Important Announcements

Nondiscrimination Statement Update

Boston Medical Center Health System complies with applicable Federal civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, national origin (including limited English proficiency and primary language), religion, culture, physical or mental disabilities, socioeconomic status, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity and/or expression. BMCHS provides free aids and services to people with disabilities and free language services to people whose primary language is not English.

To see our full nondiscrimination statement, click here.

Campus Construction Update

Starting September 14, we’re closing the Menino building lobby entrance. This, along with the ongoing Yawkey building entrance closure, will help us bring you an even better campus experience that matches the exceptional care you've come to expect. Please enter the Menino and Yawkey buildings through the Moakley building, and make sure to leave extra time to get to your appointment. Thank you for your patience. 

Click here to learn more about our campus redesign. 

Gender

Gender

Noun

A social construction that assigns particular characteristics, norms, and roles to sex and genitalia. Refers to the different roles society expects of people. The behavioral, cultural, and psychological traits typically associated with one’s gender and often, incorrectly, assumed based on their sex assigned at birth. Usually refers to those aspects of life that are shaped by social forces or to the meaning that society gives to perceived biological differences. 

Do not use sex as a synonym for gender.

Note: Consider using “woman/women” rather than “female/females” as a noun. Female is an adjective, descriptive of animals. When female is used as a noun, it can reduce someone to their ability to reproduce and can be dehumanizing. It is also not inclusive of trans-women. The similar rule applies to male (adjective) vs. man (noun). E.g. male doctors (used correctly as an adjective) vs. doctors who are men (used correctly as a noun).

Source

Adapted from UMass Medical and UMassMemorial Health Care’s Diversity + Inclusion, Diversity Toolkit and BMC’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery

The Glossary for Culture Transformation is a living document to be revised on an annual basis.

Suggested Citation: Office of Equity, Vitality, and Inclusion, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Boston Medical Center, and Boston University Medical Group. Glossary for Culture Transformation. 2021.

For questions or suggestions, please email wordsmatter@bu.edu