Friday, August 26, 2016

Syllabus

Women and Media Fall 2016
MEDIA 384.00 
Saturdays 2:10 – 5:00pm 
Department of Film and Media - Hunter College
Professor Doris Caçoilo  :: 
  
COURSE DESCRIPTION
In this course students will be introduced to key issues and theoretical approaches in the study of women and media.  The course will explore representations of women in media as well as researching the work of women in the industry. Students will research and analyze how the media creates and challenges stereotypes, ideas of difference including exclusionary representations of minorities and women. Readings, class discussions and projects will explore how media shapes our attitudes and identities. Long a focus and a concern in feminist scholarship, critique of the media is crucial in the discussion of the representation of women in the media. The course will use a historic context of feminist media studies to interpret and analyze contemporary media examples. Students will read across various fields to interpret and critique images in various media: television, advertising, film and new media to explore women’s role and perception, women as audience and especially the importance of women as media makers. 

COURSE OVERVIEW and EXPECTATIONS
This class is intended to help students develop the ability to create thoughtful and engaging projects and writing assignments. In addition to a rigorous reading schedule students are required to write various projects for the class blog and sustain continued research and writing throughout the course in addition to the scheduled projects.  

Feedback from your classmates is a valuable resource for the improvement of your writing and your work. Critiques allow us to share our projects with others and express our intentions. The idea is to be able to understand the concept behind each work and to analyze the method of every student to determine whether they achieved their goals.  Feedback from others gives us valuable information in order to keep making progress.  For this reason, class participation is essential.

Class sessions will be divided into presentations, class discussion of the readings, and group critiques of projects. Presentations will address both theoretical and analytical issues related to women and media. Some class time will be dedicated to work on individual projects but it is the student’s responsibility to finish his/her work and present it on time. Students are responsible to be prepared for class, read all assignments on time and post all writing and projects to the blog, paying attention to technical and aesthetic presentation as well as thoughtful and well-developed content.

READINGS There are no required texts. Various weekly reading assignments will be assigned and linked on the blog and posted on Blackboard. The full reading schedule will be distributed on the blog. Readings are due each week. All readings are REQUIRED unless otherwise stated.

CLASS PARTICIPATION For each reading you must prepare two questions and two quotes or passages from the readings for class discussion. Several students will be called on in each discussion and you must have these prepared for each reading.

BLOG You must consult the class blog daily to check for announcements, readings and to post your assignments. The blog is crucial to the course and completion of the requirements. You MUST have access to the blog to complete assignments, readings, post work and comment on students’ posts.

TWITTER You must create a twitter account (if you do not have one already) we will share links and comments with each other using the class hashtag: #womenmedia
BASIC REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETION OF THE COURSE
Five writing assignments published to the blog as well as a class presentation and a final project will be developed during the semester. You must complete these in a professional manner and ON TIME. No late work will be accepted for a full grade evaluation unless previously discussed with the professor. The assignments will be related to the issues discussed in class, allowing students to explore new technologies by researching and responding to various class discussions and readings. 

Attendance and grading policy:
Attendance is required. Attendance is taken at the beginning of each class, and will be considered when determining the final course grade. 

+++More than three (3) absences will result in an 'F' (failure) for the class+++ No exceptions. This is standard policy across digital media courses. Class begins on time, so you must be punctual. Lateness, leaving early or leaving class unexcused for an extended period of time will also be recorded. Two of these instances will count as one absence. 

You are required to make up any and all work that is missed if you are absent. Notify the professor if you will be absent or e-mail asap. As work will not be accepted late, please contact the professor BEFORE the assignment is due or hand in work on time. All assignments must be finished and handed in on time to receive a passing grade for this course.

Evaluation: 
30% 5 blog posts 
10% group presentation 
40% final project 
20% participation (Contributions to class, critiques and the blog + attendance) 

NOTE: BACK-UP your work frequently, even as you are working on the projects. Write and edit your posts locally before uploading them to the web. No excuses!

* If you have a disability which will affect your coursework, please notify the instructor within the first two weeks of class to ensure suitable arrangements and a comfortable working environment. 
Contact The Office for Students with Disabilities, Hunter East 1119 Phone  (212) 772-4882 or 4891, TTY: (212) 650-3230. 
* This is a list of numbers which you can use if there is an emergency or crisis situation on the Hunter campus or if you need assistance at other times. Security -B125 West - 772 - 4444; During business hours: Medical Office - Room 307 North - 772 - 4800; Office of Student Services - 1119 East - 772 - 4882 4891 (crisis counseling available), The Women's Center - 801 East - 772 - 4931. 

Hunter's Reading/Writing center is where students receive tutoring in reading and writing skills, critical reading, and the writing process. Students can apply for a weekly appointment with a tutor and/or use drop-in services during scheduled hours. Students may also attend workshops offered at the Center throughout the academic year. http://rwc.hunter.cuny.edu/ 

Statement on Originality of the Work 
All work completed for this course must be completed by the student enrolled in the course. All work for this course must be made in this course and not fulfilling the requirements of another prior or current course unless pre-approved by the instructor. Plagiarism is a very serious academic offense that will result in penalties ranging from reduction of class grade to failure in the course. Plagiarism occurs when the ideas, images, and words, published or unpublished, of others are presented as one's own without citing the original source. Plagiarism also occurs when the papers, research, or creative works of another person are presented as one's own work. 

SCHEDULE
******PLEASE NOTE THAT THE FOLLOWING SCHEDULE IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE******ALL READINGS AND ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE SPECIFIED IN CLASS AND ON THE CLASS BLOG EACH WEEK 

All readings for each class will be listed on the class blog every week. It is the student’s responsibility to check the blog for required readings and assignments. All readings can be found on Blackboard, online (linked from the blog) or otherwise specified on the blog. 

If you ever have questions or concerns about the schedule, due dates, changes or anything else please ask me after class or e-mail me: dcacoilo@hunter.cuny.edu

Students are required to read the appropriate readings for each class, complete all assignments on time and post 2 links to twitter each week. 

Week 1: Saturday 8/27 What is Media? Culture? Gender roles? Introduction and discussion.

Week 2: Saturday 9/3  NO CLASS LABOR DAY WEEKEND

Week 3: Saturday 9/10 Ways of viewing--the gaze Readings Due. Discussion session. 
Post 1 Due on blog
On Twitter 2 tweets: #passesbechdeltest and 2 tweets: #womenmedia

Week 4: Saturday 9/17 Signifying Gender: Femininity/Masculinity Discussion. Readings Due. *Screening of Miss Representation 
Post 2 Due

Week 5: Saturday 9/24 Signifying Gender: Femininity/Masculinity Discussion. Readings Due. 
Post 2 Due *EDITED*
Group 1 presents

Week 6: Saturday 10/1 Performing Gender Discussion. Readings Due.
Group 2 presents

Week 7: Saturday 10/8 Advertising and Ownership Discussion. Readings Due. 
Post 3 Due
Group 3 presents

Week 8: Saturday 10/15 NO CLASS 

Week 9: Saturday 10/22 Body Image Discussion. Readings Due. Final project topics ideas due for class discussion.
Group 4 presents

Week 10: Saturday 10/29 Politics of Sex Discussion. Readings Due. 
Final project proposals (1-2 pages due - printed/handed in and posted to the blog.) 
Group 5 presents

Week 11: Saturday 11/5 Stories: Power, Agency, Representation. Discussion. Readings Due.

Week 12: Saturday 11/12 Stories: Power, Agency, Representation. Movies, Independent Film, TV, Literature. Discussion. Readings Due. Update of Project Proposal and Draft Bibliography due.

Week 13: Saturday 11/19 Alternative Media: New Platforms Discussion. Readings Due.
Post 4 Due

Week 14: Saturday 11/26 NO CLASS ☺ THANKSGIVING ** WORK ON YOUR PROJECTS!!

Week 15: Saturday 12/3  Media Activism, Art/New Media Discussion.

FINAL 
Week 16: Saturday 12/10 Presentation of Final Projects.
Week 17: Saturday 12/17 Presentation of Final Projects.


PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS: 
 *Weekly group presentations:
Present the work of a media artist, activist or leader who has used media to further address women’s issues, the lives of women and/or global awareness of women’s rights. A small group of students will present each week. Presentations should be organized, clear and engaging and should include a visual component in addition to a well prepared verbal presentation. Interaction with the class is highly encouraged. The presentations should be 7-10 minutes with a 10 minute discussion to follow. Discussions are facilitated by the presentation group. The topics should be relevant to the class work and should spur discussion within the classroom. Presenters must must be post a summary of the presentation to the blog BEFORE the presentation is given. Every student will present once throughout the semester. 

*Posts 1-5. 
Students must develop well-edited and researched responses to readings and discussions in class. Each post will be specific to the topics covered in class at that time and will be explained during class. Students are responsible to write and edit these posts as well as illustrate them and successfully post them to the blog for discussion and critique in class. 

*Final Project – Creating Your Own Media: A Cultural Intervention 
Based on the discussions, readings and projects presented in class and on the blog, please create a short piece of media which focuses on a social or political issue to specifically address the role of media, technology, audience, gender, owners and media makers. Your project should address how media affects the lives of women and/or how women can be instrumental in solving or raising awareness. Your project must be published and somehow distributed to your audience.

Ultimately your project should: 
  1. Be publicly visible and accessible by an audience.
  2. Provide clear criticism of a specific media narrative or aspect of popular culture. 
  3. Encourage its audience to shift their perspective and take social action. 

These must also be published to the class blog and presented in class.

The assignment can take many forms: 
-Essay with embedded images. 
-Video- music, documentary, performance. 
-Researched article or paper.
-Extensive slideshow with captions or narration (think NYTimes)
-Magazine/Zine
-Interactive Web Project/Site

*You must create a post on the blog for your final project. This will include a link to your project, a summary and explanation, images and or videos. You will present using/from your post - this will be much easier. ALL projects must be posted to the class blog and resource lists and summaries printed and handed in to me. Projects in print such as: papers, zines etc must be physically handed in to me. I have invited guests to attend our final presentations.
+ + + 

All film and media students need to be on the listserv FM-L to receive important departmental notices. Just email listserv@hunter.listserv.cuny.edu and leaving the subject line blank, write SUBSCRIBE fm-l (that's an "L" not a 1) in the body of message and you're set!

Class Screenings

Examples of previous projects:
see our previous class blogs womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.comwomenandmediasp2015.blogspot.com, and so on back several years

some selected projects:
http://womenandmediafa2011.blogspot.com/2011/12/yellow-girls.html

http://womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2015-12-11T15:38:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=6&by-date=false

http://womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.com/2015/12/final-project-childrens-book-ah-mei.html

http://womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.com/2015/12/ayo-skate-zine.html

http://womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.com/2015/12/final-project-post-intro-to-heroes.html

http://womenandmediafa2015.blogspot.com/2015/12/a-world-without-planned-parenthood.html


________________________________

Art and movies

Thu/ Yell-oh Girls http://womenandmediafa2011.blogspot.com/2011/12/yellow-girls.html

Shirin Neshat: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtYZKYgbjNU

A Stranger in Her City: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAkPFZQA6EM

Boy I Am - Sam Feder
http://www.samfeder.com/html/past.html

Fivel Rotheberg
Street Angel, House Devil

Movies

Feminist Frequency http://www.feministfrequency.com/ 
kanye misogyny: http://www.feministfrequency.com/page/2/

oscars: http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/02/womens-stories-movies-and-the-oscars/ 

super hero: http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/zach-snyders-sucker-punch-is-a-steaming-pile-of-sexist-crap/

Women Make Movies
http://www.wmm.com/

Catherine Gund
http://www.whatsonyourplateproject.org/

WAM - Women, Action and the Media
http://www.centerfornewwords.org/wam/

Feminist Movie Critique
Feminist Frequency
http://www.feministfrequency.com/2012/02/the-2012-oscars-and-the-bechdel-test/

http://www.feministfrequency.com/2011/04/tropes-vs-women-3-the-smurfette-principle/

_____________________________

Youtube - Advocacy
Street Harassment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5P4eVjwVd_U
Rape - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg1ocXCYUjQ

Youth made/Independent documentary/Advocacy/Media Literacy

Kiri Davis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyI77Yh1Gg


Coming out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prGBfYXe9x8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prGBfYXe9x8&feature=PlayList&p=A077D7CE3A453ACC&index=17

Queer in the City - Youth made video for the Global Action Project
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5doVROseluw


Media ownership/consolidation
Why Don't Women Have More Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0rbnSTrXwk&feature=relmfu

Rachel Maddow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJ7Xbmv5Xo&feature=related

Melissa Harris Perry
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46419672


Reel Girls Media Consolidation
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=reelgrrls#play/uploads/27/VZ01mj0IdTQ

Citizen Journalism - For Neda http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F48SinuEHIk

A Stranger in Her Own City http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAkPFZQA6EM

News
http://www.monaeltahawy.com/
Mona at J Street 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3U0QRR3ELxw&feature=related

Anchorman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaCSjHfVOFw
Slideshow project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mSWuF9Btzk

Why Don't Women Have More Power
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0rbnSTrXwk&feature=relmfu

Rachel Maddow
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPJ7Xbmv5Xo&feature=related

Melissa Harris Perry
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/melissa-harris-perry/46419672#46419672

Body Image
34 x 25 x 36 mannequins pbs
http://www.pbs.org/pov/34x25x36/
on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uM-0nUy7Ye0
 wet dreams and false images: http://www.youtube.com/user/jessedocs?blend=21&ob=5#p/u/41/h5_AFk9aOAA
stretch marks: http://www.youtube.com/user/jessedocs?blend=21&ob=5#p/u/24/BeLJGCPzvco
Dying to be thin - PBS http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/thin/program.html
Kilbourne on Thinness http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7143sc_HbU&feature=related

Advertising
Jean Kilbourne
KUS4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTlmho_RovY
KUS3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSTg_6N0G7w&feature=related

reelgirls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXLu1p15Rvw&feature=related

merchants of cool
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/cool/


clorox
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZeQUxSjHwU



GENDER

Thank J!
StaceyAnn Chin Feminist or Womanist
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQOmyebFVV8
All oppression is connected
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ofsVwH4O_k

misogyny media and culture
http://www.mediaed.org/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=234

sexual objectification - Ted Talk - Caroline Heldman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMS4VJKekW8&feature=youtu.be

Jackson Katz:
https://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue?language=en

Byron Hurt
http://www.bhurt.com/beyondBeatsAndRhymes.php

Byron Hurt-Beyond Beats to Rhymes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xxq7DSvJHIQ

Barack and Curtis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5YoS3bqk5g&feature=related

"No Homo"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84wHXT2KgWY
http://illdoctrine.com/

Representations of Race, Gender, Class
Lucy Lippard
Image by Mary Shaffer of Sampson and Leah Beaver and their daughter Frances Louise
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B00161E28I/ref=dp_image_text_0?ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous

bell hooks - literacy - hoop dreams http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0whHz7PLGY
OJ Simpson and spectacle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op16o9bjfMU

Kiri Davis - A Girl Like Me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWyI77Yh1Gg

Stuart Hall
visual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTzMsPqssOY
race the floating signifier http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMo2uiRAf30

Byron Hurt - Barack & Curtis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5YoS3bqk5g
Byron Hurt - Beyond Beats and Rhymes 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5q-m_t2lOg

Gender and Culture
Melissa Harris Perry - Sister Citizen: Shame Stereotypes and Black Women in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blX2YHdqUJA

Why Black Hair Matters - Melissa Harris Perry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBAObetZed8

+Melissa Harris Perry - 50 years after Feminine Mystique
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE7Etdjdxro

+The Feminine Mystique - quick look - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO304aoUAWE

Coco Channel - clothes and image http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQUMPMHCjHQ

Susan Douglas - Enlightened Feminism
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf3Jm9k31Ko

MissRepresentation - trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2UZZV3xU6Q

Sheryl Sandberg - Women Leaders CEOs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18uDutylDa4

Masculinity
Tough Guise - Jackson Katz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3exzMPT4nGI

ill Doctrine - Jay Smooth on The Gay Rapper
http://www.illdoctrine.com/2011/04/a_bit_about_mister_cee.html 

Michael Kimmel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgaOK74HqiA

Thomas Keith - The Bro Code
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKmn2OY7AMI

Gender and Presentation - Men and the Media
Melissa from Miss Representation (you tube advocacy channel)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMqNlT1PqdY

Gender Performance
++Butler - gender is performative
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo7o2LYATDc

++Melissa Harris Perry and Kate Bornstein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJOD_SYWKtI


Ways of Seeing - Male gaze and Oppositional Gaze
bell hooks
Cultural Criticism and Transformation

Madonna

Spike Lee


Makers - Women Who Make America
Barbara Smith-they don't act like us
http://www.makers.com/barbara-smith/moments/amos-andy

Oprah - someone who looks like you
http://www.makers.com/moments/someone-who-looks-you

Day One - Colin Stokes Bechdel test, gender roles, children and movies
http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_stokes_how_movies_teach_manhood.html

Beyonce at VMAs on Slate

Important Terms

Ally: Any person or institution who understands how doing anti-homophobic work benefits them and their people, and then goes ahead and does that work. Being an ally is more active than being a friend.

Bisexuality: Sexual attraction to and/or behavior with both sexes.

Biological Sex refers to the physiological and anatomical characteristics of maleness and femaleness with which a person is born.

Gender Identity refers to one's psychological sense of oneself as a male or female.

Gender Role refers to the socially constructed and culturally specific behavior and expectations for women (femininity) and men (masculinity).

Coming out: The act of defining oneself as gay or lesbian. There are significant moments and incidents of "coming out" -- to family, religious community, neighbors, colleagues. Coming out also represents the daily, ongoing need to not be made invisible in a heterosexist society.

Dyke: Many lesbians self-identify as dyke. This is not a word all lesbians feel comfortable with. It is still a loaded term that is used in a derogatory way by homophobic people.

Fluid: A term suggesting that sexuality and gender are social constructs and that it is natural to feel a certain "fluidity" in sexual attraction and identity. Fluid refers to accepting the continuum of sexual orientation from gay to straight with every nuance in between.

Gay: Traditionally, the term gay has referred to men. It has come to include lesbians, bisexuals, transgender, transexuals, etc. The word came from the Gay Liberation movement.

Heterosexism: Believing heterosexual lifestyle is superior to other lifestyles; promoting heterosexual lifestyle.

Heterosexuality: Sexual attraction to and/or behavior with the other sex.

Homophobia: The fear, intolerance, mistreatment, and oppression of homosexuality, bisexuality, lesbian women, gay men. It is often used to express the mistreatment and oppression of gay people by individuals and/or institutions.

Homosexuality: Sexual attraction and/or behavior with the same sex. sexuality, lesbian women, gay men. It often used to express the mistreatment and oppression of gay people by individuals and/or institutions.

Lesbian: Gay woman. Most lesbians prefer the term lesbian because it gives gay women an identity independent from men. There is a growing diversity of lesbian lifestyle and culture. Many lesbians self-identify as dykes.

Outed: (As in, "They 'outed' her at the meeting.") When someone tells other people that another person is gay.

Partner: A term used to describe a sweetie, loved one, wife/husband, comrade-in-life, within the gay community. It is also a term straight people consciously use for their lovers/spouses as an act against hetereosexism.

Patriarchy is the root cause of sexist oppression. It is a system of oppression which values the work of men over that of women, which privileges male culture and men oriented roles and tasks over that of women and women oriented tasks. It is a system of oppression that elevates men into positions of power and decision-making while devaluing or diminishing the contribution of or role of women. **Taken from MXGM Definitions**

It is a system of oppression, which assumes and accepts heterosexual relationships as the norm and values those relationships at the expense of others.
Patriarchy, arguably the first system of oppression learned by everyone, intersects with other systems of oppression such as white supremacy, classism and heterosexism to oppress Black women and Black LGBT/Queer people.

Patriarchy is a political-social system that insists that males are inherently dominating, superior to everything and everyone deemed weak, especially females, and endowed with the right to dominate and rule over the weak and to maintain that dominance through various forms of psychological terrorism and violence.....Bell Hooks

Privilege: A resource or state of being that is only readily available t some people because of their social group membership.

Queer: A term, loved by some gay people, hated by others, that reflects inclusion of gay, straight, transexual, transgender, bisexual, and questioning people. Outside of the gay/lesbian community, queer is a derogatory term used by homophobic people.

Questioning: Being open to defining one's sexual orientation.

Racism is the belief that there are inherent differences in people's traits and capacities that are entirely due to their race, however defined, and that, as a consequence, racial discrimination (i.e. different treatment of those people, both socially and legally) is justified.

Racism is more than a matter of individual prejudice and scattered episodes of discrimination. There is no black racism because there is no centuries-old system of racialized subordination and discrimination designed by blacks to exclude whites from full participation in rights, privileges, and benefits of this society. Black racism would require not only a widely accepted racist ideology directed at whites but also the power to systematically exclude whites from opportunities and rewards in major economic, cultural, and political institutions. While there are Blacks with anti-white prejudices, and there are instances of Blacks discriminating against whites, these ….are not part of an entrenched structure of institutionalized racism that can be found in every part of this country **Taken from MXGM Definitions**

Right: A resource or state of being that everyone has equal access to, regardless of their social group membership.

Sexism: The cultural, institutional and individual set of beliefs and practices that privilege men, subordinate women, and denigrate values and practices associated with women. Sexism is more than a matter of individual prejudice and scattered episodes of discrimination. There is no female sexism because there is no centuries-old system of sexualized subordination and discrimination designed by women to exclude men from full participation in rights, privileges, and benefits of this society. Female sexism would require not only a widely accepted sexist ideology directed at men but also the power to systematically exclude men from opportunities and rewards in major economic, cultural, and political institutions. While there are women with anti-male prejudices, and there are instances of women discriminating against men, these ….are not part of an entrenched structure of institutionalized sexism that can be found in every part of this country. **Taken from MXGM Definitions**

Sexist oppression is any force or entity that limits the self-determination of women and girls.  It is the exercise of male privilege (power and control), by individuals as well as the state and results in violence and abuse of women and girls. Sexist oppression is propagated by the state through policies and practices that adversely affect women. The result of these policies is the creation and expansion of an economic and social underclass of women who struggle to support their families while they are treated as expendable labor. **Taken from MXGM Definitions**

Sexual Orientation: Sexual orientation is the term people use to define what gender they are sexually attracted to. A person who has a sexual attraction to members of the opposite gender is called heterosexual (or straight), while someone who has a sexual attraction to members of the same gender is a homosexual person. Sexual orientation is a continuum, not a set of absolutely different categories. It is not known what determines a person's sexual orientation.

Social Power: Access to resources that enhance one's chances of getting what one needs in order to lead a comfortable, productive and safe life.

Transgender: This has become a catchword for transvestites, transexuals, female and male impersonators, drag queens, those without a specific gender label.

Transsexual: Changing to another gender: surgically, chemically, and/or aesthetically.

Gender non-conforming refers to people whose gender expressions do not match stereotypes of how girls/women or boys/men are "supposed to" look and act. In reality, most people in general don’t meet all gender expectations and stereotypes either; almost nobody is perfectly masculine or perfectly feminine. The reason gender nonconforming people are included in the list of transgender people is that there are some people who identify as transgender but are not transitioning gender, and do not consider themselves cross-dressers, androgynous, or gender queer. Gender non-conforming people have an increased need for safety while in the shelters.

Two-spirit: The definition of a two-spirit person varies across the Native American cultures in which they appear. In general, two-spirit people are born one sex, and end up fulfilling the roles assigned to both sexes, or other roles reserved for two-spirit people. Some people consider two-spirit a term that can refer to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, while others think it is best used only for transgender people.

Transphobia is the negative valuing, stereotyping and discriminatory treatment of individuals who do not conform in appearance and/or identity, to conventional conceptions of gender. Trans-identified (transgendered) individuals, lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and their supporters are typically the targets of transphobia.

Taken from:

additional resources for definitions and terms: