TERF: Difference between revisions

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|description = TERF is a slur used by transgender activists to debase anyone who criticizes their movement on the basis of feminist concerns.

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The word ''TERF'' (or ''terf''; pl ''terfs'' or ''terves'') is a slur that is used predominantly by [[transgender ideology|transgender activists]] and their allies against people who criticize the transgender movement on the basis of feminist concerns.  Since the slur is used for people with feminist concerns, the main target tend to be women.  As such, it's usually understood to be an anti-feminist, sexist and misogynist slur.

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 [[Radical feminism|radical feminists]] in the true sense.

Over time, the acronym pretty much became a [[Wikipedia: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 (especially when considering that a "transwoman" may have intact male anatomy), transgender activists nevertheless see all of these types of "exclusion" as unacceptable.

== History and evolution towards hate speech ==

The oldest known use of the term is by Viv Smythe aka "tigtog" in a blog post from 2008.<ref name=terf-origin/> She defended the term as late as 2018, in an article for The Guardian.<ref name=guardian-smythe/> Transgender activists frequently try to defend the term on the grounds that Viv Smythe is a woman who herself claims to be a radical feminist, and seems to have first used the term in a way that is not derogatory.  Of course, the benign origins of a term does not mean that it cannot evolve into a slur.

 

The evolution of the term from 2008 into the early to mid 2010s is not well documented.  Mostly, feminists had to face the term on social media, where it began to be used regularly to debase their position.  In July 2014, [https://www.feministcurrent.com/ Feminist Current] published two articles referencing the term.  The first, written by C. K. Egbert and titled ''Defending the 'TERF': Gender as political'', explains and defends in length the political theory underlining the ideas supported by feminists who are slurred as "terf."<ref name=fc-egbert/>  The second, written by [[Sarah Ditum]] and titled ''How 'TERF' works'', shortly analyses a situation in which a woman is pressured to retract a statement opposing violence against women, on the grounds that the statement originally stems from a feminist who is considered a "terf".<ref name=fc-ditum/>  Since Feminist Current is highly acclaimed among radical-leaning feminists, its decision to support the women slurred with "terf" could be seen as a turning point.

In August 2014, Vice published an article titled ''I Am Now Officially a Transphobic Twitter Troll'' (subtitle: ''At least according to the 'Block Bot' I am'') by author Martin Robbins.<ref name=vice-robbins/>  In the article, Robbins talks about how the "Block Bot" project on Twitter, which is supposed to help people avoid abusive trolls, has included feminist authors and journalists such as [[Caroline Criado-Perez]] and [[Helen Lewis]] among the people who should be blocked.  Ironically, Lewis seems to have made it to the list for complaining about abusive trolls, as the "evidence" for the reason to ban her includes objections to tweets such as "kill TERFS", "burn TERFS", or hateful jokes such as "what's better than 1 dead terf? 2 dead terfs."

Another Feminist Current article defending those targeted with the slur was published in November 2015, written by [[Penny White]] and titled ''Why I no longer hate ‘TERFs’''.<ref name=fc-white/>  In the article, White explains how she herself used to be convinced that so-called "TERFs" are worthy of contempt, but changed her mind after starting to look closer into the issue. This experience seems to resonate with many women and some socially liberal men to this day, who start out being supportive of the transgender movement, only to start becoming skeptical after negative experiences and observations, ultimately leading them to be also labeled "terf" and shunned by transgender activists and their allies.  After that, Feminist Current started publishing articles critical of the transgender movement with some frequency, much to the enragement of transgender activists.

=== The mainstreaming of hatred ===

[[File:Mya-byrne-punches-terfs.jpg|thumb|left|150px|Totally not a slur!]]

In June 2017, transgender activist [[Wikipedia: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/>

[[File:Sonicfox.png|thumb|right|250px|Dominique McLean's tweet glorifying violence against women.]]

In April 2019, professional video gamer [[Wikipedia:SonicFox|Dominique McLean]] aka "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, [[Wikipedia: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.

 

<gallery caption="Aftermath of McLean's tweet" widths=300px heights=150px>

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

== Real-life assault, vandalism, and harassment ==

 

This section lists known incidents of real-life (offline) assault, vandalism, verbal abuse and other harassment against feminist organizations or women, by trans activists who are radicalized by the notion that so-called "TERFs" are after their human rights.  (The only case in which the motivation is not entirely clear is the triple homicide of a lesbian couple and their son, committed by formerly prominent trans activist Dana Rivers.)

 

=== Vandalism of Vancouver Women's Library ===

<gallery caption="Images of the vandalism" widths=210px heights=175px>

File:VWL-Defamation.jpg | The supposed reason for the vandalism

 

=== Physical assault at Speakers' Corner, London ===

 

 

Initially, a group of feminists wanted to hold a meeting to discuss proposed changes to the [https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/09/14/never-mind-reforming-gender-recognition-act-theres-no-need-gender-recognition-certificates/ Gender Recognition Act] (GRA) in the [https://newxlearning.org/ New Cross Learning] community Library in London.  The library had to cancel the event after harassment by transgender activists.  The organizers of the meeting then decided to meet at Speakers' Corner, before going to the newly chosen meeting place, which was not announced to protect it from harassment.

 

[[File:Tara-Flik-Wood-threat.webp|thumb|right|300px|Wolf going by the name "Tara Flik Wood" on social media, posting intent to assault prior to the event]]

 

At Speakers' Corner, the women were met with a group of transgender activists shouting slogans, notably "when TERFs attack, we fight back."  Maria MacLachlan, who was filming the protesters with her digital camera, was attacked by someone running out of the trans activist group, who then tried to grab her camera.  As the unsuccessful attacker ran back behind his friends, MacLachlan tried to get closer to the group to get his face on camera.  Several of the activists started assaulting her in that moment.  The whole sequence of events was [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_d3ozhSE-U caught on camera] thanks others at the place also filming what was going on.  MacLachlan's camera was broken and the memory card stolen.

 

 

The event could be considered a cornerstone in the escalating hatred transgender activists show against feminists, as no such clearly documented assault in relation to the slur "TERF" existed before, and the event gained widespread attention in the news, being covered by The Guardian,<ref name=guardian/> The New Statesman,<ref name=statesman1/><ref name=statesman2/> The Telegraph,<ref name=telegraph/> The Times,<ref name=times1/><ref name=times2/> The Evening Standard,<ref name=standard/> and The Daily Mail.<ref name=dailymail/>  Of course, it was also covered by Feminist Current.<ref name=fc1/><ref name=fc2/>

 

 

</gallery>

=== Verbal abuse and other harassment against Prof. Rosa Freedman ===

 

In 2016, transgender activist Dana Rivers (formerly David Warfield) committed triple murder on a lesbian couple and their son.<ref name=rivers/>  Rivers stabbed and shot the victims, before trying to set their house on fire.  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 [[Wikipedia: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/>

 

 

 

 

The male person, who calls himself "[[Cathy Brennan]]" (not to be confused with the lesbian and radical feminist lawyer who was born with that name) had previously stood out on social media for encouraging physical violence against feminists at Gay Pride events.

=== Harassment and vandalism against Vancouver Rape Relief ===

In August 16, 2019, the Facebook account of [[Vancouver Rape Relief and Women's Shelter]] reported that a dead rat had been nailed to their door frame.<ref name=vrr-fb/>  On August 26, their Twitter account followed up by reporting their door and windows were vandalized with phrases such as "FUCK TERFS" and "KILL TERFS" as well as "TRANS POWER".<ref name=vrr-twitter/> The repeated harassment and vandalism garnered attention in local and national news.<ref name=vrr-vancouverisawesome/><ref name=vrr-nationalreview/><ref name=vrr-citynews/>

<gallery caption="Images of the vandalism" widths=300px heights=175px>

=== Lesbians assaulted at Cologne Dyke March ===

 

[[File:Cologne-dyke-march-00.jpeg|thumb|right|350px|The lesbian protesters with their banners]]

 

In July 2022, a group of lesbians at a dyke march in Cologne, Germany, displayed banners with the words "lesbian: homosexual person of the female sex" and "lesbian: homosexual, not queer" in what could be seen as a protest against the concept of the [[cotton ceiling]] i.e. the notion that lesbians ought to consider males who identify as transwomen as part of their dating pool.

 

According to a witness who spoke to Reduxx, trans activists within the march started chanting slogans that included the phrase "f*ck you" and hurling insults at the lesbians.<ref name=reduxx-cologne/>  There is [[:File:Cologne-dyke-march-01.mp4|video evidence]] showing the lesbians being physically assaulted.  One of the women, Susanne, was reportedly attacked by a male person who put her in a choke.  Speaking to Reduxx, she said: "I guess I was anticipating it, but not how suddenly and violently it happened.  I was scared I could die when the guy put me in a headlock." The banners they had displayed were also aggressively taken away from them.  The physical assault, damage to property, theft of the banners, and personal insults were reported to the police.

 

German gay magazine Schwulissimo also reported on the incident, and interviewed another one of the victims.<ref name=schwulissimo-cologne/>  She talked about the irony of not being allowed to display a banner with the dictionary definition of the word "lesbian" at a dyke march, and how aggressive and self-righteous the attackers were.  According to her, one of the victims suffered a minor wrist injury but otherwise there were no physical injuries.

 

 

(These incidents were not yet analyzed in detail. )

 

Feminists protesting against pornography and prostitution attacked as TERFs/SWERFs: https://twitter.com/radfmnst/status/1368678240127234050

 

Trans activists attack lesbians at Paris Pride: https://twitter.com/GetTheLOutUK/status/1408896814569472002

 

 

[[File:UNAM01.png|thumb|right|350px|Left: "less abolition, more whoring" and "fewer terfs, more sex" <br/> Right: "rape and death to terfs"]]

 

[[File:UNAM02.png|thumb|right|350px|The "rape and death to terfs" writing seen next to the panic button]]

 

Original source with many more details: [https://reduxx.info/exclusive-trans-activists-stage-coup-of-womens-washroom-at-university-paint-whore-graffiti/ MEXICO: Trans Activists Stage “Coup” of Women’s Washroom at University, Issue Rape Threats]

 

 

After this event, trans students reportedly declared that they felt unsafe on campus and demanded the administration to establish a gender-neutral washroom near the related area.  While the administration agreed, some activists were apparently not appeased.  They took over a large single-sex women's restroom, painted its walls with anti-feminist and pro-prostitution slogans, and declared it a gender-neutral space. According to the source that spoke with Reduxx, this restroom was previously seen as a safe space for women, as emergency buttons had been installed inside its cubicles due to the prevalence of sexual assault on the campus.  After the trans-activist takeover, it apparently began being used by men as well, as it had now been declared gender neutral.

 

According to Reduxx's source, the university's administration is continuously being lenient towards extremist trans activists, while condemning the feminist opposition.  A statement by the administration that was published two days after the unrest related to the Labrys symbol and the takeover of the women's restroom, openly expresses support for the trans activists.

 

Women who were unhappy with these developments began painting slogans in favor of single-sex women's spaces inside the restroom's cubicles, such as: "If you want a unisex washroom, take it from the men, don't violate women's spaces." In apparent response to this, trans activists in turn began painting increasingly violent threats inside the cubicles. One such threat reads "rape and death to TERFs" and is cynically painted right aside one of the emergency buttons that were installed due to the prevalence of rape on the campus.  Mexico already suffers from one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.

 

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 [[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.

* Exclude them from education (keep them uneducated)

* Exclude them from accommodation equality

As such, the women labeled "TERF" are represented less as women who simply want to uphold women's sex-based rights, and more like fascist monsters.  This is then used to incite hatred and violence against them.  It's also noteworthy how exclusion of transwomen (from female-only spaces etc.) turns here into supposed exclusion of all trans people (from whatever).  In fact, women targeted as "TERFs" will frequently say explicitly that they welcome transmen in their groups, since transmen also face the sex-based oppression all women face from birth.

== 'SWERF' ==

== External links ==

* [https://www.feministcurrent.com/2017/09/21/terf-isnt-slur-hate-speech/ TERF isn't just a slur, it's hate speech | Feminist Current]

* [https://terfisaslur.com/ terfisaslur.com - Documenting the abuse, harassment and misogyny of transgender identity politics]

* [https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-both-sides The Myth Of 'Both Sides']

|date=August 27, 2019