceased person experiences postmortem violence when police reports or media continue to use the individual’s deadname or incorrect pronouns when describing them.
Inherent advantages possessed by a person on the basis of their role in a society characterized by inequality and injustice.
Example: A white heterosexual male may feel perfectly comfortable asking for directions from a stranger in a city is a privilege. A Transgender person of color does not have this privilege as any stranger in a city may potentially cause them physical harm.
The indirect trauma that can occur when an individual is exposed to difficult or disturbing images and stories second-hand.
Example: Transgender individuals experience vicarious traumatization when they are exposed to the deadnaming and misgendering of other transgender people, homicidal violence against LGBTQ+ individuals, and other signs of bias against the LGBTQ+ community.
An ideology that is acted upon when a person within a social majority, from a position of superiority, attempts to help or rescue a minority person or community without that minority’s input or involvement.
Example: A predominantly cisgender, heterosexual, white-led organization attempts to address the needs of Transgender missing and murdered persons without consulting or including Transgender people in the discussion and utilizing their experiential authority, which results in the organization using offensive terminology and unhelpful methods due to their unconscious incompetence.
The implication that a non-participant to an abusive action is aware of said abusive action and, although possessing some degree of ability to act, chooses to neither show support or condemnation of the abusive action.
Example: A coworker of a Transgender person who is witness to another coworker or supervisor displaying blatant transphobic behavior towards the Transgender employee, and chooses to not report the incident to management, is silently complicit to the abusive behavior.
The risk of systemic violence due to class-based economic exploitation and cultural, gender/sexual, and racialized discrimination and the processes of symbolic violence and subjectivity formation that have increasingly legitimized punitive discourses of individual unworthiness.
Example: A Black Transgender woman is subject to structural vulnerability due to being a member of multiple marginalized social classes, which may lead to financial instability, insufficient health care, employment instability, etc.
irrational fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against transgender people.
Example: Insistence on and legislation to insist that Transgender people should use public restrooms designated for their assigned sex at birth, or exclusively the accessible or family restroom even if a Transgender person wishes to use and is comfortable using the restroom designated for their actual gender, is a transphobic practice.
a person or group which excludes the rights of transgender women from their advocacy of women's rights.
Example: Prominent TERFs in the UK have recently been using eliminationist rhetoric to advocate for reducing the number of Transgender people in the world, even if they are happy. TERF groups also advocate for the removal of all Trans-related health care.
The phenomenon of an individual performing an action incorrectly or believing a false fact without realizing that it is false or incorrect.
Example: An otherwise well-meaning citizen circulates a missing Transgender person’s information using their deadname and incorrect pronouns without realizing that this is harmful.
The action or practice of publicly expressing opinions or sentiments intended to demonstrate one's good character or the moral correctness of one's position on a particular issue, for their own personal gain and attention while actively silencing or harming the community they claim to be supporting.
Example: An individual in a social majority announcing “I have Black friends” or “my cousin is Trans” when convenient, in order to silence others from those groups.