Queer as an identity term refers to a non-categorical sexual identity in which people prefer not to be boxed into a specific category.

Cisgender (or cis) refers to individuals who identify with the gender assigned to them at birth.

Nonbinary and genderqueer refer to gender identities beyond binary of woman or man. The term genderqueer became popularized within queer and trans communities in the 1990s and 2000s, and the term nonbinary became popularized in the 2010s (Roxie 2011). Agender, meaning without gender, can describe people who do not have a gender identity, have an undefinable identity, are gender-neutral, or feel indifferent about gender (Brooks 2014). Genderfluid people experience shifts between gender identities and/or expressions.

Gender Transgender (or trans) generally refers to individuals who identify as a gender other than the one that they were assigned at birth. The term is used as an adjective (e.g., “a transgender woman” rather than “a transgender”); however, some individuals may describe themselves by using transgender as a noun. The term transgendered is not used because it emphasizes ascription and undermines self-definition. The term transsexual is also not preferred as it has been medicalized and emphasizes biological sex rather than gender. Transition – the process of revealing one’s true gender – can be internal, social, legal, and/or medical. Trans* is an umbrella term that encompasses all gender-diverse identities (Tompkins 2014), and thus is intended to be inclusive and denote that trans includes nonbinary identities rather than only the binary identities of trans woman and trans man

By recognizing the complexity of the social world, Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies advocates for social change and provides insight into how this can be accomplished. WGSS is interdisciplinary – involving multiple academic disciplines – as feminist scholars include biologists, anthropologists, sociologists, historians, chemists, engineers, economists and researchers from just about any identifiable department at a university. Disciplinary diversity among scholars in this field facilitates communication across the disciplinary boundaries within the academy to more fully understand the social world.

they see systems of oppression working in concert rather than separately. For instance, the way sexism is experienced depends not only on a person’s gender but also on how the person experiences racism, classism, ageism, and other forms of marginalization within particular historical and cultural contexts.

In subsequent decades, contributions of women of color, immigrant women, women from the global south, poor and working class women, and lesbian and queer women became integral to Women’s Studies. More recently, analyses of gender diversity, sexualities, disabilities, masculinities, religion, science, incarceration, indigeneity, and settler colonialism have become centered in the field. As a result of this opening of the field to incorporate a wider range of experiences and objects of analysis, many Women’s Studies departments have renamed themselves “Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies” departments.

important critiques of transnational, post-colonial, queer, trans and feminists of color, most contemporary WGSS scholars strive to see the world through the lens of intersectionality.

Feminist scholars recognize the inextricable connection between the notions of gender and sexuality in U.S. society, not only for women but for people of all genders,