Glossary of Key Terms
Boundary: In the context of relationships, boundaries are limits or rules a person sets to communicate to others the difference between what they like/agree to and what they do not like/agree to.
Checking-in: Verbal communication before, during and/or after any kind of sexual activity, to ensure consent is present.
Confidentiality: Rules and procedures to restrict access to certain information, usually for the purpose of protecting a person’s privacy. If someone asks to speak with you confidentially, they are asking you not to share what they say with anybody else.
Consensual sex: Sex that takes place with the consent of all participants.
Contraception: Preventing pregnancy using a medication, device, or procedure. Common examples include condoms, intra-uterine devices and medications that block conception.
Dating violence: Violence committed by one partner on a date / in a dating relationship towards the other. The violence may be physical, sexual or psychological.
Disclose: To disclose means to make something known, often by talking about it with somebody else. Disclosures sometimes relate to matters that were previously overlooked or kept secret.
Domestic violence: Sometimes also called family violence, domestic violence refers to violence that takes place within the home, often towards members of the family or household. It includes physical, sexual and psychological forms of violence.
Intimate partner violence: Violence committed by one partner in an intimate relationship – including marriage – towards the other partner. The violence may be physical, sexual or psychological.
Nude images (often called simply ‘nudes’): Any visual image depicting or suggesting someone in a naked or semi-naked state.
Pornography (abbreviated to ‘porn’): Material containing the explicit description or display of sexual activity, for the purpose of sexual arousal or excitement.
Psychological safety: The absence of fear in a relationship or group environment, allowing all people involved to communicate honestly.
Rape: Sexual intercourse against a person’s will and/or without consent.
Report: To report is to make a record of something that has happened. This can be done verbally or in writing.
Sextortion: Blackmailing someone for money or sexual favours by threatening to reveal evidence of their sexual activity.
Sexual coercion: Non-physical pressure to agree to or participate in sexual activity.
Sexual harassment: Unwanted and inappropriate sexual comments or actions, often in the workplace, in public or in other professional or social situations.
Sexually Transmissible Infection (STI): Bacteria or viral infections that are passed from one person to another through bodily fluids (including blood, semen, vaginal fluid). STIs can affect anyone who has had vaginal, anal and/or oral sex.
Sexual violence: Harmful behaviours of a sexual nature carried out against a person’s will. It can be perpetrated by a current or former partner, other people known to the person, family members or strangers. People of all genders and ages can be victims of sexual violence.
Technology-facilitated sexual violence: Any act that is committed, assisted, aggravated, or amplified using information communication technologies or other digital tools, that results in or is likely to cause harm.
Unwanted sex: Non-consensual sexual activity that takes place because of pressure, coercion or threats.
Victim blaming: Suggesting that the person who was harmed by a crime is in any way responsible for what happened to them.
