TERF - Revision history

Technician at 16:02, 19 March 2023

2023-03-19T16:02:16Z

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 Women who were unhappy with these developments began painting slogans in favor of single-sex women's spaces inside the restroom's cubicles, such as: "If you want a unisex washroom, take it from the men, don't violate women's spaces."  In apparent response to this, trans activists in turn began painting increasingly violent threats inside the cubicles.  One such threat reads "rape and death to TERFs" and is cynically painted right aside one of the emergency buttons that were installed due to the prevalence of rape on the campus.  Mexico already suffers from one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.
 === Murderer recently released from prison threatens "TERFs" ===
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 |date=July 4, 2022
 |website=Schwulissimo
 }}
 </ref>

Technician at 15:29, 19 March 2023

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 Another social media account openly claiming to be him used the display name "HuntingTERFs", and another one used the name "KillingTime1235" while trying to impersonate Reduxx editor Anna Slatz.
 == Analysis of the term ==
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 |date=November 11, 2022
 |author=Genevieve Gluck
 |website=Reduxx
 }}

Technician at 14:45, 19 March 2023

2023-03-19T14:45:04Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:45, 19 March 2023
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	== History and evolution towards hate speech ==		== History and evolution towards hate speech ==

			Those who use the term to slur feminists often claim that it first started out as a self-descriptor. This is a myth. The term was always applied coercively to radical feminists critical of the concept of transgenderism, and used derisively to paint them as an out-group to distance oneself from. Over the years, it evolved into what could be argued to be an outright slur or even hate speech.

	=== Origin ===		=== Origin ===

	The oldest known use of the term is by Viv Smythe aka "tigtog" in a blog post from 2008.<ref name=terf-origin/> ~~She defended~~ the ~~term as late as 2018~~, ~~in an article for The Guardian~~.~~<ref name=guardian-smythe/>~~ 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 oldest known use of the term is by Viv Smythe aka "tigtog" in a blog post from 2008.<ref name=terf-origin/> In the article, Smythe draws a distinction between "trans-exclusionary radfem (TERF) activists" and other radical feminists, criticizing the former.

			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. She also seems to have first used the term in a way that was meant to be objective and not necessarily derogatory. However, she never identified with the term herself, instead using it for other radical feminists whom she painted as an out-group that should be criticized. Besides, a term can have benign origins and yet evolve into a slur.

			Curiously, Smythe defended the term as late as 2018 in an article for The Guardian,<ref name=guardian-smythe/> at which point it should have long been apparent that it had become a slur.

	=== Early years and first principled critique ===		=== Early years and first principled critique ===

	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 ''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."<ref name=fc-egbert/> The second, written by [[Sarah Ditum]] and titled ''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".<ref name=fc-ditum/> 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.		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 positions. In July 2014, [https://www.feministcurrent.com/ Feminist Current] published two articles referencing the term. The first, written by C. K. Egbert and titled ''Defending the 'TERF': Gender as political'', explains and defends in length the political theory underlining the ideas of feminists slurred as "terf."<ref name=fc-egbert/> The second, written by [[Sarah Ditum]] and titled ''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".<ref name=fc-ditum/> 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.

	In August 2014, Vice published an article titled ''I Am Now Officially a Transphobic Twitter Troll'' (subtitle: ''At least according to the 'Block Bot' I am'') by author Martin Robbins.<ref name=vice-robbins/> In the article, Robbins talks about how the "Block Bot" project on Twitter, which is supposed to help people avoid abusive trolls, has included feminist authors and journalists such as [[Caroline Criado-Perez]] and [[Helen Lewis]] among the people who should be blocked. Ironically, Lewis seems to have made it to the list for complaining about abusive trolls, as the "evidence" for the reason to ban her includes objections to tweets such as "kill TERFS", "burn TERFS", or hateful jokes such as "what's better than 1 dead terf? 2 dead terfs."		In August 2014, Vice published an article titled ''I Am Now Officially a Transphobic Twitter Troll'' (subtitle: ''At least according to the 'Block Bot' I am'') by author Martin Robbins.<ref name=vice-robbins/> In the article, Robbins talks about how the "Block Bot" project on Twitter, which is supposed to help people avoid abusive trolls, has included feminist authors and journalists such as [[Caroline Criado-Perez]] and [[Helen Lewis]] among the people who should be blocked. Ironically, Lewis seems to have made it to the list for complaining about abusive trolls, as the "evidence" for the reason to ban her includes objections to tweets such as "kill TERFS", "burn TERFS", or hateful jokes such as "what's better than 1 dead terf? 2 dead terfs."

	Another Feminist Current article defending those targeted with the slur was published in November 2015, written by [[Penny White]] and titled ''Why I no longer hate ‘TERFs’''.<ref name=fc-white/> In the article, 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.		Another Feminist Current article defending those targeted with the slur was published in November 2015, written by [[Penny White]] and titled ''Why I no longer hate ‘TERFs’''.<ref name=fc-white/> In the article, 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 trans activists. After that, Feminist Current started publishing articles critical of the transgender movement with some frequency, much to the enragement of trans activists.

	=== The mainstreaming of hatred ===		=== The mainstreaming of hatred ===

Technician at 13:55, 19 March 2023

2023-03-19T13:55:19Z

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	== Real-life assault, vandalism, and harassment ==		== Real-life assault, vandalism, and harassment ==

	This section lists known incidents of ~~real-life (offline)~~ assault, vandalism, verbal abuse and other harassment against feminist organizations or women, by trans activists who are radicalized by the notion that so-called "TERFs" are after their human rights. (The only case in which the motivation is not entirely clear is the triple homicide of a lesbian couple and their son, committed by formerly prominent trans activist Dana Rivers.)		This section lists known incidents of assault, vandalism, verbal abuse and other harassment against feminist organizations or women, by trans activists who are radicalized by the notion that so-called "TERFs" are after their human rights. (The only case in which the motivation is not entirely clear is the triple homicide of a lesbian couple and their son, committed by formerly prominent trans activist Dana Rivers.)

			Later parts of this section draw heavily from the feminist news outlet [https://reduxx.info/ Reduxx.info], which was founded in January 2022 and started providing high-quality reporting on issues pertaining to conflicts with the transgender movement, especially where the mainstream media fails to deliver. Consider [https://reduxx.info/support/ donating to Reduxx] to support their efforts.

	=== Vandalism of Vancouver Women's Library ===		=== Vandalism of Vancouver Women's Library ===

Technician at 10:30, 19 March 2023

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 Women who were unhappy with these developments began painting slogans in favor of single-sex women's spaces inside the restroom's cubicles, such as: "If you want a unisex washroom, take it from the men, don't violate women's spaces."  In apparent response to this, trans activists in turn began painting increasingly violent threats inside the cubicles.  One such threat reads "rape and death to TERFs" and is cynically painted right aside one of the emergency buttons that were installed due to the prevalence of rape on the campus.  Mexico already suffers from one of the highest rates of violence against women in the world.
 == Analysis of the term ==
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 |date=July 4, 2022
 |website=Schwulissimo
 }}
 </ref>

Technician at 09:26, 19 March 2023

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 </gallery>
-=== Anti-prostitution activists attacked by trans activists ===
+=== Anti-prostitution activists attacked by trans activists in Paris ===
 [[File:lamazone-banners-1.jpg|thumb|right|200px|L'Amazone and CAPP activists holding anti-prostitution banners]]
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 I have never seen this much violence at a feminist protest directed at women.
 </blockquote>
 === Lesbians assaulted at Cologne Dyke March ===
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 German gay magazine Schwulissimo also reported on the incident, and interviewed another one of the victims.<ref name=schwulissimo-cologne/>  She talked about the irony of not being allowed to display a banner with the dictionary definition of the word "lesbian" at a dyke march, and how aggressive and self-righteous the attackers were.  According to her, one of the victims suffered a minor wrist injury but otherwise there were no physical injuries.
 === Threats of rape and murder at UNAM ===
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 |title=narfem (@radfmnst) on Twitter retelling the attack by trans activists
 |date=March 7, 2021
 |website=Twitter
 }}

Technician at 09:03, 19 March 2023

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 File:Vrr-vandalism3.jpg | The phrases "FUCK TERFS" and "TRANS WOMEN ARE WOMEN" written on the door and window
 </gallery>
 === Lesbians assaulted at Cologne Dyke March ===
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 |date=August 27, 2019
 |website=City News
 }}
 </ref>

Technician at 15:34, 12 October 2022

2022-10-12T15:34:27Z

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	[[File:Terf-slur-02.png\|thumb\|300px\|A typical tweet containing "terf"]]		[[File:Terf-slur-02.png\|thumb\|300px\|A typical tweet containing "terf"]]

	The word ''TERF'' (or ''terf''; pl ''terfs'' or ''terves'') is a slur that is used predominantly by transgender activists and their allies against people who criticize the transgender movement on the basis of feminist concerns. Since the slur is used for people with feminist concerns, the main target tend to be women. As such, it's usually understood to be an anti-feminist, sexist and misogynist slur.		The word ''TERF'' (or ''terf''; pl ''terfs'' or ''terves'') is a slur that is used predominantly by [[transgender ideology\|transgender activists]] and their allies against people who criticize the transgender movement on the basis of feminist concerns. Since the slur is used for people with feminist concerns, the main target tend to be women. As such, it's usually understood to be an anti-feminist, sexist and misogynist slur.

	The word was invented as an acronym for ''Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist'', where the "trans-exclusionary" part referred to those holding roughly the position that transwomen should not be included under a feminist definition of womanhood, and the "radical feminist" part was meant neutrally, i.e. for people who would indeed describe themselves as [[Radical feminism\|radical feminists]] in the true sense.		The word was invented as an acronym for ''Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist'', where the "trans-exclusionary" part referred to those holding roughly the position that transwomen should not be included under a feminist definition of womanhood, and the "radical feminist" part was meant neutrally, i.e. for people who would indeed describe themselves as [[Radical feminism\|radical feminists]] in the true sense.

Technician: /* See also */

2022-09-11T14:49:08Z

Technician at 14:48, 11 September 2022

2022-09-11T14:48:24Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:48, 11 September 2022
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	* [https://speakupforwomen.nz/dont-call-women-terfs/ Don't Call Women 'Terfs' \| Speak Up for Women NZ]		* [https://speakupforwomen.nz/dont-call-women-terfs/ Don't Call Women 'Terfs' \| Speak Up for Women NZ]
	* [https://terfisaslur.com/ terfisaslur.com - Documenting the abuse, harassment and misogyny of transgender identity politics]		* [https://terfisaslur.com/ terfisaslur.com - Documenting the abuse, harassment and misogyny of transgender identity politics]
			* [https://grahamlinehan.substack.com/p/the-myth-of-both-sides The Myth Of 'Both Sides']

	== References ==		== References ==

← Older revision		Revision as of 14:49, 11 September 2022
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	* [[Transgender ideology]]		* [[Transgender ideology]]
			* [[Allison Woolbert]] (founder of "TERF Tracker")

	== External links ==		== External links ==