Into the Heart of TERFness
TERFs hatred of trans women isn’t just academic, it’s something more sinister.
Do you know what a TERF is? I’m going to assume that since you clicked on this article, you probably do, but just in case: ‘TERF’ stands for ‘Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist’(1). If you asked a TERF what they believe, they’d probably tell you (if they were feeling patient enough to explain) any one of the following things: that trans women(2) (which they refer to as trans-identified males or TIMs, similarity to ‘Tim’ intentional) are men who are sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as women; that trans women are men who only wish to pretend to be women to invade women’s spaces(3); that trans women perform exaggerated stereotypes of femininity as a kind of fetish(4); and that trans men (which they refer to as trans-identified females or TIFs) either don’t exist, or are confused butch lesbians, or are traitors to the female gender.
As you may have guessed from the name, TERFs are the sad stepchildren of second-wave feminism(5). At some point, however, TERFs decided the biggest threat to justice in our time wasn’t the patriarchal oppression we’re all steeped in, but a trans woman trying to pee near us. Why? I honestly have no idea. TERF ideology predates me and probably you, too, since it first reared its ugly head all the way back in the 1970s when lesbian groups began voting to…
