Self-Defined
A modern dictionary about us. We define our words, but they don't define us.
For now, this stands as a list only, from which you can self-educate.
Future phases will include definitions and resources.
Participate
Send unlisted words to or chat about volunteering to help: @tatianatmac on Twitter.
A-E
- Ablelism
- American
- African
- Asian
- Black
- Indigenous
- Ambulatory Wheelchair
- Ancestors
- Anti-blackness
- Anxiety disorders
- aromantic
- Asian
- East
- South
- Southeast
- asexual
- Auto Immune Disorder (AIDS)
- assigned at birth
- Attraction
- Aesthetic
- Platonic
- Sexual
- Autism spectrum
- Bias
- bierasure
- bipolar
- Bisexual
- Black Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME)
- Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC)
- Black
- men (BM)
- people (BP)
- women (BW)
- Brown
- Bropropriating
- Burka
- Child of a Deaf Adult (CODA)
- cisgender
- Climate change
- Colonial narrative
- Colonialism
- colorism
- Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- cultural appropriation
- Demi
- -boy
- -girl
- -romantic
- -sexual
- deaf and Deaf
- Disability
- disabled
- discordant couples
- Discrimination
- Dominant culture
- Dominant culture habits
- Ehlers-Danlos Syndromes (EDS)
- Egalitarian
- Empathy
- enby
- English as a Second Language (ESL)
- Entitlement
- Equality
- Equity
- Fem
- Femme
- Ethnicity
F-L
- Gender
- Cis
- -Fluid
- Trans
- Queer
- Gender confirmation surgery (GCS)
- genderqueer
- Genocide
- Governmentality
- gray ace
- Gray asexuality
- Hard of Hearing (HOH)
- hegemonic
- Hermaphrodite
- pseudo, male and female
- High-Functioning
- Hijab
- Hispanic
- Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
- Homophobia
- hormone Replacement therapy (HRT)
- Illness
- Chronic
- Immigrant
- Impact
- Implicit bias
- Indigenous
- Inherent
- Intent
- internalized oppression
- Intersectionality
- intersex
- invisible disabilities
- Jihad
- Latinx
M-S
- Marginalized
- Matriarchy
- Medication sensitive
- Militarization
- Minorities
- Minoritised
- Misogynoir
- Neurodivergent
- Neurotypical
- non binary
- -Normative
- cis
- hetero
- Oppression
- Internalized
- Other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFED)
- Panic attacks
- Pansexual
- -passing
- female-
- male-
- white-
- Parachuting
- Patriarchy
- Performative allyship
- People of Color (PoC)
- People with disabilities
- -phile
- andro
- gyne
- Platonic
- Queer
- Polyamory
- Positivism
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
- power
- Poz
- Prejudice
- Pride
- Pride, First (Anti-Police Riots)
- Prophylaxis
- Pre-exposure (PreEP)
- Post-exposure (PEP)
- Privilege
- Cis
- Monosexual
- White
- Race
- Racial
- Contract
- Formation
- State
- Raciology
- Racism
- Racist
- Savior
- White
- Semitic
- Serodiscordant
- settler
- colonial mentality
- Sexual
- assault of a minor
- orientation
- Socially constructed
- Solidarity
- -Splaining
- cis
- man
- white
- Spirit animal
- Systematic
- Systemic
T-Z
- Top-down approach
- Totemic animal
- Tawhid
- Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF)
- Trans
- gender
- man
- masculine
- phobia
- woman
- Tribe
- Triggers
- Two-spirited
- Undetectable=Untransmittable (U=U)
- Undetectable
- Unqueer
- Indigenous
- Vertigo
- Visual
- Vestibular migraine
- Violence against women and girls (VAWG)
- Viral Load
- White
- feminism
- fragility
- -ness
- supremacy
- woman tears
- people (WP)
- women (WW)
- White supremacist capitalist patriarchy
- womanism
- Women and people of colour
avoid
minorities noun
the smaller in number of two groups constituting a whole
Issues
Minorities is not always accurate. As it deals with numbers, often the insinuation of racial minorities is inaccurate, as communities of colour often outnumber white communities.
Impact
By repeatedly referring to groups as "minorities," they are being infantised and made to feel minor.
Alt Words
minoritised, or omit
Better Alternate
minoritised adj
groups resulting from social constructs have grant less power or representation compared to other members or groups in society
Benefits
Minoritised places the emphasis on the power struggle, and on the systemic issues at play. It's also an adjective, which requires you to add "group" or "people" so it's people-first language
Impact
It removes the pejorative nature of "minorities".
Alt Words
minorities, or omit
avoid
English as second language (ESL) noun
the teaching of English to people who speak a different language and who live in a country where English is the main language spoken
Issues
Monolinguist, English-only speakers often refer to people who don't speak English natively as "ESL" or say they are learning a "second language". More often than not, this is not true, as many people are multi-lingual with 3 or more languages
Impact
It makes false assumptions about English learners, centres English as the "default" or "expected" first language, ignoring that many people learn multiple (>3), non-English languages first.
Alt Words
English as learning-language (ELL), or non-native, or omit (because do you really know, for sure?)
avoid
women and people of colour noun
often used as a phrase to encompass "non-white, non-men," seeking to provide solidarity for these two groups
Issues
What happens to women of colour? As a woman of colour, I am split between both women and people of colour.
Impact
As such, it elicits feelings of erasure for women of colour. It also neglects non-binary individuals.
Alt Words
people of colour and white women or people of colour, white non-binary people, and white women, find ways to reframe why this dynamic exists, or omit