TERF: Difference between revisions

The oldest known use of the term is by Viv Smythe aka "tigtog" in a [https://hoydenabouttown.com/2008/08/17/carnivalia-transgenderism-and-the-gender-binary/ blog post] from 2008.  She defended the term as late as 2018, in [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/im-credited-with-having-coined-the-acronym-terf-heres-how-it-happened an article] written for The Guardian.  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 [https://www.feministcurrent.com/2014/07/16/defending-the-terf-gender-as-political/ ''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."  The second, written by Sarah Ditum and titled [https://www.feministcurrent.com/2014/07/29/how-terf-works/ ''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".  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.

Another Feminist Current article defending those targeted with the slur was published in November 2015, written by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qUruyYQQ60 Penny White] and titled [https://www.feministcurrent.com/2015/11/10/why-i-no-longer-hate-terfs/ ''Why I no longer hate 'TERFs'''].  In the article, Penny 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.

<gallery caption="Some examples of tweets using 'terf'" perrow=3 widths=400px heights=200px>

<references>

{{cite web

|url=https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/05/01/trans-activism-become-centered-justifying-violence-women-time-allies-speak/

|date=May 1, 2018

|website=Feminist Current

}}

</ref>