Patriarchy: Social organization marked by the supremacy of the father in the clan or family, the legal dependence of wives and children, and the reckoning of descent and inheritance in the male line; broadly: control by men of a disproportionately large share of power.
Heteropatriarchy: A colonial construct and concept that defines both masculinity and femininity in narrow and limiting ways in order to maintain a binary distinction between male and female, dominant and subordinate. It operates from the assertion that the earth is inherently female and is therefore seen as inherently subservient/available to be consumed and utilized. Heteropatriarchy serves to naturalize all other social hierarchies, such as white supremacy and settler colonialism. When colonists first came to this land they saw the necessity of instilling patriarchy in Native communities because they realized that indigenous peoples would not accept colonial domination if their own indigenous societies were not structured on the basis of social hierarchy.
Feminism: The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities.
Intersectional feminism: Term coined in 1989 by activist and law professor, Kimberly Crenshaw in her article "Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity politics, and violence against women of color" although the concept already existed since 1851 in the speech by abolitionist Sojourner Truth- Ain't I a woman. The term refers to the overlapping/intersecting identities a person could have and their relationship with oppression.
A concept used to describe the ways in which different kinds of oppression (racism, sexism, ableism, classism, etc.) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately from one another.
For example, two people who have a disability or are differently abled (one intersection) may come from different class backgrounds (another intersection). One person may be working class, while the other comes from the middle class. The way that disability affects their lives would be vastly different because of their relationship with the class system that they come from (access to money, education, resources, therapy, etc.). Inversely, that disability can affect their relationship to class (ability to find work, finding educational institutions that can accommodate their abilities, etc.).
Otherwise stated, terms are adapted from: