Accomplice: We define accomplices as those who proactively have our backs over time – whether we are in the room or not. Accomplices are people and institutions we actively work together with, deepening mutual trust and collaboration towards a shared vision. The Indigenous Action Media differentiates between allies and accomplices in this way: “The risks of an ally who provides support or solidarity (usually on a temporary basis) in a fight are much different than that of an accomplice. When we fight back or forward, together, becoming complicit in a struggle towards liberation, we are accomplices.”
Anti-Blackness: The racialized hierarchy created by white supremacy that devalues and demonizes blackness. This most frequently presents itself as prejudice, racial animosity, and racialized resentment towards people of African descent, especially those who conform less to white supremacist ideals. Adapted from Partners for Collaborative Change.
Base: PWN defines our base as anyone who can be activated to consistently support policy, advocacy, culture change, and power-building goals set by PWN members and leaders.
Cisgender: is a person whose gender identity and gender expression align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
Gender Expression: A person’s gender expression is how their gender is communicated to and perceived by the outside world (through things such as clothing and mannerisms, for example). Gender expression is shaped, in part, by societal roles and cultural expectations around gender. For example, someone who identifies as a woman may dress in clothing that is seen as feminine because of the expectations of what “women” should wear. However, a person’s gender expression may or may not reflect their gender identity. See https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
Gender Identity: a person’s gender identity is their internal experience and personal understanding of their gender, which may or may not align with the sex they were assigned when born. A person’s gender identity may or may not match their gender expression. See https://www.genderspectrum.org/quick-links/understanding-gender/.
Gender Non-Conforming (“GNC”) refers to someone who does not conform to prevailing cultural and social expectations for gender, through things such as appearance, behavior, or pronouns used. There is a good explanation (in a video) here: https://everydayfeminism.com/2017/01/gender-non-conforming/
Gender Justice: PWN defines gender justice as an aspirational vision where people of all genders are equally valued and where gender does not influence vulnerability to violence, oppression, access or marginalization in any form. PWN defines a gender justice analysis as one which accounts for oppression and inequitable access based on gender in creating and proposing solutions.
Intersectionality: analysis of the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination, disadvantage, and power.
Latinx: a gender-neutral alternative to “Latino” or “Latina”. Many people of Latin American descent identify with the term Latinx because it is seen as more inclusive of intersecting identities and people who are LGBTQ and nonbinary and gender nonconforming. See https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/why-people-are-using-the-term-latinx_us_57753328e4b0cc0fa136a159.
Member: A member of PWN-USA is any self-identified woman, person of trans experience, non-binary person or gender non-conforming person living with HIV who chooses to identify as a PWN member, regardless of level of disclosure regarding their HIV status, involvement in advocacy, or the sex they were assigned at birth.
MIPA: meaningful involvement of people with HIV/AIDS (MIPA), especially those communities most impacted by the epidemic in health care decisions, research, and policies that impact them. MIPA is an important advocacy principle that was first articulated by activists living with HIV and AIDS in the Denver Principles in 1983. PWN and the US People Living with HIV Caucus have worked in recent years to extend the definition of MIPA to address the importance of addressing barriers to involvement presented by race, class, lack of formal education, economic opportunity, gender identity, age and other factors so that involvement by people living with HIV is not achieved through power-neutral mechanisms. See https://www.aidsunited.org/resources/meaningful-involvement-of-people-with-hivaids-mipa?docid=78.
Misogyny: has traditionally referred to hatred of women and/or people and things associated with femininity. Today, misogyny is understood as the hatred of women who do not conform to sexist beliefs about what and how women should be. Misogynists believe women are inferior to men and that women should be sexually available to men and that women’s most valuable roles are as wives, mothers and sex objects. Misogyny is often expressed as a disgust toward and/or hatred of women who have or seek independence or power, who stand up for themselves and make their own decisions or who refuse to be sexualized by men. See https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mysteries-love/201503/what-is-misogyny-anyway.
Non-Binary: refers to a gender identity that is not exclusively “male” or “female.” Non-binary may mean something different to each person who uses it to describe themselves but, in general, nonbinary refers to being outside of the gender binary, which is a Western concept that there are only two genders – male/man and female/woman. For example, a person who identifies as nonbinary may experience their gender as both male and female, or neither male nor female. See https://www.healthline.com/health/transgender/nonbinary and https://transequality.org/issues/resources/understanding-non-binary-people-how-to-be-respectful-and-supportive
Patriarchy: a sociopolitical and cultural system that values masculinity over femininity, and which perpetuates the subordination of women (and those who are gender nonconforming or associated with femininity) by men. In the United States, patriarchy perpetuates the gender binary (the idea that everyone is either a man or a woman) and reinforces rigid gender roles, resulting in persistent gender-based inequality in economic opportunities, parenting and family expectations, political representation, violence, and many other areas of life. In the context of advocacy and leadership spaces, patriarchy may also present itself in the form of systemically undervaluing perspectives, leadership and voices from cisgender women and people of trans experience. See https://everydayfeminism.com/2014/11/what-is-patriarchy/ and https://everydayfeminism.com/2013/05/patriarchy-and-how-it-shows-up-for-everyone/.
People-First Language: is a way of describing people that emphasizes the person rather than an attribute they may have. By placing the word “person” first, a disability or condition is no longer conveyed as the primary, defining characteristic of an individual, but one of several aspects of a whole person. The use of people-first language recognizes that our words and the meanings we attach to them create attitudes, drive social policies and laws, influence our feelings and decisions, and affect people’s daily lives. For example, saying “person living with HIV” rather than “HIV-positive person”. See https://www.thearc.org/who-we-are/media-center/people-first-language.
Racial Equity: is the opposite of racial inequity – the unequal distribution of power and resources that is systematically maintained by social and political institutions. Racial equity will be achieved when race no longer determines one’s socioeconomic outcomes or opportunities. Racial equity can only be achieved when people of color are meaningfully involved in the creation and implementation of the institutional policies and practices that impact their lives. See http://www.centerforsocialinclusion.org/our-work/what-is-racial-equity/.
Racial Justice: is the pursuit of systematic fair treatment of people of all races, resulting in equitable opportunities and outcomes for all. Using a racial justice analysis requires admitting that racism is real, harmful, and consequential for people of color. It goes beyond the concept of “colorblindness” to acknowledge that there are real inequities and injustices experienced by people of color in the present and the past. PWN’s approach to racial justice seeks to proactively change the laws, policies, structures and systems, public and private, that perpetuate these inequities and demands that inequities in access, opportunity, and cultural relevance are taken into account when planning programs, policies and designing systems. See https://www.colorlines.com/articles/building-new-racial-justice-movement.
To Center: to uplift analysis, priorities, narratives, and messaging that come from a group of people. For PWN, when we say we center the experiences of most impacted communities, it means that our advocacy is focused on and informed by the needs of communities that will be most impacted or disproportionately impacted by an issue, that we seek to uplift their voices and stories in our messaging, and that they are in leadership and decision-making roles when we set priorities.
White Supremacy: is a system or social order that keeps power and resources consolidated among white elites, using an ideology (or way of understanding the world) that upholds whiteness—including white people, white cultural values, and white institutions—as being best or most “normal.” According to critical race theorist Frances Lee Ainsley, white supremacy is “a political, economic and cultural system in which whites overwhelmingly control power and material resources, conscious and unconscious ideas of white superiority and entitlement are widespread, and relations of white dominance and non-white subordination are daily reenacted across a broad array of institutions and social settings.” For some examples of how white supremacy presents itself in our society, see https://radicalcopyeditor.com/2017/04/21/white-supremacy/.
WLHIV: WLHIV is an acronym for women living with HIV. PWN uses “WLHIV” in our documents and resources to refer to any self-identified women, people of trans experience, nonbinary and gender non-conforming people living with HIV who choose to identify as PWN members.
Women of Color/People of Color (WOC/POC): is a general and imperfect category used to describe non-white women/people in the US; however we recognize that use of this term can mask anti-Blackness and can render communities invisible. PWN uses these words in this document to describe any non-white women/people in the United States, with an emphasis on Black, Latinx and Indigenous women who are the racial and ethnic communities most affected by HIV domestically. Further, we use the phrase “non-Black people of color” as needed in our racial justice commitments and workplan to specifically describe work to be done by non-white people who are not of African descent.
Women of Trans Experience: Transgender people are people whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be at birth. “Trans” is often used as shorthand for transgender. Using “of trans experience” as a suffix is a form of people-first language, which focuses on the person rather than conditions or descriptors. A woman of trans experience refers to a woman who was assigned the male sex at birth but identifies as a woman. Some people of trans experience are nonbinary (see above) and others are binary. Gender identity is separate and distinct from sexual orientation. See https://transequality.org/issues/resources/frequently-asked-questions-about-transgender-people.