Diversity Terms

Question 1

Ally

Answer 1

Someone who makes the commitment and effort to recognize their privilege (based on gender, class, race, sexual identity, etc.) and work in solidarity with oppressed groups in the struggle for justice

Question 2

Cisgender

Answer 2

A person whose gender identity, expression, or behavior aligns with those typically associated with their assigned sex at birth.

Question 3

Colorblind

Answer 3

The belief in treating everyone “equally” by treating everyone the same; based on the presumption that differences are by definition bad or problematic, and therefore best ignored

Question 4

Cultural Misappropriation

Answer 4

When a cultural fixture of a marginalized culture/community is copied, mimicked, recreated or commodified by the dominant culture against the will or approval of the original cultural group.

Question 5

Diversity

Answer 5

All the ways in which people differ, and it encompasses all the different characteristics that make one individual or group different from another.

Question 6

Implicit Bias

Answer 6

Negative associations that people unknowingly hold. They are expressed automatically, without conscious awareness.

Question 7

Inclusion

Answer 7

Authentically (and Intentionally) bringing traditionally excluded individuals and/or groups into processes, activities, and decision/policy making in a way that shares power.

Question 8

Internalized Oppression

Answer 8

Believing and behaving based on lies, prejudices, and stereotypes about one’s own cultural group.

Question 9

Microaggressions

Answer 9

The everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, which communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to target persons based solely upon their marginalized group membership.

Question 10

Personal Gender Pronouns

Answer 10

The pronoun or set of pronouns that an individual personally uses and would like others to use when talking to or about that individual.

Question 11

Privilege

Answer 11

Unearned access to resources (social power) only readily available to some individuals as a result of their social group.

Question 12

Race

Answer 12

Identity group based on such factors as biological heritage, physical appearance, cultural affiliation, early socialization, and personal experience.

Question 13

Racism

Answer 13

Race prejudice + social and institutional power

Question 14

White Fragility

Answer 14

The outward display of emotions (such as anger, fear, and guilt) and behaviors (such as argumentation, silence, or leaving the stress-inducing situation) to defend or reinstate white racial equilibrium.

Question 15

Xenophobia

Answer 15

Hatred or fear of people from other countries or of their politics or culture.

Question 16

Whiteness

Answer 16

A term created by Virginia slave owners and colonial rules in the 17th century to distinguish European colonists from Africans and indigenous peoples.

Question 17

BIPOC

Answer 17

An acronym used to refer to the collective experiences of systemic racism by people who are black, Indigenous, and other people of color.

Question 18

Transgender

Answer 18

People whose gender identity and/or expression is different from cultural expectations based on the sex they were assigned at birth.