Textured Hair

Hair whose strands create shapes such as curves, spirals, zig zags, or waves. (23)

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Theater

A building or outdoor area in which plays and other dramatic performances are given.

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Theatre

The activity or profession of acting in, producing, directing, or writing plays.

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Tokenism

The exploitation of someone from an underrepresented group’s identity in order to appear equitable or diverse. Tokenism is especially harmful as it is a factor of performative allyship by only viewing a person as a representative or monolith of an underrepresented group instead of an individual who speaks for themselves. (96)

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Tom Show

A general term for any play or musical (often only loosely) based on  Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin which attempted to depict the harsh reality of slavery but ultimately reinforced harmful Black stereotypes in the American psyche. These unauthorized works often mocked the novel's strong characters and social message and resulted in the popularization of the pejorative term "Uncle Tom." Although “Tom shows” varied tremendously in their politics, they almost always employed the use of Blackface minstrelsy.

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Tone-policing

A tactic used by those who have privilege to silence those who do not by focusing on the tone of what is being said rather than the actual content. It is used to silence, derail, or disengage from a conversation by controlling the people participating and the conditions under which the conversation is happening. (58)

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Toxic Masculinity

A set of behaviors and beliefs that includes:

Suppressing emotions or masking distress

Maintaining an appearance of hardness

Violence as an indicator of power (59)

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Toxic POSITIVITY

The excessive and ineffective overgeneralization of a happy, optimistic state across all situations. (91)

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Transformative Justice

A way of addressing an individual act of harm that relies on community members instead of the police, the law, or the government (also known as the state). Also defined as an approach to divesting in disposability and the  mindset that when people fail, they automatically have to be removed from the community. (21) (24)

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Transparency

The full and honest accounting of all facts, information, and context essential to ensuring an informed and equitable decision-making process. In practice, the principle of transparency also applies to the intentions and conduct of leaders, organizers, and facilitators, including whether they encourage or suppress criticism and dissenting viewpoints, whether they share or conceal unflattering information and conflicts of interest, and whether they acknowledge or disregard their own motivations and biases. (57)

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Transphobia

The fear and persecution of transgender/gender non-conforming people rooted in a desire to maintain the gender binary (i.e. the categories “male” and “female”) according to the gender the individual was assigned at birth. This phobia obscures the reality that gender is a fluid concept and erases the experiences of persons who do not identify with either category of the gender binary. (72)

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Trauma Porn

“Any type of media – be it written, photographed, or filmed – which exploits traumatic moments of adversity to generate buzz, notoriety, or social media attention.” Trauma porn seems to be the most rampant when a BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ body is being maimed, murdered, abused, or exploited. (85)

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Citations

21. Transformative Justice, Explained

23. How To Style Natural Textured Hair By Celebrity Hairstylist Vernon Francois

24. Antiracism as Violence Prevention

57. Transparency Principle – Organizing Engagement

58. What Is Tone Policing And Why Is It Wrong?

59. In her words: What Is Toxic Masculinity?

72. Transphobia | Colours of Resistance Archive

85. Before you share ‘trauma porn’ videos on social media, consider these critical things

91. Toxic Positivity

96. So Let's Talk About Tokenism

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