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Original poster

T-slur implies existence of TIRFs?

32 replies

TyroSaysMeow · 24/04/2020 20:06

Purely on a logical/linguistic level, the fact that TE is added to RF implies the existence of RFs who warrant the appellation TI, where inclusive is a synonym for wholly accepting and uncritical of.

But genderism and radical feminism are mutually incompatible, aren't they?

Has anyone anywhere actually managed to reconcile the two and produce a coherent theory of trans-inclusive radical feminism that doesn't beg the question yet?

I'm leaning towards the addition of TE being nothing more than a convenient way of distracting from the RF nature of the target of the slur, but I haven't trawled the whole internet. Are there people who'd fit the label TIRF, and if so, how do they reconcile it?

This post is prompted by someone accusing me of not knowing what a t-slur is, and me being struck by the hypocrisy in The Other Side clinging to dictionary definitions when it suits them. But is there such a thing as a tirf?

OP posts:
TalkingtoLangClegintheDark · 24/04/2020 22:36

It’s pure propaganda, isn’t it? The use of “Trans Exclusionary” implies that the default position (not just of rad fems, but of “right thinking people” generally) is to include males in the category of women if they claim to identify as women. They would have you believe that this is how it is, how it always has been, how it always should be. They are othering us, making us out to be the exception to their rule, excluding us from their appropriation of what supposed normality is.

That’s TRA logic. Lie. Distort. Misrepresent. Misinform. Take control of the narrative and twist it, say anything you can come up with, do whatever it takes to get your message out there. To propagate the idea that some members of the male sex “are” in some unassailable way actually women, and that everybody already thinks this and only extremists would disagree.

Framing the perception of this act of “excluding” people who logically were never ever meant to be included as a stance so out there that it needs its own label instead of being the actual default was a stroke of PR genius. It’s on similar lines to “cis”. Just shows what you can do when you have gallons and gallons of male privilege, and billionaire backers funding you in your noble campaign for “minority rights”.

Qcng · 24/04/2020 22:33

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transfeminism

Original poster
TyroSaysMeow · 24/04/2020 22:17

Don't look for logic, there isn't any

Sorry to take issue, but there must be. Even if it's faulty logic, there has to be a sequence of reasoning that we can look at and say "ah, that bit right there is where you went a bit wonky."

So, what TRAs call TERF is actually TIRF, but not the right sort of TIRF.

Agreed - we are including the 'wrong' flavour of T by their standards.

So, basically, the acronym is used to avoid admitting that the real enemies are radical feminists. Because that wouldn’t look great.

This is my feeling too. But it's a big wide internet out there, and I wondered if there are any known tirfs - surely there must be, somewhere? Sod's law demands it if nothing else.

OP posts:
Ilovemystarter · 24/04/2020 21:48

So, basically, the acronym is used to avoid admitting that the real enemies are radical feminists. Because that wouldn’t look great.

BlackForestCake · 24/04/2020 21:42

When I first heard of all this nonsense one of my first thoughts was that it was eminently reasonable for radical feminists to regard it as men attempting to colonise womanhood itself. I still cannot conceive of any coherent radical feminist position that accepts men as being women.

JellySlice · 24/04/2020 21:29

It's an entirely inaccurate word, because Radical Feminism is inclusive of female trans-identifiers, ie transmen. We could accurately be called MERFs, Male Excluding Radical Feminists, but that wouldn't suit the Trans narrative. So, what TRAs call TERF is actually TIRF, but not the right sort of TIRF. We are METmIRFs.

TreestumpsAndTrampolines · 24/04/2020 20:08

Don't look for logic, there isn't any. - after all, feminism is for females, even those who identify as men, so the TE is wrong on that point too.

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