It is impertinent, persistent, and invasive behavior that can be unpleasant, embarrassing, humiliating, and/or intimidating. It generally occurs within hierarchical and/or power-based relationships and can harm the victim's physical and emotional health.

Workplace harassment occurs through words, gestures, and/or behaviors that harm a person's integrity in the work and/or academic environment. It is characterized by repetitive, systematic practices directed at an individual or a group.

Examples of behaviors that can be characterized as workplace harassment:
– insinuations or questions regarding the person's competence;
– embarrassing and humiliating jokes;
– unfounded criticisms or criticisms that ridicule the work done;
– assigning excessive workloads or work with unrealistic deadlines;
– Isolation and/or hostility towards employees, subordinates and/or trainees;
– threats that take advantage of a superior hierarchical position.

Sexual harassment is any non-consensual sexual approach or conduct that causes embarrassment, humiliation, or intimidation. It can occur verbally (comments), non-verbally (gestures, looks), or physically (touching or forced contact). It presupposes a relationship of power, hierarchy, or professional ascendancy (for example, at work, between bosses and subordinates, or between teachers and students), unlike sexual molestation, which can occur between peers or even between strangers.

Sexual harassment is unwanted and offensive sexual behavior, such as unwanted advances, obscene gestures, or non-consensual touching. It occurs when someone engages in a lewd act with the aim of satisfying their own lust or that of a third party(ies) without the victim's consent. A behavior only constitutes sexual harassment when there is no violence or serious threat.

Rape, on the other hand, is any sexual act committed with violence or serious threat, without the consent of the person involved, and can range from sexual touching to forced sexual intercourse. Rape also occurs when the sexual act takes place without valid consent, including situations where the victim cannot express their will—such as in cases of alcohol and other substance use, unconsciousness, psychological vulnerability, or intense fear. Rape can occur regardless of any relationship between the perpetrator and the victim, between acquaintances or strangers, in any environment.

Consent is the agreement to engage in an activity of a sexual nature, given clearly, consciously, and voluntarily. Silence and the absence of protest or resistance do not constitute consent. If a person is in a state that prevents them from making a conscious decision, consent cannot be given (for example, if they are under the influence of alcohol or other substances, if they are unconscious, or if the sexual activity was induced by conduct that abuses a relationship of trust, power, or authority).

It's important to remember: it is the responsibility of each person involved in a sexual relationship to ensure they have obtained the other person's consent. Consent can be revoked at any time. If consent is unclear, do not proceed! After a "no," any sexual activity can be interpreted as sexual violence.

It is any action, omission, conduct, or practice that violates rights, causes harm, exclusion, embarrassment, humiliation, or suffering, directed at a person because of their gender, gender identity, gender expression, or sexual orientation, including situations of misogyny, LGBTphobia, and transphobia.

This violence can manifest itself verbally, psychologically, institutionally, physically, or sexually, and can occur in different contexts, such as academic relationships, work, social settings, and even between strangers.

Racism is a form of discrimination based on race, consisting of a system of beliefs, values, and practices sustained by the false idea that hierarchies exist between ethnic-racial groups, in which some are seen as superior to others. Although it manifests itself in different ways, racism is, above all, a form of violence directed at Black and Indigenous populations, as it promotes their inferiorization, their exclusion, and the production of social inequalities. Racism is characterized by the unfair or disrespectful treatment of people or groups because of their race, ethnicity, religion, or origin; racial slurs occur when directed at a person, causing humiliation, embarrassment, fear, or shame.

In Brazil, racism is deeply rooted in the history of colonialism and slavery, processes that subjected Black and Indigenous populations to the domination of white men. With this historical legacy, racism continues to be reproduced in the structure and organization of contemporary Brazilian society.

Critically reflecting on racism and how it permeates each person's social experiences is a fundamental step in confronting and combating it.

Xenophobia, also associated with racism in Law 9.459/1997, is the fear, rejection, or aversion to people perceived as foreigners or belonging to other cultures. Generally, it is associated with a distorted view of one's own culture as superior to others, resulting in the devaluation, stigmatization, and discrimination of other ways of living, believing, and expressing oneself. It can take the form of derogatory comments, jokes, and nicknames, or more serious practices such as defamation, social exclusion, restriction of rights, and acts of verbal and physical violence.

In addition to occurring between people of different nationalities, xenophobia can also manifest itself between people born in the same country but originating from different regions, whose accents, customs, or social conditions are perceived as "strange" or "inferior."

Xenophobia is frequently linked to other forms of discrimination, such as racism, elitism, and religious intolerance—especially in Brazil, particularly prejudice directed at religions of African and Afro-Brazilian origin—reinforcing systems of inequality and social exclusion.

Ableism is discrimination against people with disabilities. It can manifest itself in jokes or comments involving the physical and/or intellectual characteristics of people with disabilities, or, more seriously, in the exclusion of these people from daily tasks or from social interaction in academic and work environments.

Another expression of ableism is the attribution of a certain degree of "heroism" to people with disabilities for performing basic daily tasks, as if they were incapable of performing the same activities as people without disabilities.

Failing to provide accessibility resources to people with disabilities is also a form of ableism.

Ageism is discrimination related to age. It can occur through exclusion, due to a person's age, from work activities and/or daily social life. Underestimating the abilities of older people or hindering their career advancement are also forms of ageism.

Ageism is also known by the terms age discrimination or ageism.