- What are TERFs?
First of all, very simply, what does it stand for?
It stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist.
Now, the trans-exclusionary part of this is overwhelmingly
to do with their treatment and attitudes
towards trans women,
although this does also map onto trans men as well.
The idea essentially that trans women are not women
and the only kinds of real women are cis women.
It is important to note that term is not used
by most people who we could consider to be TERFs themselves.
In fact, a lot of them consider it
to be a slur of some kind.
You will see many of them
instead using the phrase gender critical feminist instead.
Personally, I'm going to use the term TERF in this video.
I do not consider it a slur.
In fact, to me it seems like a very basic
four word descriptor of a group of people.
So where do they come from?
Well, to answer that we need to look very briefly
at the different waves of feminism.
So we are currently in
what is known as fourth wave feminism,
although people are kind of debating
as to what exactly that entails.
But looking back we can see that first wave feminism,
for example, was looking at things like voting rights.
This would be the suffragette
or suffragist movement, for example.
Then in around the 1960s and up until the 1990s,
we had second wave feminism.
Issues around this period spanned anything
from abuse and rape to custody and divorce.
It give rise to this stereotypical idea
of the bra-burning feminist,
a feminist who rejects completely the idea of femininity
in terms of the patriarchy.
It also, crucially to this discussion,
gave rise to things like women-only spaces.
It's also important to note that within this movement
you have splintered off movements.
So you would have things like socialist feminists,
eco feminists, political lesbians,
and indeed radical feminists.
To make this slightly more simple,
I'm just going to read the sort of internet definition
of radical feminist or radfem so you get an idea.
"Radical feminists take issue with the individualism
"of liberalism and argue that personal choices
"and individual achievements are not enough
"to transform society.
"They locate women's oppression
"in a broader social context, namely patriarchy."
Now, that might seem pretty reasonable,
and I think it is included
in a lot of feminism that people practise nowadays.
It's important to note
that not all radical feminists are trans-exclusionary.
Trans-exclusionary radical feminist
is a four word phrase for a reason.
I think here it's also important to note
that there is an idea in many circles that TERFs
and feminists who are lesbians are kind of interchangeable,
and that just isn't the case.
Now, this stereotype comes
from a number of different places,
but we've seen it kind of played out more recently
in a lot of discourse around the idea
that lesbians could not be attracted to trans women,
any lesbians who are attracted
to trans women are not real lesbians,
essentially all equating around the idea that trans women,
particularly trans women who have penises,
are not real women.
Now, I have been familiar with this stereotype for years,
and it is genuinely the reason
why I feel very uncomfortable with the label lesbian.
To me it has such strong connotations of TERFs
that it just feels just weird to me
to label myself in that way.
So now that we've cleared this up,
we know that TERFs are essentially a subset
of radical feminists who are trans-exclusionary,
exactly as the acronym suggests.
So why are we talking about them at all?
Well, as many people have pointed out,
they may be small in number, but they are loud in voice.
And this is for a number of different reasons.
One, these women had places in second wave feminism.
They were voices of authority
and then still continue to be because of that legacy.
And two, leading on from that,
they're of the age where they can hold positions
of authority in a number of different places,
not just within the feminist movement itself.
This means they are often looked at
as a source of knowledge, and this can have a big impact.
The reason why they garner so much criticism
is not just because of their trans-exclusionary views.
It is the power and force
with which they then put those views out into the world.
Actual quotes from TERFs about trans women are
that they are men's rights activists,
that they are the lowest of the slow and scum on earth.
It means that to them any violent stunt
against a trans women
would not be considered violence against women,
but any violence done by trans woman is seen
as men's violence and oppression towards women.
The rhetoric around trans women will centre
around things like the sexual and physical danger
that they feel around trans women especially
and with trans women around children.
A lot of TERFs also hold the completely ridiculous idea
that the reason why trans women are transitioning
is because they are men who are sexually aroused
by the thought of dressing like or turning into women.
Essentially, I kind of wish
that we didn't have to give people
who believe this kind of stuff the time of day,
but the fact is that they do hold positions of authority,
and they are positions which are educating young feminists
who have probably never met a trans person before
but are hearing this stuff about them,
and it's setting their own viewpoints
around who trans people are.
To my mind, the fact of the matter is that we're in a world
in which trans people can be harassed, vilified,
and murdered for being who they are,
and in that world TERFs are dangerous
in their seeming obsession with spreading misinformation
and vilifying trans people further.
I think it is important to acknowledge a lot
of second wave feminism was rooted very intensely
in the female body.
The idea of reproductive justice,
the idea of being unashamed of your body
was something that was very, very important then.
And I think that that has had a massive influence
on a lot of women from that era's ideas around trans women,
because the idea of being a woman was so tied to the bodily.
And to then have these trans women
who don't fit into that model,
I can understand how that's difficult.
Here's the thing, just because people that you admire
for their social justice work thought something then
doesn't make it true now.
We can have great admiration
for women in first wave feminism
while still acknowledging the racism
and classism of that time.
There are women who participated strongly
in second wave feminism
who have completely changed their mind
about being trans-exclusionary.
This isn't a stumbling block that is impossible to get over.
So I suppose all that remains to be said is that
if you feel like you are someone
who is practising trans-exclusionary feminism,
maybe you have never heard from a trans person about this,
maybe you have been listening to a lot of these women
who are saying that trans women are not women full stop
and you haven't heard the alternatives,
then I'm gonna leave some resources
in the description for you to have a look at.
Please, please do.
Thanks for watching, I hope that was a useful,
very basic beginning
to the idea of trans-exclusionary radical feminists.
As usual, you can help support me make these videos
by supporting me on Patreon.
The link is in the description,
along with a link to all my social media
so you can find me all over the internet.
And until I see you next time, bye.