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Ze/Zir Ze/Zir is one of the most widely used neopronouns. The first recorded us of them was by philosopher Richard Creel in 1997. ​ < Back to Glossary

Hijra In the Indian subcontinent, hijra are eunuchs, intersex people, or transgender people who live in communities that follow a kinship system known as guru-chela system. ​ < Back to Glossary

VAWG VAWG is an acronym for "Violence Against Women and Girls". This umbrella term covers domestic violence, homicide, sexual assault and harassment, honour-based abuse, stalking, coercion and controlling behaviour inflicted upon women and girls. VAWG is not limited to physical violence and has been shown to have long term impacts on the mental health of victims. See also: Sexism, Sexual Harassment, Misogyny, Transmisogyny < Back to Glossary

Education Awareness of issues and prejudices can go a long way to help us alleviate their effects in our workplaces and the society we live in. Educating ourselves plays a major role in minimising the mental and emotional burden on individuals from marginalised backgrounds – be it through the content available on the internet or organizational resource kits created to educate about the challenges each group might be facing, and the right interactive behaviours. This could also involve looking at specific relevant actions to demonstrate your allyship. See: Allyship. < Back to Glossary

Creativity We all operate in a highly competitive, global environment; making creativity crucial. Creativity isn't just artistic talent, but the ability to problem solve, spot patterns, imagine, generate big ideas and think outside the box. Creative thinking and intuition based decision making are powerful differentiators in business and in life. Creativity is innate to humanity, and is an important part of our humanity. We are creative when conditions in our minds are just right. When we have access to our intellect, knowledge, and experience, our brains can light up with new idea. Simply put, we need to be in the right emotional state in order to be creative — brain functioning affects creativity and how we feel affects brain functioning. But unfortunately, that’s easier said than done in today’s chronic stress-inducing society. If you want to tap into your innate creative abilities, you need to interrupt the cycle of negative thoughts and emotions. Start by creating more space for yourself and prioritising your wellbeing. Mindful creative activities can also be an invaluable outlet when we are seeking release from internalised and external stresses. See: Mindfulness & Stress. < Back to Glossary

HIV Stigma HIV stigma is negative attitudes and beliefs about people with HIV. It is the prejudice that comes with labeling an individual as part of a group that is believed to be socially unacceptable. ​ < Back to Glossary

Vaginoplasty A genital surgery to construct a vagina that some trans women and trans feminine people choose to undergo. ​ < Back to Glossary

Manifesto A public statement stating your views or your intention to do something. A manifesto advances a set of ideas, opinions, or views, but it can also lay out a plan of action. While it can address any topic, it most often concerns art, literature, or politics. Manifestos have long been used by Activists as a tool in Civil Rights Movements. ​ < Back to Glossary

URM An abbreviation for Under-Represented Minorities. Some institutions have defined sub-groups within larger racial/ethnic minority groups that are particularly under-represented relative to their size. For example, in a given field, Mexican-Americans may be an under-represented minority, even if Hispanic people are otherwise proportionately represented. ​ < Back to Glossary

Post-Traumatic Growth In psychology, Post-traumatic growth is a concept describing positive psychological change experienced as a result of struggling with highly challenging, highly stressful life circumstances. See: Adversity, Growth and Resilience. < Back to Glossary

Social Media Social media can be an important tool for connection, information sharing and for finding community. Social media has allowed queer people who live all over the world to find a common space to access community. However, social media can also expose queer people to abuse and harassment, facilitated by how easy it is for perpetrators to remain anonymous. See: Dox and Dogpile. < Back to Glossary

Validation In its simplest terms, validation means when you express your understanding and acceptance of another person's internal experience, whether you agree or not. Validation is the glue that maintains all of our relationships. By accepting another person's feelings, we help that person to feel heard and understood. See: Allyship and Compassion. < Back to Glossary

Sport Communities that participate in sport and recreation develop strong social bonds, are safer places and the people who live in them are generally healthier and happier than places where physical activity isn't a priority. See: Collaboration, Community, Movement and Play. < Back to Glossary

Asexuality A person who does not experience sexual attraction. Some asexual people experience romantic attraction, while others do not. Asexual people who experience romantic attraction might also use terms such as gay, bi, lesbian, straight and queer in conjunction with asexual to describe the direction of their romantic attraction. ​ < Back to Glossary

Hypervigilance Hypervigilance is an individual’s heightened awareness to threat or potential threats in their surroundings. Living with hypervigilance can be exhausting, causing individuals to constantly be on alert or perceive threats when they are not there. Hypervigilance can manifest as withdrawing from social situations, concealing one’s identity or constantly scanning environments for perceived threats. People from historically marginalised backgrounds often develop hypervigilance due to chronic exposure to stigma, discrimination and violence. The cumulative negative mental health effects on marginalised people as a result of their identity is known as “minority stress”, and it is particularly common in individuals who have multiple intersectional marginalised identities. ​ < Back to Glossary

Ableism Beliefs or practices that rest on the assumption that being able-bodied is “normal” while other states of being need to be “fixed” or altered. This can result in devaluing or discriminating against people with physical, intellectual or psychiatric disabilities. Institutionalised ableism may include or take the form of un/intentional organisational barriers that result in disparate treatment of disabled people. See: Accessibility, Inter-able, Neurodiverse & Autism. < Back to Glossary

Sex Work Sex workers are adults who receive money or goods in exchange for consensual sexual services or erotic performances, either regularly or occasionally. Sex work has always been relevant to queer and trans communities, both as a livelihood option and as an issue that critically informs the space between social and political margins. ​ < Back to Glossary

Identity The term identity itself was coined in the 1960’s and it was originally described as 'relating to the self'. Identity is often described as a construct. What that eludes to is that it’s made of different elements, characteristics, affiliations, and social roles. Elements or characteristics of identity would include race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, political affiliations, religious beliefs, profession, and so on. Some of these aspects we are born into, some we have learnt (behavioural), some we’ve chosen, and some even change over time. It's important to remember that identities are self-determined, and always intersectional. One identity does not exist on its own, but continuously overlaps with others. We are not single-identity beings, but multi-hyphenate individuals. It's also worth recognising that we’re not portraying the same identities in every situation. As members of a minority group, sometimes in public this is for safety and security. We can also choose to apply varying levels of importance on each of our identities in different environments. For example certain aspects might play out more with family Vs with friends Vs at work. See: Intersectionality. < Back to Glossary

Indigiqueer Indigiqueer is another term sometimes used alongside or to refer to the Two-Spirit identity; more often it is a term used by some LGBTQ+ Indigenous people who do not self-identify as Two-Spirit, or by those who identify with both. ​ < Back to Glossary

Native Hawaiians The culture and heritage Native Hawaiians encompasses social behaviours, institutions, and norms practised by the original residents of the Hawaiian islands, including their knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits. Humans are estimated to have first inhabited the archipelago between 124 and 1120 AD when it was settled by Polynesians who voyaged to and settled there. (See: Polynesian and Pacific Islanders) < Back to Glossary