Sex worker
An inclusive term for anyone who exchanges sex for money, including prostitutes and pornographic actors.
Pervert
An inclusive term for anyone whose sexual preferences are considered abnormal by society.
Invert
A historical term for homosexuals, who were seen as having an inverted gender.
Essentialism
The idea that social categories are natural and universal, rather than socially constructed.
Ideology
A system of ideas that influences how people think.
Gender
Distinct from biological sex, gender refers to the cultural meanings we attribute to and performances we expect from men and women.
Speciation
The process of creating a class or identity of people, for instance when homosexual behaviors coalesced into a homosexual identity.
Benign variation
Harmless difference. When Rubin says people lack a concept of benign sexual difference, she means they lack the ability to think that it doesn’t matter if other people have different sexual preferences.
Constructivism
In contrast to essentialism, the view that social categories are socially constructed and therefore contingent on historical period and cultural context.
Stigma
A mark of disgrace, as when people with non-normative sexual preferences are stigmatized.
Stratification
An arrangement into a hierarchy. Sexual acts are stratified, meaning some are valued and perceived as “good” while others are not.
Extra-legal
Anything outside the law. Rubin talks about extra-legal oppression, as for instance when families enforce erotic conformity instead of the police.
Sodomy
Oral or anal sex. Although usually associated with homosexuality, sodomy laws historically criminalized heterosexual prostitution as well.
Axiom
A fundamental proposition or idea. When Rubin talks about sexual axioms, she is talking about ideas that structure how we think about sex.
