Terf signals/colours

Also! Do you think we could persuade The Famous Artist Birdy Rose to make some of her designs as enamel badges? Because i’m not quite ready for T-shirt level attention, but her artwork would look fab as a pin on a lapel or a bag…

thefamousartistbirdyrose.com/collections/gargoyles-of-beelzebub

Thanks @HobnobsChoice . Just bought mine and will see how long it takes our local WI committee to notice and object. . I am hiding in plain sight.
😉
www.manbeeco.co.uk/product/suffragette-bee-pin-emmeline-s-pantry-charity-special-edition

Someone asked me what my favourite dinosaur was, my reply was a rights hoarding one

i like that 😀

Another good point! Damn, we all had our power breakfasts this morning. I agree, my exclusion is only of trans-identifying men from my radical feminism. So maybe I need to call myself a Merf?

I have my suffragette scarf, and two sets of dinosaur earrings that make more regular appearances.
Someone asked me what my favourite dinosaur was, my reply was a rights hoarding one.

Oh sorry forgot to answer the OP which is, I have a little 'deeds not words' pin on my work coat and dinosaur stud earrings.

I hope they would signify my feelings to anyone sufficiently interested in the topic but has plausible deniability.

Terf is “trans exclusionary radical feminist” - the exclusion of “trans” is from the category “radical feminist.”

This is interesting.
I have never considered myself a Terf as I absolutely do include trans men (aka females) in my feminism whether they want to be included or not.
But I agree that anyone who subscribes to a ideology that throws women under the bus cannot be a feminist and therefore, yes, I do say they are excluded from being a radical feminist... Hmmm.

That is absolutely an excellent point. (And @frenchnoodle, your point about the court cases too.) A bit like when brands don’t want you to use their brand name as a generic term for a product (eg hoover) because they then lose the exclusive rights to that word. So, women saying that terf isnt a slur makes it harder for us to argue that it’s being used as one when it clearly is. Muddying the waters, as it were.

Not sure what the solution is wrt that. 🧐

We all know terf was originally intended as a slur. As @MarieDeGournay explained, lesbians have reclaimed the slur 'dyke' by adopting it, just as gay men reclaimed the word 'queer' before the genderists co-opted the word for their own use. Language is constantly evolving. Terfs have likewise claimed the intended slur and celebrated it. Plenty of evidence on terfisaslur.com to support the fact that it originated as an insult. The fact that women have done something that oppressed people have a history of doing (the N word is another example) doesn't negate or eliminate the fact that we all understand the original intention of the slur.

May Forstater's case came first, by the way, in 2021. Allison Bailey's was in 2022.

https://sciencejewelry1824.shop/products/uterus-1?variant=31869860544575&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhYS_BhD2ARIsAJTMMQaPBsr8CQrIHzPrLDiO2FSv-HeS36pQbybPedOVLJVGPIThXC5bu6saArqGEALw_wcB

I would like one of these

I would like to point out that a lot of women worked very hard on "terfisaslur.com" getting it recognised in court with the Alison Bailey and later Maya Forester cases.
Getting it recognised by a judge took a lot of women a lot of time and energy.

I just get a bit snippy when I see that hard work from the early days ignored

But of course this is probably not the thread to remind people of that fact.

I currently have a little silver dinosaur hanging around my neck.

https://www.lucyandjane.co.uk/collections/dinosaur-necklaces it came in a couple of days beautifully packaged.

I have one of these on my handbag. It feels a bit secret squirrel although I don’t want it to be a secret.
I have had other (mature) women notice it and give me a smile or say I like your bag.

I smell the laundry of the term "terf" which will allow the claim in court that it isn't a slur.

Reclaiming a word and being proud to be on the right side of history doesn't stop us from recognising the original intent.

"Terf" was created as a derogatory term. It is a slur.

Yay 100%!

The term TERF was intended to be an insult, by male supremacists and people who think humans can change sex. In other words, people who can shove their opinions (and their demands of women) where the sun don’t shine.

I hope you told them to bugger off.

I posted before I saw TwoLoonsAndASprout and frenchnoodle had their friendly exchange.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again: one of the things I ❤about discussions on here is that it's not unusual for two posters to say 'I see what you mean now' or 'Sorry I got a bit snippy' or 'we're on the same side but have slightly different takes on it'.

I'm not on social media myself, but I'm reliably informed that that kind of intereaction is not the norm on SM🙄

Excellent points!!

It's a tricky one, OP - TERF is often intended as a slur, which is why it it has a sort-of 'official status' as slur, but there's a long history of groups taking the slurs that wider society throws at them, and embracing them as in-joke names to be used within the community.

I don't mind being called a dyke; in fact, within my social circle most of us use the word dyke. But it was also the chosen word - preceded by 'dirty' - of the groups of boys and men who have threatened me with violence in the past.

So outside of my immediate circle, the word 'dyke', especially when spoken with hatred and venom, is usually a slur.

I use the terms lesbian, or gay, when speaking to.. er....people who are not dykes

When somebody says 'Those TERFs are all just a bunch of dykes' you can bet your bottom dollar that the speaker is neither a TERF nor a dyke!

I don't mind being called a TERF, and would happily describe myself as such.
But I know that the person who displayed a sign saying DECAPITATE TERFS
was definitely using it as a slur.

Context and intent is all, OP!

Textile endeavouring radical feminist!! Love this!!

(Fellow textiler here!)

You are right. It is a heated topic and we all largely want the same thing. The world is big enough after all.

@frenchnoodle, I’ve had a think and I feel like I was being a bit exclusionary myself, for which I apologise. It is absolutely your right to find the term terf a slur and to not want it to be used for you. Similarly, there are women, me included, for whom terf is not an insult, and who will therefore not mind being called it, or indeed will actively call themselves it. And that is our right too.

Why? What am I missing?

Ah. First you disrupt the subject of the thread, then you tell me what I want, despite the fact I've said I don't. And when I put my case you tell me that I don't know what feminism means and try to redirect the conversation. Such familiar tactics.

Yes!