Glossary

This list of terms is by no means comprehensive. Rather, these definitions show a portion of the workings and thought processes we have explored in class that informed our work.

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Sexual violence: words, actions, intentions, or attempts that are sexual in nature and done against or without a person’s consent, usually preying on someone’s perceived vulnerability

Gendered violence/GBV: violence where someone is targeted on the basis of their gender, typically reinforcing the patriarchy or the gender binary, can be sexual but can also be emotional or physical

• Systematic oppression increases experience of sexual violence for marginalized communities partially because said communities are (1) embroiled in complex power dynamics, (2) have a low likelihood of accessing justice, support and resources after harm, and (3) experience a hierarchical diffusion of agency or autonomy.

IPV  (Interpersonal violence): any violence that occurs between people in some form of relationship, includes sexual violence, gender based violence, domestic violence, physical and emotional abuse 

Violence: behavior that harms an individual or a community

Hurt vs. Harm

• Harm relates to an action/act committed against another person that causes “hurt” or pain in another person (who experienced the harm).
  • Harm -> injury (physical, emotional, psychological)
  • Hurt -> causes injury

Intersectionality: The interconnectedness of identities that can make an individual or group of people vulnerable to discrimination and/or harm; overlapping methods/experiences of oppression or discrimination rather than overlapping identities

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Rape culture: the implicit and explicit permitting, normalization, and trivialization of sexual violence both on the societal, institutional, and personal level  

• It is reified through the words and actions of people who use their power or position to intimidate others thereby reinforcing the patriarchy
• It is reinforced not only by people in power, but also through self censoring actions/behaviors
• Placing blame on individuals rather than societal causes 
• Institutions may name it but only address it insofar as they group it under violence prevention 
• Examples:
  • Censoring what one is wearing in order to prevent harm
  • Blaming oneself after an instance of violence
  • Greek life
    • Ratios 
    • Body counts
    • Who throws parties? (Fraternities)
    • Social capital/status around women 
  • Victim blaming

Centering survivors

• Both institutions and individuals struggle with defining it
• Institutions should involve survivors in their commitment to survivors and addressing IPV, but it shouldn’t be the work of survivors to educate others
• On an interpersonal level, ask survivors what they need
• Don’t try to label them, allow them to self-identify themselves and their experiences
• Normalizing that survivors are present in every space

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Survivorship

• Navigating life after a traumatic experience
• Is not a universal experience and can be different for each person

Survivors/Victims

• People and communities who experience harm caused by individuals and institutions
• Victim/survivors should have the agency to choose what label (if any) resonates most with them. There are various valid reasons why people might feel more or less inclined towards associations with either word/

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Harm: deliberate actions designed to bring about pain, discomfort, or power over another person or group of people; reinforcing harmful systems through beliefs

• Harm can be intentional or unintentional, psychological, emotional, and physical

Harm reduction: a strategy that is more preventative than punitive; breaking down the system that causes harm;  community based education on the different types of harm and how it can affect different groups of people

Harmers

• Oftentimes treated as a binary which doesn’t create space for ever changing roles in harmful situations, and doesn’t allow people to define these roles for themselves 
• Can be someone who can directly causes harm or someone who allows harm to occur in their own communities/spaces
• For institutions- need to meet a requirement, oftentimes legal/medical (this is also true for victims)

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Healing

• Institutionally understood as synonymous with punitive justice
• Individually, healing is defined by the person who has experienced harm
  • One example of healing is via restorative justice, survivor-centered practice that circumvents punitive carceral justice 

Individual healing

• Centering and meeting the needs of people who have experienced harm and/or violence 
• Taking control of the situation and deciding what your next steps are going to be

Community healing

• Restores wellness to the entire community affected, not just the victim
• Recognizes that there exist types of violence that impact entire communities
• Institutions don’t often recognize these violences or perform labor that results in community healing
• Amplifying the voices of the communities who have experienced harm

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Justice

• Fairness in regards to how people are treated. Respecting the experiences people have had by following a course of action in response to where they are in the harm they experienced in a way that provides reconciliation, accountability, and/or closure.
• Address harms based on the needs of those harmed and the obligations of the harmers. Responding to harm in a way that provides reconciliation, accountability, and/or closure and to try to make things as right as possible. 
• Key words: accountability, fairness, reconciliation, healing, closure

Punitive justice: a system of justice where the response prioritizes punishment as a means of preventing recurrence of harm to the individual or other individuals. It centers removal of the offenders from communities and supports that punishment encourages responsibility.

• Key words: police, prisons, persecution, death penalty, juvenile detention

Restorative justice: system of justice where the response is centered around rehabilitation of the offender that explores the intersection of the offender, person experiencing harm, and the community. It focuses on repairing harm and an inclusive process that tackles our collective capacity to hold accountability. It can be thought of as more of a community practice that centers survivors above institutionalized solutions that may not feel appropriate to the person who experienced harm.

• Restorative Practices @ Penn (https://csa.upenn.edu/restorative-practices-penn) 
• https://law.wisc.edu/fjr/rjp/justice.html
• Centers survivors above institutionalized solutions that don’t feel appropriate to the person who experienced harm
• Perhaps include some examples for people that aren’t familiar with restorative justice

Transformative justice

• Preventative measures taken to address recurring issues/conflicts and change systems to decrease their likelihood
• Using approaches to addressing  interpersonal harm to address institutional problems/shortcomings
• Opposite from restorative justice, transformative justice is outside of institutions
• Should be preemptive and community driven
• Ex: Pod Mapping, a group of people who can hold you can turn to to hold you accountable, preventative before harm occurs
• TJ Explained: https://youtu.be/U-_BOFz5TXo 

Carceral feminism: bringing justice through the criminal justice system and other punitive measures rather than through restorative or transformative justice; may disproportionately affect marginalized communities who already have a negative relationship with the criminal justice system; could also be harmful to the victim/survivor/person who experienced harm if they have a marginalized identity; dependency on the state, which inhibits other organizational efforts 

Abolition: a movement to eliminate the current punitive justice system 

• Abolition instead shifts focus to community accountability and rehabilitation through three pillars: moratorium (putting a pause on building/using prison facilities), decarceration (finding ways to get people who are currently in jail out), excarceration (diverting people away from prison-complex in the first place)

Accountability: acknowledgement and acceptance of the harm caused then taking action to remedy the consequences of one’s actions and working to prevent harm from occurring again

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Socialization: the process beginning from birth through which individuals acquire the values, habits, and attitudes

• Ex: school, home, media, work, friends, religion

Male gaze: creates a mode of looking that is sexual, voyeuristic, and associated with the male protagonist’s point of view 

• Coined by Laura Mulvey 
• Looking = masculine; being looked at = feminine
• Note: this concept, while important, maintains a gender binary that normalizes men as perpetrators of violence