Lexicon

Accesibility

Actively removing physical, mental, social, and structural barriers so that everyone can participate.

Accessibility is about more than wheelchairs or translations—it also means accessible communication, pace, language, and atmosphere.

Accountability

The willingness to take responsibility for your actions, behavior, and impact on others.

At LEDA, this means listening, healing, and learning, rather than hiding or defending.

It's a core value in collective care.

Aftercare

Support offered after an incident, conflict, or intense experience — for those directly affected, but sometimes also for staff or bystanders.

Aftercare can look like a quiet room, a check-in conversation, a follow-up email, or professional help. It's part of structural care.

Allyship

The ongoing, active practice of using one’s privilege to support, advocate for, and stand in solidarity with marginalized groups. It’s not a label, but a continuous learning process rooted in accountability and care.

Awareness

Awareness means recognizing harm, understanding context, and taking responsibility — both individually and collectively.

Awareness staff or volunteers help identify risk situations, support guests, and foster a culture of respect and consent. It’s not just about being aware, but about acting with care.

Boundary-crossing behavior

Any action that violates someone’s physical, emotional, or sexual boundaries — regardless of intent.

We focus on impact over intention. Naming and addressing boundary-crossing behavior is a key part of creating accountable and respectful environments.

Bystander intervention

The ability to intervene (safely) when someone is being harassed or experiencing injustice.

LEDA trains people to recognize signals, offer support, and protect boundaries—both individually and collectively.

Cancel culture

An online or public comment that holds individuals or organizations accountable for harmful behavior.

While often seen as a punishment, it also highlights a lack of structural accountability in our society.

Care

Care is not just individual — it’s structural, shared, and political.

We see care as the foundation of collective safety: creating conditions where people are supported, seen, and protected — especially those most at risk of harm or exclusion.

Care team

A group of trained individuals who provide emotional and practical support during events.

They ensure that nightlife and cultural spaces remain caring, inclusive, and responsive when harm occurs.

Care team / awareness crew / guardian angels / sfeerbeheer

A team present during events or festivals to support guests, mediate situations, and help prevent or respond to harm.

Care teams are trained in de-escalation, boundaries, and crisis response. Their presence is visible but non-intrusive — rooted in support, not surveillance.

Effective care teams are diverse, well-prepared, and respected by both crew and guests.

Community

A group of people connected by shared values, space, or experience.

Community isn’t always harmonious — it takes active effort to build accountability, trust, and care. We believe community can be a source of protection, but also of pressure — which is why critical reflection is key.

Community care

A collective approach to wellbeing, where communities share responsibility for each other’s safety and emotional support, rather than placing all the weight on individuals.

Consent

Freely given, informed, enthusiastic, mutual, and revocable at any time.

Consent isn’t a checkbox — it’s an active, ongoing practice grounded in communication, respect, and bodily autonomy. Silence or lack of resistance is not consent.

Cultural hegemony

A concept from Antonio Gramsci describing how dominant groups shape social norms and values to maintain power — often making inequality appear “normal.”

Discourse

A system of language and ideas that defines what can be said, thought, or believed about a topic.

Discourses shape how society understands identity, safety, and power.

Emotional labor

The invisible effort of managing emotions to appear calm, caring, or professional.

Often expected from women, caregivers, or service workers.

Empowerment

The process of gaining agency over one’s body, choices, and life. This includes knowledge, tools, networks, and the dismantling of power structures.

Epistemic injustice

When someone’s knowledge or experience is dismissed because of who they are — for example, victims or marginalized people not being believed.
Coined by Miranda Fricker.

Equity

Fairness is achieved by treating unequal situations unequally.

Unlike equality, equity recognizes that some people need more support or resources to have the same opportunities.

Gender

A sociocultural concept that defines expectations, roles, and norms surrounding "masculinity" and "femininity."

Gender is not binary, but a spectrum of expressions, identities, and experiences.

Gender based violence

Any form of harm directed at someone because of their gender or gender expression. Includes harassment, assault, coercion, and systemic inequality.

Harm reduction

A care-based, non-punitive approach to risk. Whether related to drug use, mental health, sexuality, or interpersonal harm — harm reduction centers support over punishment. It prioritizes safety, trust, and autonomy over control or discipline.

Heteronormativity

The assumption that heterosexuality is the norm, and all other sexualities are deviations.

It influences culture, law, and everyday behavio

Inclusion

More than just presence. Inclusion means active accessibility, meaningful participation, and recognition of difference. It requires dismantling structural barriers, not just inviting people in. True inclusion allows people to show up fully — without having to shrink, adapt, or translate themselves.

Institutional rascism

The way racist structures and inequalities are embedded in policy, education, the judiciary, and culture.

It's not just about individual behavior, but about systematic exclusion.

Intersectional feminism

A feminist framework that recognizes how systems of oppression — such as sexism, racism, classism, and homophobia — intersect and shape people’s experiences.

Originated by Kimberlé Crenshaw.

Intersectionality

A framework recognizing that people experience multiple, overlapping forms of oppression — such as racism, sexism, transphobia, ableism, and classism.

Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality challenges single-issue approaches and helps us understand the complexity of lived experience.

Micro-agression

Small, often unconscious remarks or actions that perpetuate discrimination or stereotypes.

They seem subtle, but have a profound cumulative effect on those who experience them constantly.

Mutual aid

A system of solidarity where people exchange resources, skills, or support without hierarchy — based on reciprocity and shared care rather than charity.

Non-binary

An identity outside the traditional categories of man and woman.
Non-binary people may identify with both, neither, or move fluidly between genders — showing that gender exists on a spectrum, not as a binary.

Patriarchy

A social system that prioritizes male power and dominance in politics, culture, and everyday life.

LEDA’s work challenges patriarchal norms by fostering care, empathy, and shared responsibility instead of hierarchy and control.

Peer support

Emotional or practical support offered by people with similar lived experiences. It values empathy and equality over hierarchy and formal expertise.

Performativity

From Judith Butler: gender is not something we are, but something we do — through repeated acts, words, and social expectations.

Policy / code of conduct

A shared agreement outlining expected behaviors, boundaries, and processes for addressing harm or exclusion.

A code of conduct is only meaningful if it’s lived and supported — through training, clear procedures, and visible commitment. Policies are structural tools: they set the tone and make accountability possible.

Power dynamics

Power exists in all spaces — through roles, identities, systems, and relationships.

Acknowledging power dynamics helps us understand who is heard, who is believed, who feels safe, and who holds decision-making authority. It’s the first step toward redistributing power more justly.

Privilege

An unearned advantage someone has due to identity, race, gender, class, or other factors.

Privilege is not guilt, but an invitation to awareness and redistribution of space and power.

Queer

An inclusive term that embraces gender and sexual diversity, but also questions societal norms.

It's simultaneously identity, culture, and political stance.

Radical empathy

Empathy that goes beyond feeling — it requires listening, reflection, and structural change.

A cornerstone of care and community work.

Restorative justice

A process of healing and dialogue after damage or conflict.

Instead of punishment, people seek connection, responsibility, and growth—for both those involved and the community.

Safe(r) space praxis

The ongoing, practical work of creating safer environments.

It’s a praxis — theory put into action — based on reflection, care, and shared accountability.

Safe(r) spaces

A safer space isn't a completely safe place (that's not always possible), but a space where respect, awareness, and responsibility are actively cultivated. Everyone contributes to reducing risks, microaggressions, and abuse of power.

Safety

Feeling protected from harm — physically, emotionally, or socially.

What feels safe to one person may not feel safe to another. That’s why safety must be approached relationally and with awareness of different lived realities.

Security

Often associated with enforcement or control, especially in nightlife.

We aim to rethink security as something rooted in care, presence, and de-escalation — not intimidation or exclusion. Who feels secure, and who feels policed, is deeply shaped by race, gender, class, and other factors.

Sexual criminal law

A 2022 reform of Belgium’s sexual criminal law that centers consent and expands protection against sexual violence.

It defines consent as free, informed, and ongoing, and recognizes digital and psychological forms of abuse.

LEDA engages with this law through training, prevention, and policy advice.

Social constructivism

The idea that concepts like gender, race, and sexuality are socially created, not biologically fixed.

They gain meaning through culture, language, and power.

Spiking

When someone’s drink (or body) is intentionally contaminated with drugs or substances without their consent.

Spiking is a serious and often underreported form of assault. Awareness, visible prevention, and fast response are key — but the focus should never be on blaming victims.

Structural violence

Invisible harm built into social, political, or economic systems that limit people’s access to safety, resources, or dignity.

Coined by Johan Galtung.

Symbolic violence

A concept by Pierre Bourdieu describing subtle, invisible forms of domination — when social norms make inequality seem natural or deserved.

The gaze

From Laura Mulvey’s film theory: the act of looking is shaped by power.
The “male gaze” describes how women’s bodies are often objectified through visual culture.

Third spaces

Informal environments (outside work and home) where people gather, connect, and build community — often key spaces for dialogue, creativity, and collective care.

Tokenism

The superficial inclusion of marginalized people or topics without real structural change — for example, adding “diverse faces” or hosting one DEI event, but not addressing deeper issues of power or representation.

Toxic masculinity

A collection of behaviors and beliefs that link masculinity to dominance, aggression, and emotional suppression.

LEDA promotes forms of masculinity based on empathy, respect, and vulnerability.

Trauma-informed care

An approach that recognizes how trauma affects behavior and wellbeing.
It prioritizes safety, choice, and empowerment rather than punishment or judgment.

Trigger warning

A brief warning indicates that sensitive or traumatic themes (such as violence or abuse) are being discussed.

This gives people the opportunity to mentally prepare themselves or to distance themselves.

Trustperson

A designated person within an event, team, or organization who is approachable, trained, and trusted to listen, support, and take action in case of boundary-crossing behavior or other concerns.

A trustperson doesn’t replace formal reporting systems, but acts as an accessible, low-threshold first point of contact. They work with care, confidentiality, and clarity about their role and limits.

Victim blaming

When responsibility for harm is placed on the person who experienced it, rather than the one who caused it.

It reinforces shame and silence, and prevents real accountability.

White supremacy

A system (not just an ideology) that structurally favors white people at the expense of others.

It operates subtly through culture, policy, and the media, influencing how power, knowledge, and beauty are valued.