TERF

About

"TERF" is short for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist/feminism", a misnomer by which gender essentialist reactionaries pretend to be feminist/egalitarian while in fact working to reinforce and reinvigorate rigid hierarchical social dichotomies – basically false flag feminism, a form of false advocacy.

Origin

The first documented usage of the term was a 2008 article by Viv Smythe, a cisgender woman who identifies as a radical feminist, as a way of distinguishing mainstream radical feminism from the trans-exclusionary fringe:

It was passionate trans women activists online whose strong advocacy of their right to exist as women in the world showed me just how dehumanising the trans-hostile rhetoric is from some radfems about them.

In the same post, the author notes that she no longer believes TERFs should be described as "feminists":

After a bit more reading, I think the trans-exclusionary set should better be described as TES, with the S standing for separatists. A lot of the positions that are presented seem far too essentialist to be adequately described as feminist, let alone radical feminist.

Unfortunately "TES" (for Trans-Exclusionary Separatists) never caught on, so we are stuck with the implication that TERFs are feminists, as well as the unintended implication that radical feminists are automatically TERFs (neither of which is true).

Links

• CWRE for commentary of a more rhetorical/satirical nature
• Wikipedia redirects to Feminist_views_on_transgender_topics#Feminist_exclusion_of_trans_women
• Conservapedia; one mention in gender ideology: "While some feminists such as Judith Butler advocate gender ideology, not all feminists agree with it. There is a disagreement and vigorous war of words between transsexuals and radical feminists who do not accept biological men as "women". Transgenders have even created an acronym TERF meaning "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" which they use as a term of denunciation, hostility and abuse." ("Transgenders have created" is inaccurate; the term was created by a cisgender woman.)
• Geek Feminism Wiki
• RationalWiki
• Social Justice Wiki

News

• 2017/04/04 [L..T] Are Butches Disappearing? (video) "I've had enough of anti-trans lesbians attacking me, or trying to "save" me, which is incredibly condescending and erases the years of research and soul-searching (I actually prefer soul-creation) I have done. So I wanted to put all my thoughts down into a (big) “bite sized” chunk here to direct them to when they start to vomit a word salad at me."

to file

• 2020-05-17 The 'gender critical' feminist movement is a cult that grooms, controls and abuses, according to a lesbian who managed to escape