TERF

[gunsandbanjos]

Anyone else not really give a fuck at being called one?

[DailyWTFMoments]

Depends who says it. Random, deluded keyboard warriors - don't give a fuck. My 17 year old daughter - yes, that stings.

[LapdanceShoeshine]

Only to the extent that I actually really want to slap them

Or say “and?”

(Also, “are you aware of the literal meaning of phobic?”)

[DullAndOld]

maybe we should 'reclaim' the term and say 'yeh TERF and proud'

[gunsandbanjos]

Good point daily, any name stings more when it comes from one we love.

[gunsandbanjos]

If the exclusionary (or exterminatory lol) means excluding them from women’s spaces then yes, absolutely I’m a TERF.

I will respect their pronouns and I will support them and protect them from harassment, but I will crawl over broken glass to prevent them taking over women only spaces.

[BlindYeo]

It means absolutely nothing to me. Nobody around me in real life talks about transgender stuff so it's like a foreign swear word, it has no emotional resonance with me at all. It think it's the same reason why I have never had to peak trans because I have never believed that people could be born in the wrong body in the first place. The emperor has always been naked.

[Walkingdead11]

I don't mind the term at all....accurately describes my stance on many trans issues. I do wish the more moderate trans 'women' would call out the heinous stuff the trans activists come out with! Just reading some of their tweets about how we are jealous of their 'vagina's' because theirs don't smell.......🤔

[GuardianLions]

I don't like it because of the way it is spat out.

It emerged in an era of 'irony' being the excuse for everything - sexism, racism, disablism, etc and the word 'chav' was starting to be used as a way of people openly stereotyping, demonising and blaming the poor- whilst sounding hip and modern at the same time. Oh its just ironic!

And the TERF thing has been the most sticky insult from that era that is used today - and of course it is used to demonise lesbians, older women and any other kind of feminist other than funfems. Misogyny is always so bloody sticky.

Actually, the irony is that self-rightious little Owen writes a book about 'chavs' and yet he is happy to chuck 'TERF' around.

[TallulahWaitingInTheRain]

It's nonsense anyway. Nobody is trying to exclude trans people from anything, we are trying to exclude male people from female spaces. TIFs very welcome.

[terryleather]

Tediously
Explaining
Reality To
Fuckwits

...Is how a poster on GenderCritical reddit puts it. I really like that.

[irretating]

I like it. I'd put that on a t-shirt @terryleather

[Sandsnake]

If someone called me that then it would be inaccurate. I am gender critical and I am a feminist. I don’t think I count as a rad fem though (although I respect a lot of what they have to say on many things). I also wouldn’t say I’m ‘trans exclusionary’ as I don’t think it’s that simple. I’d be happy to include genuine transsexual women in my feminism (for example, would be happy to walk alongside them on a march or similar) but wouldn’t ever centre them as demanded by TRAs. I’m also highly critical of the GRA, trans women in sport, issues around female only spaces etc.

I imagine all of that would get me called a TERF, but they would be wrong. I don’t think it would bother me particularly though, unless it was coming from someone I cared about.

[GrumpyDullard]

Hey! I came up with Tediously Explaining Reality to Fuckwits on this thread... www.mumsnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/2878725-TERF. I am SO proud! I have name-changed since then but may go back to this name so I can bask in the glory.

[GuardianLions]

grumpy

[PositivelyPERF]

I correct them and point out that I am actually a PERF. Penis Exclusionary Radical Feminist. There really hasn't been a good comeback to that yet.

[terryleather]

Woohoo Grumpy, it has spread far & wide.

Which is fair enough as it is excellent work!

[GrumpyDullard]

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[LangCleg]

I don't give a stuff about being called TERF. It's not accurate since radfem analysis includes TIFs. It's often used as a homophobic synonym for lesbian. It's directed at people who wouldn't know radical feminism if it got up and slapped them in the face. It really is the new witch, bitch or whatever misogynist slur you choose. It's just a pointless slur.

But it does get my goat to be called a bigot.

[nauticant]

@GrumpyDullard is doing well, but the essential truth of PERF wins for me.

[idontlikealdi]

@GrumpyDullard you've got it there I'm a PERF!

[sexnotgender]

Oh I like PERF.

[ThreeWeeBirds]

I work with teenagers who believe they’re trans; I was genuinely taken aback recently to hear a 16yr old girl talk about ‘terfs’ as ‘the biggest threat to us’ (ie trans community’) as ‘they have more credibility’ [as an enemy] than eg the religious far right. She was wholly convinced that there’s a gang of nasty witches gunning for her and her tribe fuelled by hatred, bigotry and stupidity. She doesn’t know my views, and would probably never speak to me again if she did. I’ve seen all of that TRA stuff on twitter before but it felt very different hearing it IRL from an intelligent young woman. To her terfs are a mix of: horse-faced bitter harridans from anti-suffragette cartoons; the worst kind of bigot; contemptuously old-fashioned pearl-clutching killjoy mothers who don’t understand the 21st century; and the fucking illuminati. It’s all so bloody detached from reality.

[AssignedPuuurfectAtBirth]

Guardian, thank you for this :

"Actually, the irony is that self-rightious little Owen writes a book about 'chavs' and yet he is happy to chuck 'TERF' around."

[Vicxy]

Used to sting a bit. My liberal self would argue in my head constantly about how bigoted I was. But now, TERF means as much to me as 'transphobe' does. Even 'bigot' doesn't bother me these days.

Terf to me turns into Telling Everyone Real Facts. I read that on here once and it stuck in my head