« TERF » : différence entre les versions

The word was invented as an acronym for ''Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist'', where the "trans-exclusionary" part referred to those holding roughly the position that transwomen should not be included under a feminist definition of womanhood, and the "radical feminist" part was meant neutrally, i.e. for people who would indeed describe themselves as [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_feminism radical feminists] in the true sense.  Over time, the acronym pretty much became a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-letter_word four-letter word].  Nowadays the capitalization is frequently omitted, and the already ambiguous original meaning ignored entirely.  Still, users of the term tend to claim that it's a neutral description.  The "trans-exclusionary" part may now refer to anyone who thinks transwomen should not have unfettered access to all female-only spaces (e.g. changing rooms), should not partake in women's sports where they have [[Transwomen in women's sports|unfair advantages]], should not be considered a natural part of the lesbian dating pool, etc.  Although most members of the public would see these as rather sensible positions, considering a "transwoman" may have intact male anatomy, transgender activists nevertheless see all of these types of "exclusion" as unacceptable.

In June 2017, transgender activist [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mya_Byrne Mya Byrne] came to the San Francisco Pride Parade with a t-shirt reading "I PUNCH TERFS", decorated with a large fake blood-stain.  Byrne uploaded a selfie of him wearing the t-shirt at the parade, captioned "This is what gay liberation looks like #pride #yesallterfs" which sparked many negative reactions.<ref name=fc-tra-violence/>  The t-shirt would later be displayed at an "art exhibit" at the San Francisco Public Library, set up by the trans activist group ''The Degenderettes''.  After complaints, the library removed the t-shirt from the exhibition, though similar items showcasing a violent mentality remained, such as baseball bats wrapped in barbed wire and painted in the colors of the transgender pride flag.<ref name=fc-tra-violence/>

In April 2019, professional video gamer Dominique McLean aka [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SonicFox SonicFox] uploaded a video on Twitter, captioned "what I do to terfs," in which a male video game character strikes a female character's neck so hard that her skin comes off, while the camera shows her agony-filled face.  McLean can be heard yelling "terf!" into his microphone with each blow dealt to the female character, reminiscent of a lynching.<ref name=sonicfox/>  The tweet garnered hundreds of thousands of views, and many thousands of retweets and likes.

McLean's tweet is made even worse by the fact that the hatred is not just directed at an imagined "terf" character, but at the voice actress behind the character, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronda_Rousey Ronda Rousey].  Rousey, who is an MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter, is deemed a "TERF" for having stated, with blunt wording, that it's unfair for male MMA fighter [[Transwomen in women's sports#Fallon_Fox|Fallon Fox]] to compete against women.<ref name=rousey-fox/><ref name=rousey-marysue/><ref name=rousey-reddit/>  A year after Rousey's remarks, female MMA fighter Tamikka Brents had suffered a concussion and an orbital bone fracture during a fight with Fallon Fox,<ref name=fallon-fox/> but this does not seem to have changed the opinion of trans activists.

In late 2019, a social media trend dubbed "POV you're a TERF in my mentions" started, in which trans activists would pose with a weapon (baseball bat, sword, machete, or the like), sometimes preparing to strike or showing them mid-strike, taken as a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-of-view_shot point-of-view (POV) shot] and captioned with the phrase "POV you're a TERF in my mentions" or variations thereof.<ref name=pov-terf/>  The pictures are supposed to represent the point-of-view (POV) of a "TERF" being assaulted by the depicted person.  In other words, women called "TERF" who look at the pictures are supposed to imagine themselves being violently assaulted.

In 2018, transgender activist Dana Rivers was on trial for triple murder.<ref name=rivers/>  The victims were a lesbian couple and their adoptive son.  Rivers stabbed and shot the victims, before trying to set their house on fire, in November 2016.  It remains unclear whether Rivers was motivated by the hatred against feminists and lesbians promulgated by transgender activists.  Rivers was, however, a member of the group [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Trans Camp Trans], which was created to protest the women-only rule of the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (aka MichFest).<ref name=camptrans/>  Autostraddle described Rivers as a "very well-known transgender activist."<ref name=autostraddle/>

File:Sonicfox-copycat2.png | Another copycat tweet.  The GIF is of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_11 Mortal Kombat 11] character [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpion_(Mortal_Kombat) Scorpion] burning his opponent alive.

File:Terf-gallery-3.jpg | "It's [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_pride#LGBT_Pride_Month Pride] punch a terf"

File:Terf-gallery-5.png | [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Chu Arthur Chu] supporting SonicFox's hate speech

The original acronym could be split in two halves: "trans-exclusionary" and "radical feminist."  Though many people targeted with the word do not see themselves as radical feminists, their ideals most often tend to align with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radical_feminism radical feminism] anyway, making that part somewhat accurate.  The "trans-exclusionary" part however is rather ambiguous, and its meaning seems to change at the whim of the person using the term.