Social Justice Glossary
Hi there! If you’re new to social justice - especially tumblr social justice - then I definitely recommend looking up some terms that pop up in almost every discussion. I know there are a fair amount of blogs that say “we’re not here to educate you!”, but the internet has a lot of incomplete information about, well, everything. Therefore, I decided to compile a list of terms commonly used in social justice debates. If I missed anything, or screwed up the definitions, please message me!
Oppression: “The exercise of authority or power in a burdernsom, cruel, or unjust manner.” (dictionary.com) The term “oppressed” means a group is treated unfairly by another group that has more power. For example, in the U.S. and Canada, the LGBTQ community is oppressed in that they are more likely to be bullied in schools and in the case of the U.S., same-gender couples are not allowed to marry in several states.
Patriarchy: The theory that (cis)men are in an inherently more powerful place in society, and that they take the role of “oppressor”.
Kyriarchy: As defined by Wikitionary, kyriarchy is “A system of ‘ruling and oppression’ in which many people may interact and act as oppressor or oppressed.”
Intersectionality: As said on Wikipedia (which DOES have merits despite what teachers are obligated to tell you), intersectionality “holds that the classical conceptualisations of oppression within society do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate.”
Privilege: there are many kinds of privileges: white, cisgender, heterosexual, male, able, middle-class or wealthy, etc. A privilege is an advantage you have that in some way prevents other groups from fully accessing their own rights. For example, a cisgender person has cis privilege, which means they do not have to worry about violence based on their gender identity the way transgender and gender non-conforming people do. Privilege is given by the social hierarchy and not obtained by an individual. Privilege is very difficult to realise for people who actually have them. However, privilege is not a one-sided thing.
Feminism: the belief that all genders should be treated equally, but on its way, feminism gets into a ton of bullshit.
Rape culture: the idea that our culture condones rape by making jokes about it and blaming the victim.
Slut-shaming: shaming a person (usually a woman) based on the way they dress and/or their promiscuity.
Misogyny: the hatred of women, which can be as subtle as objectification and sandwich/kitchen jokes.
Misandry: the hatred of men. Some feminists insist misandry does not exist because men are in a position of the “oppressor”, but hating men is hating men which is misandry.
Victim-blaming: most often used in cases of rape, victim-blaming is the idea that we as a culture tend to put preventative responsibilities on the victim rather than the perpetrator.
Objectification: when a person is put on a pedestal, whether sexually or achievement-oriented. A woman can be objectified as a slim sex object; a man can be objectified as a hulking superhero (very simple comparisons, of course).
For gender identity/trans* related terms, please check out this awesome glossary by erinhoudini! You can find terms such as transgender, genderqueer, cisgender, and gender identity on this awesome glossary.
Asexual: someone who does not experience sexual attraction.
Demisexual: someone who experiences sexual attraction only when an emotional connection is established
Aromantic: someone who does not experience romantic attraction.
Grey-A: Please see this article here
For asexual/demisexual/grey-a related terms, please check out AVENwiki!
Ableism: discrimination against people who are disabled (mentally and physically)
(I have more resources on ableism on my Resources page; please take a look!)
