WORD BANK

Gender is a social and cultural categorization of the body. Scholar and biologist Julia Serano uses “gender” in her book Whipping Girl to refer to “various aspects of a person’s physical or social sex, their sex-related behaviors, the sex-based class system they are in,” or any combination of these.

This gender categorization varies depending on time period and geographical location. The gender binary is a popular gender model that places bodies into two oppositional categories: men and women.

Queer is an umbrella term finding renewed popularity in the LGBTQ community. It originally meant “different” or “odd” and came to be used as a derogatory slur intended to shame homosexuality. Now “queer” is being reclaimed as a word that steps up to the plate when other labels fall short of describing an identity. In her 1996 book Queer Theory: An Introduction, scholar Annamarie Jagose explains “queer focuses on mismatches between gender, sex and desire.”