‘TERF’ is Not a Misogynist Slur
And claiming that it is completely misses the point
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Scrolling mindlessly on Facebook this morning, I came across an article shared by a political sub-page, suggesting that the term ‘TERF’ is an abusive misogynist slur.
TERF (Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist) is used to describe a particular branch of ‘feminism’ believing trans people are not the gender they identify as, and should not be supported in their gender identity.
This particular page on Facebook labelled ‘TERF’ as hate speech, regularly referring to it as ‘misogynist’ — even going so far as censoring it as TE*F.
The term is intended to bring to light the issues impacting the trans community today, calling out those who claim to be ‘feminist’, but instead of equality, preach exclusion and isolation.
Suggesting that TERF is a slur, like the n-word, slut, f*ggot, or other derogatory insults intended to demean minorities, is laughable.
If you exclude trans people and you claim to be feminist, you’re a TERF — and you’re not even actually a feminist — it really is as simple as that.
Putting the word ‘TERF’ in the same list as the n-word, f*ggot, or any other ethnic or sexuality slur, is incredibly disrespectful.
It makes light of the hate that those minorities have experienced their lives, and attempts to flip the victim from the trans community to those that want to shut them down.
It’s like suggesting that ‘homophobe’ or ‘racist’ are both slurs when they’re clear, dictionary-definition words to describe someone’s discriminatory views.
When we cry ‘victim’ at displays of exclusion, discrimination and hatred, we support that hatred.
The victims are those facing discrimination, not the discriminators.
Punching someone and breaking your hand doesn’t make you the victim.
It makes you an asshole.
A self-pitying asshole at that.
Furthermore, claiming TERF as a misogynistic slur implies that it’s an insult aimed solely at women.
This is incorrect.
Feminists are not defined by their gender — men, women, non-binary people, and trans people can also be feminists.
It’s taking something that’s already focused on exclusionary practices and beliefs, and narrowing that niche of inclusivity even further.
Men, woman, and non-binary people can be TERFs, just as much as they can be feminists.
It’s a laughable situation: a transphobic feminist, crying ‘equality’, inadvertently preaching nothing but inequality.
We shouldn’t need terms like TERF, homophobe, sexist, or racist.
But those people do exist, and those terms exist for them.
They are not derogatory, they are descriptive.
The connotations associated with those words are from the actions of the people, not their ethnicities, sexual preference, religious beliefs, sexual identity, age, or nationality.
It’s calling a spade a shovel — or a transphobic feminist a TERF.
But all is not without hope: in response to the page’s cries to stop calling them TERFs, one proud feminist suggested that we use another acronym to describe them instead: Feminism-Appropriating Reactionary Transphobe.
FART.
So come on, fellow feminists: support our sisters, not just our cis-ters.
