Aesthete:
a person who has an extreme appreciation for art and nature; a so-called fleshly poet.
Assimilationist:
an LGBTQ activist who prioritizes civil rights, arguing the similarity of LGBTQ people to the heterosexual mainstream.
BCE (Before the Common Era):
a synonym for BC (Before Christ) used in the fields of archaeology and anthropology.
Beat culture:
a 1950s counterculture movement, including writers such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Diane DiPrima. The term Beat describes both a sense of being “beaten down” by conservative forces and a desire to march to the beat of a different drummer.
Belle Époque:
French for “Beautiful Era”; a period of relative peace and stability in Europe beginning in the late 19th century and lasting until World War I. This era saw advances in technology and the first “modern” art.
Bestiality:
use of an animal for human sexual gratification.
Bisexual:
a person who is sexually attracted to people of both sexes.
Buggery:
anal intercourse.
Butch:
a lesbian gender characterized by performing stereotypical masculinity; also refers to gay men.
Cisgender:
term used by trans theorists to identify those whose gender corresponds to their biological sex.
Congenital:
inborn.
Cross-dressing:
the wearing of clothing characteristic of a different gender; one who cross-dresses is sometimes referred to as being in drag.
Culture wars:
a term used primarily in the 1980s in the United States to describe the conflict between conservative or traditional views and those considered liberal or progressive.
Decadence:
a period of perceived “decay” or decline, specifically within a generation or society; most often used to describe the European 1890s.
Diaspora:
ancient Greek for “scattering”; refers to a group expelled from their homeland and scattered throughout the world, specifically Jews and Africans.
Dildo:
a penis-shaped object used for sexual stimulation.
Drag king:
a woman who dresses as a man and performs masculinity (see also Drag queen).
Essentialism:
a theory that a trait is innate rather than acquired.
Etiology:
the study of origins and causes.
Eunuch:
a castrated male.
Femme:
a lesbian gender characterized by performing stereotypical femininity; also refers to gay men.
Fetishism:
sexual arousal using inanimate objects.
Fin de siècle:
French for “end of the century”; a term referring to the last decade of the 19th century.
FtM or F2M:
a female-to-male transsexual.
Fundamentalism:
a religious movement where followers adhere strictly to a literal interpretation of sacred texts.
Gender:
learned behaviors and attitudes supposed to correspond with biological sex.
Gender dysphoria:
another name for gender identity disorder.
Gender inversion:
see Inversion.
Hegemony:
influence of a dominant and normalized group over other groups.
Heteronormative:
characterized by the presumed hegemony of heterosexuality over other forms of sexual expression.
Homophile movement:
a movement in the mid-1900s in which gay men and lesbians refused to accept that homosexuality was a sickness; through groups such as the Mattachine Society and the Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), they embraced their homosexuality and worked to gain acceptance from society.
Homophobia:
the fear of homosexuals or homosexuality.
Intersectionality:
a theory that seeks to examine the ways in which socially and culturally constructed categories interact on multiple levels to manifest themselves as inequality in society. Intersectionality holds that the classical models of oppression within society, such as those based on race or ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, class, or disability do not act independently of one another.
Intersex:
born with genitalia that cannot be definitively classified as male or female; hermaphrodite.
Inversion:
a term used by late 19th-century sexologists to describe performance of gender behavior or sexual desire thought to be appropriate only for the “other” sex.
Masochism:
the derivation of pleasure from pain.
Monolithic:
characterized by uniformity and resistance to change.
Monosexuality:
identifying as a single (hetero- or homo-) sexuality as opposed to more fluid constructions (bi-, pan-, etc.).
MtF or M2F:
a male-to-female transsexual.
Paroxysm:
obsolete term for a female orgasm.
Pederasty:
a sexual relationship between an adult man and a boy.
Pedophile:
an adult who is sexually attracted to children.
Plymorphous perversity:
the largely Freudian theory that all humans are both with most of their body capable of erotic stimulation, which over time becomes focused on certain body parts, like the genitals
Progressive:
favoring reform or change.
Queer:
a word once used as a taunt against gay people, now reclaimed as an umbrella term to signify the diversity of LGBT identities and to assert the value of difference.
Sadism:
the derivation of sexual gratification through the infliction of pain on others.
Sadomasochist:
one who derives sexual gratification through inflicting or receiving pain; the word sadomasochist combines the words sadism and masochism.
Self-actualization:
a psychological term for realizing one's full potential.
Sexologist:
a medical doctor specializing in the study of sexual behavior.
Sexology:
the pseudo-scientific study of human sexual behavior and identity.
Sex-positive:
embracing sexual openness without ethical distinction among sexual expressions or identities.
Sexual inversion:
see Inversion.
Sexual libertarianism or sexual libertinism:
the view that it is not wrong to engage in any noncoercive sexual conduct.
Snuff:
pornography that depicts the killing of a human being.
Social constructionism:
a theory that assumes that many personal identifications—same-sex attraction, for instance—develop through interaction with the surrounding environment.
Social media:
the various, generally digital, forms of communication that allow users of different electronic platforms to share content and communicate with one another. Examples include Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Sodomy:
oral or anal sexual intercourse.
Splice:
to cut and manipulate DNA to insert genetic material.
Strategic essentialism:
the conscious deployment of essentialism as an argument against discrimination; in terms of queer activism, using the assumption that same-sex attraction is innate to argue for gay rights.
Teleological:
if everything has an inherent purpose and a final cause.
Tommy:
late 19th-century term for a boyish or passing woman.
Transition:
to undergo a process whereby your body is altered, usually medically or through hormones, to match one’s perception of gender identity
Trans-misogynoir:
a combination of transphobia, misogyny, and anti-Black racism aimed particularly at Black trans women and drag queens.
Transvestite:
an obsolete term for a cross-dresser; a person who derives erotic gratification from dressing in clothing presumed by the dominant culture to be that of the other sex.
Urnings:
a term invented by Karl Heinrich Ulrichs to describe a third sex comprising gay people, whom he theorized displayed visible physical differences from heterosexuals.
Zap:
a quick and unexpected direct action designed to cause disruption or discomfort to make a political point.