What exactly makes someone a TERF?

[icehorse]

I know TERF means trans exclusionary radical feminist.

But what exactly does a person have to believe to ACCURATELY be labeled a TERF?

Office Max is printing "Punch a TERF" materials? Those TERFs must be some awful people ??

Office Max/Office Depot Prints 'PUNCH A TERF' Cards at Eight Locations and Counting

 

[Stevicus]

I know TERF means trans exclusionary radical feminist.

But what exactly does a person have to believe to ACCURATELY be labeled a TERF?

Office Max is printing "Punch a TERF" materials? Those TERFs must be some awful people ??

Office Max/Office Depot Prints 'PUNCH A TERF' Cards at Eight Locations and Counting

I don't know if this story is accurate, as I'm not familiar with this source, but I don't think anyone should punch anyone or advocate any kind of violence.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Here's an article on it: You may have heard about TERFs - Gender Justice

 

[Soandso]

TERF is a very online term. Most normies on the street will have no idea what a TERF even is. Honestly I had no idea either until recently

The name is pretty straight forward and self explanatory, imo. A radical feminist who is trans exclusionary. It refers to a very specific kind of person - namely a very vocal feminist who doesn't think trans-women should be included in the discussion of feminism. There are other variations of gatekeeping like this, even in the LGBT community. Some want to remove the T from LGBT

A Look at Transphobia Within the LGBTQ community

Note: This blog contains language and terms that may have changed in meaning over time, as well as some now considered slurs; they are used in their historical context in this blog. To fully serve the LGBTQ community and make America truly representative, we need to start by examining the...

victoryinstitute.org

"Transphobia directed at trans women sometimes originates from radical lesbian feminists. For example, author Janice Raymond published a book in 1979 titled “The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male” where she claims that trans women are men colonizing the female body and are reinforcing traditional, patriarchal gender roles. This work and others by similarly-minded authors are widely held as bigoted and transphobic."

 

[icehorse]

Here's an article on it: You may have heard about TERFs - Gender Justice

I'm going to use a little boolean logic here:

To me the first few paragraphs of the article lay out a massive strawman. Therefore, the rest of the article is of dubious utility.

Sadly, I think a lot of people get labeled TERFS who do not at all take the positions that the article says they do.

==

What I see is that trans activists use the term TERF to silence any criticism of their activism. And I think it's important to remember that supporting trans people is not the same as supporting trans activist agendas.

==

So I'd still like to know what people do specifically to earn the title TERF?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

So I'd still like to know what people do specifically to earn the title TERF?

Here's my personal answer:

1. Be a feminist
2. Be hateful or oppositional toward trans people.

 

[Soandso]

What I see is that trans activists use the term TERF to silence any criticism of their activism.

Any criticism? Are you saying the majority of trans activists are using the word TERF to apply to non-radical feminists and average joes too?

 

[The Hammer]

I'm going to use a little boolean logic here:

There's your first mistake.

Using logic.

Edit: my point being that logic isn't the way we discuss things, nor should it be the basis of a discussion. Humans are not logical. And logic cannot be used to convince or sway them.

 

[icehorse]

Here's my personal answer:

1. Be a feminist
2. Be hateful or oppositional toward trans people.

Women's rights are being rolled back, correct? Horrifying?

Here's an excerpt from the article:

"TERF is an acronym for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. It is a pejorative term created by trans rights activists meant to dehumanize and normalize violence against women who fight for sex-based rights. Women’s rights are routinely violated in the name of trans rights, resulting in males in women’s spaces (including shelters and women’s prisons) and sport."

This seems like another example of trans activists claiming that unless you fall in march step with all of their strategies and tactics, you are a trans phobe.

 

[icehorse]

Any criticism? Are you saying the majority of trans activists are using the word TERF to apply to non-radical feminists and average joes too?

I'm proposing that most people who use the term are using it to silence ANY form of criticism. That it's not about supporting people, it's about defending agendas.

So I'd still like to hear specific examples of an action that renders a person a TERF?

 

[icehorse]

(because you seem not to be "listening" to other's input much any more)

What's interesting / terrifying is that there are certain topics these days about which if a person disagrees, they are bullied and insulted every which way.

I'm listening, I'm simply not agreeing

And the question in the OP remains. So, predictably, instead of answering the question, I'm attacked. It seems like a perfectly fair question. If it's not, why not?

 

[We Never Know]

Women's rights are being rolled back, correct? Horrifying?

Here's an excerpt from the article:



This seems like another example of trans activists claiming that unless you fall in march step with all of their strategies and tactics, you are a trans phobe.

Cis-women being at odds with transgender women.... Who saw that coming lol

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

What's interesting / terrifying is that there are certain topics these days about which if a person disagrees, they are bullied and insulted every which way.

I'm listening, I'm simply not agreeing

And the question in the OP remains. So, predictably, instead of answering the question, I'm attacked. It seems like a perfectly fair question. If it's not, why not?

I already answered the question, though. The question was, what's a TERF?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I'm proposing that most people who use the term are using it to silence ANY form of criticism. That it's not about supporting people, it's about defending agendas.

I'd say the trans movement and all of this has a bit more to it than that. I've also seen trans exclusionary feminists try to verbally attack and verbally assault transgender people. I have seen it online before.

So I claim "Straw Man" on that claim.

 

[icehorse]

I already answered the question, though. The question was, what's a TERF?

You answered in a very general, abstract, ambiguous way. And I heard you, thanks!

But I'm looking for concrete examples!

 

[icehorse]

I'd say the trans movement and all of this has a bit more to it than that. I've also seen trans exclusionary feminists try to verbally attack and verbally assault transgender people. I have seen it online before.

So I claim "Straw Man" on that claim.

I used the word "most" because of course I agree that some feminists are hateful towards trans people.

And I also agree that the trans movement is multifaceted. I would guess that probably MOST trans people don't use the term TERF.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

But I'm looking for concrete examples!

There exists a bit of a "war of words and actions" between trans exclusionary feminists and transgender people online, and sometimes offline as well. One example of this is that trans exclusionary feminists don't really like some transgender corners on Reddit, and will stage these "rating attacks" where all will flock at once from their online group, and downrate all of the posts of the transgender people in the transgender group. Of course, the trans exclusionary feminists will use the excuse that "it was warranted because the trans people had talked about them before".

 

[Soandso]

I'm proposing that most people who use the term are using it to silence ANY form of criticism. That it's not about supporting people, it's about defending agendas.

So I'd still like to hear specific examples of an action that renders a person a TERF?

Huh. That's an interesting assertion. I'd like to see examples of that

To me, I guess an example of being a TERF would be someone who is an outspoken feminist using a public platform to demonize, delegitimize, or gate keep trans people. If you want specific examples of that, I already posted one about an author who wrote an entire book about trans people and how they should be gate kept out of the feminist movement. That would be a TERF.

 

[sun rise]

TERF appears to be a member "there's no one left but thee and me and we're not sure of thee" club taken to an extreme and unfunny level.

 

[anna.]

I'm going to use a little boolean logic here:

To me the first few paragraphs of the article lay out a massive strawman. Therefore, the rest of the article is of dubious utility.

Sadly, I think a lot of people get labeled TERFS who do not at all take the positions that the article says they do.

==

What I see is that trans activists use the term TERF to silence any criticism of their activism. And I think it's important to remember that supporting trans people is not the same as supporting trans activist agendas.

==

So I'd still like to know what people do specifically to earn the title TERF?

The article has a bias, it's of course important to keep that in mind.