binary system (noun): Something that contains two opposing parts; binary systems are often assumed despite the existence of a spectrum of possibilities. Gender (man/woman) and sex (male/female) are examples of binary systems often perpetuated by our culture.

embodiment of gender: how people use or mold the body to signify gender and also how such bodywork is intertwined with subjectivity (i.e., cognition and feelings).

femininity : the attributes, behaviors, norms and roles traditionally associated with females/women.

gender expression (noun): External appearance of one’s gender identity, usually expressed through behavior, clothing, haircut, or voice, and which may or may not conform to socially defined behaviors and characteristics typically associated with being masculine or feminine.

gender identity (noun): One’s innermost feeling of maleness, femaleness, a blend of both or neither. One’s gender identity can be the same or different from one’s sex assigned at birth.

Gender policing:  The act of imposing or enforcing normative gender expressions on an someone who is perceived to be not adequately performing those gender norms via their appearance or behavior, based on their sex assigned at birth

gender roles (noun): The social behaviors and expressions that a culture expects from people based on their assigned sex (e.g., girls wear pink; boys don’t cry; women care for home and child; men are more violent), despite a spectrum of various other possibilities.

gender socialization: A process of social interaction and communication in which individuals learn and internalize the sexuality associated with their gender role and biological sex. Sexuality includes desire, power, sexual bodies, sexual acts, reproduction, sexual identity, communities, and discourses.

heterosexism: discrimination or prejudice against gay people on the assumption that heterosexuality is the normal sexual orientation. (Oxford dictionary)

identity formation:  a combination of all that surrounds someone and goes into their identity, including an individual’s personality, connections to themselves and others, and relates to one’s presentation of self, or how one portrays oneself to society through actions, expressions, and affiliations with others.

marriage equality: the same legal rights of same-sex couples to marry as opposite-sex couples and have the same supports and legal protections afterward.

masculinity: the attributes, behaviors, norms and roles traditionally associated with males/men.

queer theory: a field of critical theory that emerged in the early 1990s out of queer studies and women’s studies that emphasizes the fluidity of gender and sexualities and their performative qualities.

sexuality: a person’s capacity for sexual feelings

sexual scripts: the ideas of how males and females should behave and interact with each other in sexual manners.