Definitions
These are terms commonly used by stereotyping and prejudice researchers.
Ableism
Ableism is defined as the systemic discrimination against people with disabilities.
Ageism
Discrimination, prejudice, or stereotyping against individuals or groups based on age.
Cisgender
A cisgender person is an individual whose gender identity is the same the identity they were assigned at birth.
Discrimination
Treating a person differently from others based solely or primarily on a person's membership in a social group.
Double Standard of Aging
The way that society views aging in women differently than in men.
Ethnocentrism
A way of viewing and judging other cultures based on the knowledge of one’s own culture and ethnicity, without considering that culture’s unique beliefs and practices.
Gender Binary
The gender binary refers to the concept of there being only two genders.
Group Privilege
An unearned favored state conferred because of one's race, gender, or sexual orientation.
Heteronormativity
Heteronormativity, the combination of cultural or religious values, social laws, and privileges that insinuates heterosexual attraction is the only natural sexuality, is how society understands sexual orientation and gender.
Internalized Oppression
When a stigmatized group uses the methods of the oppressing group to oneself.
Intersectionality
The concept that our experiences are uniquely shaped by how our individual identities intersect.
Microaggressions
Brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial slights and insults toward non-Whites. Microaggressions usually involve demeaning implications and other subtle insults against social group members because of their race/ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability status or other social category membership.
Minority Stress
Minority stress refers to the unique stress that is associated with individual's belonging to a stigmatized group, which can lead to minority individuals' negative lived experience because of environmental hostility from stigma, prejudice, and discrimination, increasing their vulnerability of overall wellness.
Model Minority
An idea that a particular minority group has achieved high levels of socioeconomic success.
Nonbinary
A gender identity that is used when an individual does not feel their gender identity can be defined within the gender binary (e.g., man or woman).
Person-First Language
A way to approach identity status in a more inclusive way when speaking.
Prejudice
An attitude directed toward people because they are members of a specific social group.
Racial Color-blindness
A strategy utilized in attempt to avoid conflict where one attempts to "ignore" racial and ethnic identity in others. This strategy often does more harm than good.
Schema
Schemas are like mental filing systems that help us organize information. They can be useful for shortcuts but also harmful when they result in stereotypes.
Sexuality Labels
On this page, we include a limited list of some of the more common labels used when talking about sexual identity.
Sexual vs. Romantic Attraction
Definitions of these two different forms of attraction that help clarify discussions of identity, especially when talking about the ace spectrum.
Stereotypes
Beliefs and opinions about the characteristics and behaviors of members of various groups; can be both negative and positive.
Transgender
Transgender is an umbrella term that typically describes any people who do not identify fully with the gender assumed for them based on their sex assigned at birth.
