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TERF (/tɜːrf/) is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists who reject the position that trans women are women, reject the inclusion of trans women in women's spaces, and oppose transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism.^[1]^[2]^[3] In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism".

Though TERF was created to be a "deliberately technically neutral description", the term is now considered a pejorative,^[4] derogatory or disparaging.^[5]^[6] People labeled TERFs often reject the label, instead describing their beliefs as gender critical.^[7]^[8]

Origin

Trans-inclusive radical feminist blogger Viv Smythe has been credited with creating and popularizing the term^[3] in 2008 as an online shorthand.^[9] The first recorded use of the term was in a blog post she wrote reacting to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's policy of denying admittance to trans women.^[9] In 2014, Smythe recalled that she and another user, "Lauredhel", had been privately using the term in private chatrooms before that blog post, and believed that it may have been adapted or adopted from an IRC discussion involving other individuals.^[10]

In the blog post, Smythe wrote that she rejected the alignment of all radical feminists with "trans-exclusionary radfem (TERF) activists".^[9] It was used to describe those feminists^[1] who espouse sentiments that other feminists consider transphobic,^[2]^[3]^[11]^[12] including the view that trans women are men, opposition to transgender rights,^[13] and the exclusion of trans women in women's spaces and organizations.^[14] These viewpoints have been alleged to be divergent from the majority of feminist organizations.^[13] In a 2014 interview with Cristan Williams of The TransAdvocate blog, Smythe – using her net-pseudonym "TigTog"^[15] – said:

It was meant to be a deliberately technically neutral description of an activist grouping. We wanted a way to distinguish TERFs from other radfems with whom we engaged who were trans*-positive/neutral, because we had several years of history of engaging productively/substantively with non-TERF radfems...^[16]^[10]

Usage

Smythe initially used TERF to refer to a particular type of feminist whom she characterized as "unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters". She also notes that the term has taken on additional connotations and that it has been "weaponised at times" by both inclusionary and exclusionary groups.^[9] The term has since become an established part of the contemporary feminist language, but its usage is contested.^[17]

Several writers have observed that TERF can be used in broader senses to refer to trans-exclusionary feminists who are not radical, people with a certain kind of trans-exclusionary politics regardless of whether they are radical feminists or even things that are culturally associated with second-wave feminism in general.^[2]^[3]^[18]

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added an entry for TERF (noun) in June 2022, which states that although the term was first intended as a neutral descriptor, it is "now typically regarded as derogatory".^[6] OED editor Fiona McPherson explained that because "there is a little bit more nuance behind its usage – it's not always just a straight-out insult", the dictionary's editors opted to explain this rather than simply label the term "derogatory" or "chiefly derogatory".^[19] In 2023, the AP Stylebook advised journalists to avoid the term, deeming it "vague and politicized."^[20]

Slur debate

People who have TERF directed at them often characterize it as a pejorative or hate speech.^[7]^[21]^[22] In a July 2018 solicitation of essays regarding "transgender identities", British magazine The Economist required writers to "avoid all slurs, including TERF", stating that the word was used to try to silence opinions and sometimes incite violence.^[23] In August 2018, seven British philosophers wrote on the website Daily Nous that two articles by Veronica Ivy^[24] and Jason Stanley^[25] published in the journal Philosophy and Phenomenological Research normalized the term. They described the term as "at worst a slur and at best derogatory", and argued it had been used to denigrate those "who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues".^[26]^[27]^[28] In response, Ernest Sosa, the journal's editor in chief, stated that scholars consulted by the journal advised that the term could become a slur at some point, but that its use as a denigrating term in some contexts did not mean it could not be used descriptively.^[27] Transgender author Andrea Long Chu described the claim that TERF was a slur as "a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory."^[29]

Transgender rights activist^[30] and former philosophy professor Veronica Ivy argues that just because the word could be used pejoratively, it did not mean it was a slur in general.^[24] In a 2020 paper published in the philosophy journal Grazer Philosophische Studien, linguists Christopher Davis and Elin McCready argued that three properties could make a term a slur: it had to be derogatory towards a particular group, used to subordinate them within some structure of power relations and that the derogated group must be defined by an intrinsic property. Davis and McCready wrote that the term TERF satisfied the first condition, but failed the third condition (an ideology is not an intrinsic group like race or sexuality), and that the second condition was contentious, in that it depended upon how each group saw itself in relation to the other group.^[31] Philosophy of language professor Jennifer Saul disagreed with categorizing TERF as a slur, arguing that a term does not necessarily become a slur when coupled with violent or abusive rhetoric. Her main criticism is that the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" is inaccurate, preferring the term "anti-trans activists" instead. Firstly because many people so-labelled are not at all radical feminists (citing J. K. Rowling as an example) and secondly that the term embeds the idea that radical feminists could work to "harm the interests of marginalized women".^[32]

Feminist philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher argued that, regardless of whether the term was accurately classified as a slur, it "has at least become offensive to those designated by the term", which suggested it might be best to avoid "in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference".^[33] Feminist philosopher Judith Butler disputed that the term TERF was a slur in an interview with New Statesman, saying "I wonder what name self-declared feminists who wish to exclude trans women from women's spaces would be called? If they do favour exclusion, why not call them exclusionary? If they understand themselves as belonging to that strain of radical feminism that opposes gender reassignment, why not call them radical feminists?"^[34]

Serena Bassi and Greta LaFleur say that "the argument by trans-exclusionary radical feminists that the term TERF (an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”) is a “slur”— rather than a description of a particular approach to politics—leans on a “politics of injury” that distances itself from the real and very harmful work trans-exclusionary radical feminism is doing in the world."^[35]

Gender-critical label

In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "gender-critical feminism", which Grinspan and co-authors describe as a "self-definition by some individuals and groups labelled TERFs."^[36]

People labeled as TERFs generally object to the term and may refer to themselves as gender critical.^[7]^[27]^[37] In 2017, British columnist Sarah Ditum wrote that "the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low", citing PinkNews's criticism of Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray and a Medium writer's blog entry about Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.^[38]

In a 2015 article, American feminist scholar Bonnie J. Morris argued that TERF was initially a legitimate analytical term, but quickly developed into a defamatory word associated with sexist insults. She described the word as "emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions" and called on scholars and journalists to stop using it.^[39]

British journalist Catherine Bennett has described the word as "a bullying tool", which had "already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research".^[40]^[41] In 2017, British feminist author Claire Heuchan argued that the word was often used alongside "violent rhetoric",^[42]^[43] and that this violent language was used to "dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system", often lesbians.^[42] British clinical psychologist and medical sociologist David Pilgrim says that phrases like "Kill a TERF!" or "Punch a TERF!" are also posted by trolls online, and that there had been other depictions of violence aimed at women labeled as TERFs.^[44]

The 2018 United Kingdom All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hate Crime received several submissions that indicated a high degree of tension between trans activists and feminist groups opposed to transgender rights legislation, with both sides detailing incidents of extreme or abusive language. The report noted that some women had submitted reports which argued that "women who object to the inclusion of trans women as female are being attacked both online and, in the street, with the term 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist' or 'TERF' being used as a term of abuse."^[45]

Some people who have been called trans-exclusionary radical feminists say that trans-exclusionary is an inaccurate label, as they are inclusive of transgender men, who have a female sex assignment.^[46] Peter Cava notes that when these feminists are inclusive of trans men, they often gender them as women.^[47] Linguists Christopher Davis and Elin McCready view this "purported support" of trans men as a denial of their agency and self-determination, and suggest it is trans-exclusionary "because it excludes the very category of 'trans man'".^[31]

"TERF Island"

Some commentators refer to the United Kingdom, often in a jocular or droll fashion, as "TERF Island".^[48] The name references the perception that gender-critical activism and anti-trans rhetoric are particularly culturally prominent in the United Kingdom compared to the United States or other locations.^[49]^[50] In their 2024 book Who's Afraid of Gender?, philosopher Judith Butler explores this notion, as well as the history of the gender-critical movement in the UK.^[51]^[52]

References

^ ^a ^b Stryker, Susan; Bettcher, Talia M. (1 May 2016). "Introduction". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 5–14. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334127.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lewis, Sophie (7 February 2019). "Opinion | How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019. If the idea that transphobic harassment could be "feminist" bewilders you, you are not alone. ... With time, the term TERF has become a catchall for all anti-trans feminists, radical or not.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Miller, Edie (5 November 2018). "Why Is British Media So Transphobic?". The Outline. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019. The truth is, while the British conservative right would almost certainly be more than happy to whip up a frenzy of transphobia, they simply haven't needed to, because some sections of the left over here are doing their hate-peddling for them. The most vocal source of this hatred has emerged, sadly, from within circles of radical feminists. British feminism has an increasingly notorious TERF problem. ... The application of the term has shifted somewhat over time to encompass most people espousing trans-exclusionary politics that follow a particular "TERF logic," regardless of their involvement with radical feminism.
^ Marshall, Alex (8 August 2024). "A Play About J.K. Rowling Stirred Outrage. Until It Opened". New York Times. Retrieved 8 August 2024.
^ "TERF". 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
^ ^a ^b "TERF". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. June 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ ^a ^b ^c Vasquez, Tina (17 February 2014). "It's Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women". Bitch. Bitch Media. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019. [Cathy] Brennan, fellow attorney Elizabeth Hungerford, and other modern-day feminists continue to actively question the inclusion of trans people in women's spaces. These feminists refer to themselves as "radical feminists" or "gender critical feminists". In 2008, trans women and trans advocates started referring to this group as "trans-exclusionary radical feminists" or TERFs, a term Brennan considers a slur.
^ Gutzwa, Justin A. (2021). "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs)". Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. pp. 695–698. doi:10.1163/9789004506725_137. ISBN 978-90-04-50672-5. S2CID 246690677. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2022 – via Google Books.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Smythe, Viv (28 November 2018). "I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2019. Due to a short series of blogposts from 2008, I have retrospectively been credited as the coiner of the acronym "Terf" (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) ... a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters, unlike those of us who do.
^ ^a ^b "TERF: what it means and where it came from". TransAdvocate.com. 15 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2023.
^ Dastagir, Alia (16 March 2017). "A feminist glossary because we didn't all major in gender studies". USA Today. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019. TERF: The acronym for 'trans exclusionary radical feminists,' referring to feminists who are transphobic.
^ Bollinger, Alex (19 December 2018). "Famous lesbian site taken over by anti-trans 'feminists'. Now lesbian media is standing up". LGBTQ Nation. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
^ ^a ^b Burns, Katelyn (5 September 2019). "The rise of anti-trans "radical" feminists, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2022. "I don't think American women are buying it," she said, pointing out that nearly every major US feminist advocacy group is vocally pro-trans rights and inclusion.
^ O'Connell, Jennifer (26 January 2019). "Transgender for beginners: Trans, terf, cis and safe spaces". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.
^ "Viv Smythe". abc.net.au. ABC News. 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.
^ Williams, Cristan (1 May 2016). "Radical Inclusion". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 254–258. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334463.
^ Hines, Sally (17 February 2019). "The feminist frontier: on trans and feminism". Journal of Gender Studies. 28 (2): 145–157. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411791. S2CID 149145967.
^ Wilson, Lena (16 August 2018). "Do I Have to Give Up Lesbian History to Participate in Queer Culture?". Slate. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019. TERF, as an insult, has become so far removed from its original activist intentions (rightly criticizing trans exclusion in feminism) that, at this point, it's also a word for anything that queer millennials deem uncool. Things I've seen called "TERFy" on Twitter and Tumblr include tampon ads, the word "female", the non-word "womxn", Janelle Monae's "Pynk," the Venus symbol, bangs, Jill Stein, Cardi B, and ... trans women.
^ ""Terf", "pangender" and "vaxxer" included in the OED new words list". New Statesman. 22 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
^ "Don't Use 'TERF,' AP Stylebook Advises". www.advocate.com.
^ Compton, Julie (14 January 2019). "'Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view". NBC News. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
^ Goldberg, Michelle (4 August 2014). "What Is a Woman?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2015. TERF stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist.' The term can be useful for making a distinction with radical feminists who do not share the same position, but those at whom it is directed consider it a slur.
^ "Transgender identities: a series of invited essays". The Economist. 29 June 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2019. In the interests of fostering open debate we have set ground rules, both for essays and reader comments: use the pronouns people want you to use, and avoid all slurs, including TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which may have started as a descriptive term but is now used to try to silence a vast swathe of opinions on trans issues, and sometimes to incite violence against women.
^ ^a ^b McKinnon, Rachel (7 March 2018). "The Epistemology of Propaganda". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 96 (2): 483–489. doi:10.1111/phpr.12429. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. many contemporary TERFs accuse trans women of coining the phrase/term—and, ludicrously, claim that 'TERF' is a misogynistic slur. ... The idea—it seems to be—is that 'TERF' is a term used to denigrate women, and so it is a slur. However, this is an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs.
^ Stanley, Jason (7 March 2018). "Replies". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 96 (2): 497–511. doi:10.1111/phpr.12427.
^ Allen, Sophie R.; Finneron-Burns, Elizabeth; Leng, Mary; Lawford-Smith, Holly; Jones, Jane Clare; Reilly-Cooper, Rebecca; Simpson, R. J. (24 September 2018). "On an Alleged Case of Propaganda: Reply to McKinnon". Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022. representative examples of derogatory uses of the term: 'kill all TERFs'; 'shoot a terf today'; 'all TERFs deserve to be shot in the head'; 'somebody slap this TERF c*nt across the face'; 'literally kill all TERFs' ... To summarize, we've considered three specific accounts of slurs, Anderson and Lepore's account which appeals to whether those targeted by the term take it to be a slur, Nunberg's account on which slurs signal in-group membership, and Swanson's account on which slurs cue harmful ideologies. We've argued that 'TERF' is a slur on all three of the specific accounts surveyed.
^ ^a ^b ^c Flaherty, Colleen (29 August 2018). "'TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur?". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. While the term has become controversial over time, especially with its often hateful deployment on social media, it originally described a subgroup of feminists who believe that the interests of cisgender women (those who are born with vaginas) don't necessarily intersect with those of transgender women (primarily those born with penises) ... TERF 'is widely used across online platforms as a way to denigrate and dismiss the women (and some men) who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues' ... Targeted groups include 'lesbians who merely maintain that same-sex attraction is not equivalent to transphobia,' and 'women who believe that women's oppression is sex-based, and are concerned about erasing the political importance of female bodies' ...
^ Weinberg, Justin (27 August 2018). "Derogatory Language in Philosophy Journal Risks Increased Hostility and Diminished Discussion". Daily Nous. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
^ Chu, Andrea Long (Winter 2018). "On Liking Women". n+1. No. 30. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2019. They also don't much like the name TERF, which they take to be a slur—a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory.
^ Magowan, Alistair (18 December 2018). "Transgender women in sport: Are they really a 'threat' to female sport?". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b Davis, Christopher; McCready, Elin (4 March 2020). "The Instability of Slurs". Grazer Philosophische Studien. 97. Brill Publishers: 63–85. doi:10.1163/18756735-09701005. S2CID 216218536.
^ Saul, Jennifer (5 March 2020). "Why the words we use matter when describing anti-trans activists". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
^ Bettcher, Talia Mae (November 2017). "Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments". Philosophy Compass. 12 (17): 7. doi:10.1111/phc3.12438. Part of the issue, however, concerns whether the expression continues to be used as a mere abbreviation for a description of a position (i.e., Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist) as it was originally coined or whether it has also acquired a derogatory use. The issues here are delicate ... it seems that caution should at least be deployed in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference. This seems particularly important since much of trans politics is deeply committed to the importance of self-naming and respect for self-identities.
^ Ferber, Alona (22 September 2020). "Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in 'anti-intellectual times'". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
^ Bassi, Serena; LaFleur, Greta (2022). "Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 9 (3): 311–333. doi:10.1215/23289252-9836008. S2CID 253052875.
^ Grinspan, Mauro Cabral; Eloit, Ilana; Paternotte, David; Verloo, Mieke (2023). "Exploring TERFnesses". Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies. 10 (2). doi:10.21825/digest.90008.
^ Goldberg, Michelle (9 December 2015). "The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Aren't Women". Slate. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.
^ Ditum, Sarah (29 September 2017). "What is a Terf? How an internet buzzword became a mainstream slur". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019. On the other hand, if you are a feminist, the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low. Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray achieved it by writing an article in which she pointed out that someone born and raised male will not have the same experiences of sexism as a woman; novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie likewise made the grade by answering 'transwomen are transwomen' when asked whether she believed that 'transwomen are women'.
^ Morris, Bonnie J. (July–August 2015). "The Hijacking of Lesbian History". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. Vol. 22, no. 4. pp. 13–15. TERF is an important new slur, emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions. ... It began as a legitimate means of isolating and critiquing the work of a very few controversial feminist authors, namely Janice Raymond and Sheila Jeffreys ... TERF is a unique new insult for non-transgender lesbians by other LGBT activists, and it bears monitoring. Those women relegated to the TERF bin of bad feminism are now being subjected to traditional sexist canards, including charges of unattractiveness, mental instability, and penis envy. ... My charge to every responsible editor, journalist, feminist scholar, and LGBT historian is to please stop recycling the acronym TERF; it is defamatory. p. 13 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 14 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 15 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^ Bennett, Catherine (19 November 2017). "Bullies everywhere delight in coming up with new insults". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019. the advance of terf, as a bullying tool, has already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research ... ugly terf, fucking terf scum
^ Bennett, Catherine (29 April 2018). "Violent misogyny is unfortunately not confined to the internet's 'incels'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019. Photographs of one vitrine, featuring a red bespattered T-shirt reading: "I punch terfs!" (trans-exclusionary radical feminists/women who disagree with me), may have struck a chord with anyone following the current UK debate about the government's self-ID proposals. To date, threats, from one side, which echo, inescapably, some of those in the pro-Rodger playbook ("die in a fire terf scum") have yet to generate comparably widespread concern, even after a woman was punched. Her assailant had earlier expressed the wish to "fuck up some terfs".
^ ^a ^b Heuchan, Claire (6 October 2017). "If feminist Linda Bellos is seen as a risk, progressive politics has lost its way". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2019. Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Online, it often it [sic] appears alongside violent rhetoric: punch a Terf, stab a Terf, kill a Terf. This language is used to dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system.
^ "Claire Heuchan". Glasgow International. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
^ Pilgrim, David (20 October 2018). "The transgender controversy: a reply to Summersell". Journal of Critical Realism. 17 (5): 523–528. doi:10.1080/14767430.2018.1539825.
^ All Party Parliamentary Group on Hate Crime (2019). "How Do We Build Community Cohesion When Hate Crime Is On The Rise?" (PDF). House of Commons of the United Kingdom. pp. 25–26. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
^ Flaherty, Colleen (29 August 2018). "'TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur?". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. Allen objected ... 'most radical feminists who are apparently described' by the term TERF are inclusive of trans men, and so are not 'trans-exclusionary' anyway, she said.
^ Cava, Peter (12 May 2014). "Activism, Politics, and Organizing". In Erickson-Schroth, Laura (ed.). Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community. Oxford University Press. pp. 568–569. ISBN 978-0199325351. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2019 – via Google Books. Some feminists have perceived transmasculine people as traitors—that is, as women who identify politically with men. When inclusive of trans men, these feminists have often gendered them as women. Conversely, these feminists have tended to perceive transfeminine people as infiltrators of womanhood and women's space. Many commentators refer to feminists who think in these ways as 'trans-exclusionary radical feminists' (TERFs).
^ Baska, Maggie (October 2021). "Aspiring scholar explains in the simplest of terms why 'the UK became TERF island'". PinkNews. Retrieved 15 April 2024. If you look up "TERF island" on Twitter, several people can be seen tweeting about the rise in anti-trans sentiment and hate in the UK.
^ Urquhart, Evan (23 February 2024). "The British Prime Minister Is Under Fire for a Transphobic Gibe. What's Different This Time?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 15 April 2024. Anti-trans rhetoric is so common in the U.K. that Great Britain has been nicknamed "TERF Island" (with TERF short for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a type of anti-trans activist) among trans people.
^ "In the U.K., queer and trans self-defence classes are growing in popularity | Xtra Magazine". 11 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2024. U.K. transphobia is so severe that the country is known as "TERF Island."
^ Butler, Judith (2024). "TERFs and British Matters of Sex". Who's Afraid of Gender?. London: Penguin Random House UK. ISBN 978-0-241-59582-4. While other regions of the world are producing strong coalitions, like Ni Una Menos in Argentina, which includes trans, feminist, and LGBTQIA+ groups opposed to racism, extractivism, and capitalist structures of debt, financial terror, and economic inequality, the situation in the United Kingdom exemplifies radical division and opposition, efforts to shut down gender studies programs, and associate scholars in the field of gender studies with scenes of abuse.
^ "This Ideology Threatens Our Fundamental Freedoms | Judith Butler Meets Ash Sarkar". Novara Media. [Butler's] new book, Who's Afraid of Gender charts how a transphobic moral panic morphed into an all-our war on so-called 'gender ideology'. Together, Ash and Judith explore how Britain became TERF island, the limits of self-identification, and what really defines a woman.

External links

The dictionary definition of TERF at Wiktionary
Quotations related to Trans exclusionary radical feminism at Wikiquote
Carnivalia, transgenderism and the gender binary, 2008 blog post with the earliest recorded use of the acronym.

[Stryker_TSQ-1] Stryker, Susan; Bettcher, Talia M. (1 May 2016). "Introduction". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 5–14. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334127.

[Lewis_2019-2] Lewis, Sophie (7 February 2019). "Opinion | How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 5 May 2019. If the idea that transphobic harassment could be "feminist" bewilders you, you are not alone. ... With time, the term TERF has become a catchall for all anti-trans feminists, radical or not.

[Miller_2018-3] Miller, Edie (5 November 2018). "Why Is British Media So Transphobic?". The Outline. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2019. The truth is, while the British conservative right would almost certainly be more than happy to whip up a frenzy of transphobia, they simply haven't needed to, because some sections of the left over here are doing their hate-peddling for them. The most vocal source of this hatred has emerged, sadly, from within circles of radical feminists. British feminism has an increasingly notorious TERF problem. ... The application of the term has shifted somewhat over time to encompass most people espousing trans-exclusionary politics that follow a particular "TERF logic," regardless of their involvement with radical feminism.

[NY_Times-4] Marshall, Alex (8 August 2024). "A Play About J.K. Rowling Stirred Outrage. Until It Opened". New York Times. Retrieved 8 August 2024.

[noun-5] "TERF". 15 January 2023. Archived from the original on 15 January 2023. Retrieved 15 January 2023.

[TerfOED-6] "TERF". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. June 2022. Retrieved 14 July 2022. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)

[Vasquez_2014-7] Vasquez, Tina (17 February 2014). "It's Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women". Bitch. Bitch Media. Archived from the original on 13 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019. [Cathy] Brennan, fellow attorney Elizabeth Hungerford, and other modern-day feminists continue to actively question the inclusion of trans people in women's spaces. These feminists refer to themselves as "radical feminists" or "gender critical feminists". In 2008, trans women and trans advocates started referring to this group as "trans-exclusionary radical feminists" or TERFs, a term Brennan considers a slur.

[8] Gutzwa, Justin A. (2021). "Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs)". Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education. pp. 695–698. doi:10.1163/9789004506725_137. ISBN 978-90-04-50672-5. S2CID 246690677. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 3 August 2022 – via Google Books.

[Smythe_2018-9] Smythe, Viv (28 November 2018). "I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 25 January 2020. Retrieved 13 April 2019. Due to a short series of blogposts from 2008, I have retrospectively been credited as the coiner of the acronym "Terf" (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) ... a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters, unlike those of us who do.

[Williams_2014-10] "TERF: what it means and where it came from". TransAdvocate.com. 15 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 16 January 2023.

[Dastagir_2017-11] Dastagir, Alia (16 March 2017). "A feminist glossary because we didn't all major in gender studies". USA Today. Archived from the original on 20 July 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019. TERF: The acronym for 'trans exclusionary radical feminists,' referring to feminists who are transphobic.

[12] Bollinger, Alex (19 December 2018). "Famous lesbian site taken over by anti-trans 'feminists'. Now lesbian media is standing up". LGBTQ Nation. Archived from the original on 5 June 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2019.

[Burns_2019-13] Burns, Katelyn (5 September 2019). "The rise of anti-trans "radical" feminists, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on 11 August 2020. Retrieved 29 August 2022. "I don't think American women are buying it," she said, pointing out that nearly every major US feminist advocacy group is vocally pro-trans rights and inclusion.

[O'Connell_2019-14] O'Connell, Jennifer (26 January 2019). "Transgender for beginners: Trans, terf, cis and safe spaces". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 26 January 2019. Retrieved 24 April 2019.

[TigTog-15] "Viv Smythe". abc.net.au. ABC News. 5 February 2020. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023.

[Williams_2016-16] Williams, Cristan (1 May 2016). "Radical Inclusion". TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly. 3 (1–2): 254–258. doi:10.1215/23289252-3334463.

[17] Hines, Sally (17 February 2019). "The feminist frontier: on trans and feminism". Journal of Gender Studies. 28 (2): 145–157. doi:10.1080/09589236.2017.1411791. S2CID 149145967.

[Wilson_2018-18] Wilson, Lena (16 August 2018). "Do I Have to Give Up Lesbian History to Participate in Queer Culture?". Slate. Archived from the original on 23 September 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019. TERF, as an insult, has become so far removed from its original activist intentions (rightly criticizing trans exclusion in feminism) that, at this point, it's also a word for anything that queer millennials deem uncool. Things I've seen called "TERFy" on Twitter and Tumblr include tampon ads, the word "female", the non-word "womxn", Janelle Monae's "Pynk," the Venus symbol, bangs, Jill Stein, Cardi B, and ... trans women.

[19] ""Terf", "pangender" and "vaxxer" included in the OED new words list". New Statesman. 22 June 2022. Archived from the original on 12 July 2022. Retrieved 15 July 2022.

[20] "Don't Use 'TERF,' AP Stylebook Advises". www.advocate.com.

[Compton_2019-21] Compton, Julie (14 January 2019). "'Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view". NBC News. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

[Goldberg_2014-22] Goldberg, Michelle (4 August 2014). "What Is a Woman?". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 20 November 2015. TERF stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist.' The term can be useful for making a distinction with radical feminists who do not share the same position, but those at whom it is directed consider it a slur.

[23] "Transgender identities: a series of invited essays". The Economist. 29 June 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2020. Retrieved 19 March 2019. In the interests of fostering open debate we have set ground rules, both for essays and reader comments: use the pronouns people want you to use, and avoid all slurs, including TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which may have started as a descriptive term but is now used to try to silence a vast swathe of opinions on trans issues, and sometimes to incite violence against women.

[McKinnon2018-24] McKinnon, Rachel (7 March 2018). "The Epistemology of Propaganda". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 96 (2): 483–489. doi:10.1111/phpr.12429. Archived from the original on 20 July 2022. Retrieved 3 August 2022. many contemporary TERFs accuse trans women of coining the phrase/term—and, ludicrously, claim that 'TERF' is a misogynistic slur. ... The idea—it seems to be—is that 'TERF' is a term used to denigrate women, and so it is a slur. However, this is an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs.

[25] Stanley, Jason (7 March 2018). "Replies". Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 96 (2): 497–511. doi:10.1111/phpr.12427.

[Allen_et_al.-26] Allen, Sophie R.; Finneron-Burns, Elizabeth; Leng, Mary; Lawford-Smith, Holly; Jones, Jane Clare; Reilly-Cooper, Rebecca; Simpson, R. J. (24 September 2018). "On an Alleged Case of Propaganda: Reply to McKinnon". Archived from the original on 3 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022. representative examples of derogatory uses of the term: 'kill all TERFs'; 'shoot a terf today'; 'all TERFs deserve to be shot in the head'; 'somebody slap this TERF c*nt across the face'; 'literally kill all TERFs' ... To summarize, we've considered three specific accounts of slurs, Anderson and Lepore's account which appeals to whether those targeted by the term take it to be a slur, Nunberg's account on which slurs signal in-group membership, and Swanson's account on which slurs cue harmful ideologies. We've argued that 'TERF' is a slur on all three of the specific accounts surveyed.

[Flaherty_2018-27] Flaherty, Colleen (29 August 2018). "'TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur?". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. While the term has become controversial over time, especially with its often hateful deployment on social media, it originally described a subgroup of feminists who believe that the interests of cisgender women (those who are born with vaginas) don't necessarily intersect with those of transgender women (primarily those born with penises) ... TERF 'is widely used across online platforms as a way to denigrate and dismiss the women (and some men) who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues' ... Targeted groups include 'lesbians who merely maintain that same-sex attraction is not equivalent to transphobia,' and 'women who believe that women's oppression is sex-based, and are concerned about erasing the political importance of female bodies' ...

[Weinberg_2018-28] Weinberg, Justin (27 August 2018). "Derogatory Language in Philosophy Journal Risks Increased Hostility and Diminished Discussion". Daily Nous. Archived from the original on 28 August 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2019.

[Chu_2018-29] Chu, Andrea Long (Winter 2018). "On Liking Women". n+1. No. 30. Archived from the original on 27 August 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2019. They also don't much like the name TERF, which they take to be a slur—a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory.

[bbc-30] Magowan, Alistair (18 December 2018). "Transgender women in sport: Are they really a 'threat' to female sport?". BBC Sport. Archived from the original on 12 August 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2021.

[Davis_and_McCready-31] Davis, Christopher; McCready, Elin (4 March 2020). "The Instability of Slurs". Grazer Philosophische Studien. 97. Brill Publishers: 63–85. doi:10.1163/18756735-09701005. S2CID 216218536.

[Saul_2020-32] Saul, Jennifer (5 March 2020). "Why the words we use matter when describing anti-trans activists". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 9 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.

[Bettcher_2017-33] Bettcher, Talia Mae (November 2017). "Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments". Philosophy Compass. 12 (17): 7. doi:10.1111/phc3.12438. Part of the issue, however, concerns whether the expression continues to be used as a mere abbreviation for a description of a position (i.e., Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist) as it was originally coined or whether it has also acquired a derogatory use. The issues here are delicate ... it seems that caution should at least be deployed in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference. This seems particularly important since much of trans politics is deeply committed to the importance of self-naming and respect for self-identities.

[Butler_New_Statesman-34] Ferber, Alona (22 September 2020). "Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in 'anti-intellectual times'". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 8 September 2021.

[Bassi-35] Bassi, Serena; LaFleur, Greta (2022). "Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms". Transgender Studies Quarterly. 9 (3): 311–333. doi:10.1215/23289252-9836008. S2CID 253052875.

[Grinspan-36] Grinspan, Mauro Cabral; Eloit, Ilana; Paternotte, David; Verloo, Mieke (2023). "Exploring TERFnesses". Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies. 10 (2). doi:10.21825/digest.90008.

[Goldberg_2015-37] Goldberg, Michelle (9 December 2015). "The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Aren't Women". Slate. Archived from the original on 12 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019.

[38] Ditum, Sarah (29 September 2017). "What is a Terf? How an internet buzzword became a mainstream slur". New Statesman. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 13 April 2019. On the other hand, if you are a feminist, the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low. Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray achieved it by writing an article in which she pointed out that someone born and raised male will not have the same experiences of sexism as a woman; novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie likewise made the grade by answering 'transwomen are transwomen' when asked whether she believed that 'transwomen are women'.

[Morris_2015-39] Morris, Bonnie J. (July–August 2015). "The Hijacking of Lesbian History". The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide. Vol. 22, no. 4. pp. 13–15. TERF is an important new slur, emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions. ... It began as a legitimate means of isolating and critiquing the work of a very few controversial feminist authors, namely Janice Raymond and Sheila Jeffreys ... TERF is a unique new insult for non-transgender lesbians by other LGBT activists, and it bears monitoring. Those women relegated to the TERF bin of bad feminism are now being subjected to traditional sexist canards, including charges of unattractiveness, mental instability, and penis envy. ... My charge to every responsible editor, journalist, feminist scholar, and LGBT historian is to please stop recycling the acronym TERF; it is defamatory. p. 13 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 14 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 15 Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine

[BennettBullies-40] Bennett, Catherine (19 November 2017). "Bullies everywhere delight in coming up with new insults". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 May 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2019. the advance of terf, as a bullying tool, has already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research ... ugly terf, fucking terf scum

[BennettViolent-41] Bennett, Catherine (29 April 2018). "Violent misogyny is unfortunately not confined to the internet's 'incels'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2 October 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2019. Photographs of one vitrine, featuring a red bespattered T-shirt reading: "I punch terfs!" (trans-exclusionary radical feminists/women who disagree with me), may have struck a chord with anyone following the current UK debate about the government's self-ID proposals. To date, threats, from one side, which echo, inescapably, some of those in the pro-Rodger playbook ("die in a fire terf scum") have yet to generate comparably widespread concern, even after a woman was punched. Her assailant had earlier expressed the wish to "fuck up some terfs".

[Heuchan_2017-42] Heuchan, Claire (6 October 2017). "If feminist Linda Bellos is seen as a risk, progressive politics has lost its way". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 15 June 2020. Retrieved 27 April 2019. Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Online, it often it [sic] appears alongside violent rhetoric: punch a Terf, stab a Terf, kill a Terf. This language is used to dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system.

[HeuchanGI-43] "Claire Heuchan". Glasgow International. 30 January 2018. Archived from the original on 14 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.

[44] Pilgrim, David (20 October 2018). "The transgender controversy: a reply to Summersell". Journal of Critical Realism. 17 (5): 523–528. doi:10.1080/14767430.2018.1539825.

[APPG2019-45] All Party Parliamentary Group on Hate Crime (2019). "How Do We Build Community Cohesion When Hate Crime Is On The Rise?" (PDF). House of Commons of the United Kingdom. pp. 25–26. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2019.

[46] Flaherty, Colleen (29 August 2018). "'TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur?". Inside Higher Ed. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 12 April 2019. Allen objected ... 'most radical feminists who are apparently described' by the term TERF are inclusive of trans men, and so are not 'trans-exclusionary' anyway, she said.

[Erickson-Schroth_2014-47] Cava, Peter (12 May 2014). "Activism, Politics, and Organizing". In Erickson-Schroth, Laura (ed.). Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community. Oxford University Press. pp. 568–569. ISBN 978-0199325351. Archived from the original on 14 January 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2019 – via Google Books. Some feminists have perceived transmasculine people as traitors—that is, as women who identify politically with men. When inclusive of trans men, these feminists have often gendered them as women. Conversely, these feminists have tended to perceive transfeminine people as infiltrators of womanhood and women's space. Many commentators refer to feminists who think in these ways as 'trans-exclusionary radical feminists' (TERFs).

[48] Baska, Maggie (October 2021). "Aspiring scholar explains in the simplest of terms why 'the UK became TERF island'". PinkNews. Retrieved 15 April 2024. If you look up "TERF island" on Twitter, several people can be seen tweeting about the rise in anti-trans sentiment and hate in the UK.

[49] Urquhart, Evan (23 February 2024). "The British Prime Minister Is Under Fire for a Transphobic Gibe. What's Different This Time?". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 15 April 2024. Anti-trans rhetoric is so common in the U.K. that Great Britain has been nicknamed "TERF Island" (with TERF short for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a type of anti-trans activist) among trans people.

[50] "In the U.K., queer and trans self-defence classes are growing in popularity | Xtra Magazine". 11 April 2023. Retrieved 15 April 2024. U.K. transphobia is so severe that the country is known as "TERF Island."

[51] Butler, Judith (2024). "TERFs and British Matters of Sex". Who's Afraid of Gender?. London: Penguin Random House UK. ISBN 978-0-241-59582-4. While other regions of the world are producing strong coalitions, like Ni Una Menos in Argentina, which includes trans, feminist, and LGBTQIA+ groups opposed to racism, extractivism, and capitalist structures of debt, financial terror, and economic inequality, the situation in the United Kingdom exemplifies radical division and opposition, efforts to shut down gender studies programs, and associate scholars in the field of gender studies with scenes of abuse.

[52] "This Ideology Threatens Our Fundamental Freedoms | Judith Butler Meets Ash Sarkar". Novara Media. [Butler's] new book, Who's Afraid of Gender charts how a transphobic moral panic morphed into an all-our war on so-called 'gender ideology'. Together, Ash and Judith explore how Britain became TERF island, the limits of self-identification, and what really defines a woman.

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+{{Short description|Acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist}}
-{{about|the word TERF|a broader discussion of related issues|Feminist views on transgender topics|the telomere-binding proteins|TERF1|and|TERF2}}
+{{About|the acronym|the ideology or movement itself|Gender-critical feminism}}
-{{italic title}}
+{{Pp-extended|small=yes}}
-{{Pov|date=July 2019}}
+{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
-{{short description|Acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist".}}
+[[File:Equality March 2022 in Gdańsk - TERF.jpg|alt=Person in a crowd holding a placard showing "TERFY PRECZ" (TERFS OUT in Polish)|thumb|{{langx|pl|terfy precz|label=|lit=terfs out}}, written on a placard at [[Equality marches in Poland|Equality March]] 2022 in [[Gdańsk]], Poland]]
 {{Transgender sidebar|rights}}
 {{Feminism sidebar}}
-'''''TERF''''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|t|ɜːr|f}}, also written '''''terf''''') is an [[acronym]] for '''trans-exclusionary radical feminist'''. The term was coined in 2008.{{R|Smythe 2018}} It was originally applied to a minority{{Citation needed|date=December 2019}} of [[radical feminist]]s espousing sentiments that other feminists consider [[transphobic]], such as the rejection of the assertion that trans women are [[women]], the exclusion of [[trans women]] from [[women's spaces]], and opposition to [[transgender rights]] legislation. The sense has since expanded to refer more broadly to people with trans-exclusive views who may have no involvement with radical feminism.{{R|Lewis 2019|Miller 2018}}
-Those referred to with the word ''TERF'' typically reject the term or consider it a [[Pejorative|slur]]. Some identify themselves as ''gender critical''.{{R|Vasquez 2014}} Critics of the word ''TERF'' point to its use in insults and violent rhetoric.{{R|BennettBullies|HeuchanGI|Allen et al.|Flaherty 2018}} In academic discourse there is no consensus on whether ''TERF'' constitutes a slur.{{R|McKinnon2018|Allen et al.|Davis and McCready}}
+'''TERF''' ({{IPAc-en|t|ɜːr|f}}) is an [[acronym]] for '''trans-exclusionary radical feminist'''. First recorded in 2008, the term TERF was originally used to distinguish [[transgender]]-inclusive [[feminists]] from a group of [[Radical feminism|radical feminists]] who reject the position that [[trans women]] are [[women]], reject the inclusion of trans women in [[women's spaces]], and oppose [[Transgender rights movement|transgender rights]] legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists assert that these ideas and positions are [[transphobic]] and [[Discrimination|discriminatory]] towards [[Transgender|transgender people]]. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with [[radical feminism]].<ref name="Stryker TSQ" />{{R|Lewis 2019|Miller 2018}} In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "[[gender-critical feminism]]".
-==Coinage and usage==
-Trans-inclusive [[cisgender]] radical feminist [[blogger]] Viv Smythe has been credited with popularizing the term in 2008 as an online [[shorthand]].<ref name="Miller 2018">{{cite web |url=https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic |title=Why Is British Media So Transphobic? |last1=Miller |first1=Edie |date=5 November 2018 |publisher=[[The Outline (website)|The Outline]] |language=en |accessdate=3 May 2019|quote=The truth is, while the British conservative right would almost certainly be more than happy to whip up a frenzy of transphobia, they simply haven’t needed to, because some sections of the left over here are doing their hate-peddling for them. The most vocal source of this hatred has emerged, sadly, from within circles of radical feminists. British feminism has an increasingly notorious TERF problem. ... The application of the term has shifted somewhat over time to encompass most people espousing trans-exclusionary politics that follow a particular “TERF logic,” regardless of their involvement with radical feminism.}}</ref><ref name="Smythe 2018">{{cite news |last1=Smythe |first1=Viv |title=I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=28 November 2018 |accessdate=13 April 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/im-credited-with-having-coined-the-acronym-terf-heres-how-it-happened|quote=Due to a short series of blogposts from 2008, I have retrospectively been credited as the coiner of the acronym “Terf” (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists) ... a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters, unlike those of us who do.}}</ref> It was used to describe a minority of [[Feminism|feminists]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2|title=What Is a Woman?|last=Goldberg|first=Michelle|date=2014-07-28|access-date=2019-11-06|language=en|issn=0028-792X}}</ref> who espouse sentiments that other feminists consider [[transphobia|transphobic]]<ref name="Miller 2018"/><ref name="Dastagir 2017">{{cite news |last1=Dastagir |first1=Alia |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/16/feminism-glossary-lexicon-language/99120600/ |title=A feminist glossary because we didn't all major in gender studies |work=[[USA Today]] |date=16 March 2017 |accessdate=24 April 2019 |quote=TERF: The acronym for 'trans exclusionary radical feminists,' referring to feminists who are transphobic.}}</ref><ref name="Lewis 2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/terf-trans-women-britain.html|title=Opinion {{!}} How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans|last=Lewis|first=Sophie|date=7 February 2019|work=The New York Times|accessdate=5 May 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|quote=If the idea that transphobic harassment could be “feminist” bewilders you, you are not alone. ... With time, the term TERF has become a catchall for all anti-trans feminists, radical or not.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/12/famous-lesbian-site-taken-anti-trans-feminists-now-lesbian-media-standing/|title=Famous lesbian site taken over by anti-trans 'feminists'. Now lesbian media is standing up.|last=Bollinger|first=Alex|date=19 December 2018|website=www.lgbtqnation.com|accessdate=5 June 2019}}</ref> including the rejection of the view, predominant in feminist organizations, that trans women are women,<ref name="Williams 2016" /><ref name="Dalbey 2018" /><ref name="Flaherty 2018" /> opposition to [[transgender rights]], and the exclusion of trans women in women's spaces and organizations.<ref name="O'Connell 2019">{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/transgender-for-beginners-trans-terf-cis-and-safe-spaces-1.3769653 |title=Transgender for beginners: Trans, terf, cis and safe spaces |last1=O'Connell |first1=Jennifer |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |language=en |date=26 January 2019 |accessdate=24 April 2019}}</ref>  On her transgender rights website, ''The TransAdvocate'', Cristan Williams defined the term as referencing "a brand of 'radical feminism' that is so rooted in sex [[essentialism]] and its resulting biologism, it actively campaigns against the existence, equality, and/or inclusion of trans people."<ref name="Williams 2013">{{cite web |url=http://www.transadvocate.com/you-might-be-a-terf-if_n_10226.htm |title=You might be a TERF if&nbsp;... |date=24 September 2013 |publisher=The TransAdvocate |last1=Williams |first1=Cristan }}</ref><ref name="Dalbey 2018">{{cite news |last1=Dalbey |first1=Alex |title=TERF wars: Why trans-exclusionary radical feminists have no place in feminism |url=https://www.dailydot.com/irl/terf-meaning/ |accessdate=27 January 2019 |work=[[The Daily Dot]] |date=12 August 2018}}</ref>
-Smythe has been credited with having coined the term ''TERF'', due to a blog post she wrote reacting to the [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival]]'s [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival#"Womyn-born womyn" policy|policy]] of denying admittance to trans women. She wrote that she rejected the alignment of all radical feminists with "trans-exclusionary radfem (TERF) activists".<ref name="Smythe 2018" /> In a 2014 interview with ''The TransAdvocate'', Smythe said:
-{{quote|"It was meant to be a deliberately technically neutral description of an activist grouping. We wanted a way to distinguish TERFs from other RadFems with whom we engaged who were trans*-positive/neutral, because we had several years of history of engaging productively/substantively with non-TERF RadFems."<ref name="Williams 2016">{{cite journal |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/article-abstract/3/1-2/254/91781/Radical-InclusionRecounting-the-Trans-Inclusive |title=Radical Inclusion: Recounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=254–258 |date=1 May 2016 |publisher=[[Duke University Press]] |last1=Williams |first1=Cristan|doi=10.1215/23289252-3334463 }}</ref>}}
+Though TERF was created to be a "deliberately technically neutral description", the term is now considered a [[pejorative]],<ref name="NY Times">{{Cite news |last=Marshall |first=Alex |date=2024-08-08 |title=A Play About J.K. Rowling Stirred Outrage. Until It Opened. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/07/theater/terf-play-rowling-edinburgh-fringe.html |access-date=2024-08-08 |work=New York Times}}</ref> [[derogatory]] or disparaging.<ref name="noun">{{cite web |url=https://www.dictionary.com/browse/terf |title=TERF |date=January 15, 2023 |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=15 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230115164921/https://www.dictionary.com/browse/terf |url-status=live}}</ref>{{R|TerfOED}} People labeled TERFs often reject the label, instead describing their beliefs as ''[[gender critical]]''.{{R|Vasquez 2014}}<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1163/9789004506725_137 |chapter=Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) |title=Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education |year=2021 |pages=695–698 |isbn=978-90-04-50672-5 |s2cid=246690677 |first1=Justin A. |last1=Gutzwa |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GCFeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA695 |access-date=3 August 2022 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114213501/https://books.google.com/books?id=GCFeEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA695 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>
-While Smythe initially used ''TERF'' to refer to a particular type of feminist whom she characterized as "unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters", she has noted that the term has taken on additional connotations, and that it has been "weaponised at times" by both inclusionary and exclusionary groups.<ref name="Smythe 2018" />
+== Origin ==
-Writing in ''The New York Times'' in 2019, [[Feminist theory|feminist theorist]] Sophie Lewis noted that the term ''TERF'' had become "a catchall for all anti-transgender feminists, regardless of whether they are radical".<ref name="Lewis 2019"/> Edie Miller, writing in ''[[The Outline (website)|The Outline]]'', said that the term was applied to "most people espousing trans-exclusionary politics that follow a particular 'TERF logic', regardless of their involvement with radical feminism".<ref name="Miller 2018"/> The term ''TERFy'' has also been used to describe things "that queer millennials deem uncool" such as [[Bangs (hair)|bangs]].<ref name="Wilson 2018">{{cite web|website=Slate|url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/lesbian-history-terfs-and-queer-culture-do-queer-women-have-to-reject-all-second-wave-feminism-to-be-inclusive.html|title=Do I Have to Give Up Lesbian History to Participate in Queer Culture?|last=Wilson|first=Lena|date=August 16, 2018|quote=TERF, as an insult, has become so far removed from its original activist intentions (rightly criticizing trans exclusion in feminism) that, at this point, it’s also a word for anything that queer millennials deem uncool. Things I’ve seen called “TERFy” on Twitter and Tumblr include tampon ads, the word “female,” the non-word “womxn,” Janelle Monae’s “Pynk,” the Venus symbol, bangs, Jill Stein, Cardi B, and … trans women.}}</ref>
+Trans-inclusive radical feminist [[blog]]ger Viv Smythe has been credited with creating and popularizing the term<ref name="Miller 2018">{{cite web |url=https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic |title=Why Is British Media So Transphobic? |last1=Miller |first1=Edie |date=5 November 2018 |publisher=[[The Outline (website)|The Outline]] |language=en |access-date=3 May 2019 |quote=The truth is, while the British conservative right would almost certainly be more than happy to whip up a frenzy of transphobia, they simply haven't needed to, because some sections of the left over here are doing their hate-peddling for them. The most vocal source of this hatred has emerged, sadly, from within circles of radical feminists. British feminism has an increasingly notorious TERF problem.{{nbsp}}... The application of the term has shifted somewhat over time to encompass most people espousing trans-exclusionary politics that follow a particular "TERF logic," regardless of their involvement with radical feminism. |archive-date=19 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191019192628/https://theoutline.com/post/6536/british-feminists-media-transphobic |url-status=live}}</ref> in 2008 as an online [[shorthand]].<ref name="Smythe 2018"/> The first recorded use of the term was in a blog post she wrote reacting to the [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival]]'s [[Michigan Womyn's Music Festival#"Womyn-born womyn" policy|policy]] of denying admittance to trans women.<ref name="Smythe 2018" /> In 2014, Smythe recalled that she and another user, "Lauredhel", had been privately using the term in private chatrooms before that blog post, and believed that it may have been adapted or adopted from an [[IRC]] discussion involving other individuals.<ref name="Williams 2014" />
+In the blog post, Smythe wrote that she rejected the alignment of all radical feminists with "trans-exclusionary radfem (TERF) activists".<ref name="Smythe 2018">{{cite news |last1=Smythe |first1=Viv |title=I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=28 November 2018 |access-date=13 April 2019 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/im-credited-with-having-coined-the-acronym-terf-heres-how-it-happened |quote=Due to a short series of blogposts from 2008, I have retrospectively been credited as the coiner of the acronym "Terf" (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists){{nbsp}}... a shorthand to describe one cohort of feminists who self-identify as radical and are unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters, unlike those of us who do. |archive-date=25 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200125115202/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/nov/29/im-credited-with-having-coined-the-acronym-terf-heres-how-it-happened |url-status=live}}</ref> It was used to describe those [[Feminism|feminists]]<ref name="Stryker TSQ">{{cite journal |last1=Stryker |first1=Susan |authorlink1=Susan Stryker |last2=Bettcher |first2=Talia M. |title=Introduction |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |date=1 May 2016 |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=5–14 |doi=10.1215/23289252-3334127 |doi-access=free}}</ref> who espouse sentiments that other feminists consider [[transphobia|transphobic]],<ref name="Lewis 2019">{{cite news |last1=Lewis |first1=Sophie |title=Opinion {{!}} How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/terf-trans-women-britain.html |work=The New York Times |date=7 February 2019 |quote=If the idea that transphobic harassment could be "feminist" bewilders you, you are not alone.{{nbsp}}... With time, the term TERF has become a catchall for all anti-trans feminists, radical or not. |access-date=5 May 2019 |archive-date=15 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115191351/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opinion/terf-trans-women-britain.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Miller 2018"/><ref name="Dastagir 2017">{{cite news |last1=Dastagir |first1=Alia |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/16/feminism-glossary-lexicon-language/99120600/ |title=A feminist glossary because we didn't all major in gender studies |work=[[USA Today]] |date=16 March 2017 |access-date=24 April 2019 |quote=TERF: The acronym for 'trans exclusionary radical feminists,' referring to feminists who are transphobic. |archive-date=20 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190720073940/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/03/16/feminism-glossary-lexicon-language/99120600/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/12/famous-lesbian-site-taken-anti-trans-feminists-now-lesbian-media-standing/ |title=Famous lesbian site taken over by anti-trans 'feminists'. Now lesbian media is standing up. |last=Bollinger |first=Alex |date=19 December 2018 |website=[[LGBTQ Nation]] |access-date=5 June 2019 |archive-date=5 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190605233013/https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2018/12/famous-lesbian-site-taken-anti-trans-feminists-now-lesbian-media-standing/ |url-status=live}}</ref> including the view that trans women are men, opposition to [[transgender rights]],<ref name="Burns 2019"/> and the exclusion of trans women in women's spaces and organizations.<ref name="O'Connell 2019">{{cite news |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/transgender-for-beginners-trans-terf-cis-and-safe-spaces-1.3769653 |title=Transgender for beginners: Trans, terf, cis and safe spaces |last1=O'Connell |first1=Jennifer |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]] |language=en |date=26 January 2019 |access-date=24 April 2019 |archive-date=26 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190126223339/https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/transgender-for-beginners-trans-terf-cis-and-safe-spaces-1.3769653 |url-status=live}}</ref> These viewpoints have been alleged to be  divergent from the majority of feminist organizations.<ref name="Burns 2019">{{cite web |last1=Burns |first1=Katelyn |title=The rise of anti-trans "radical" feminists, explained |url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical |website=[[Vox (website)|Vox]] |access-date=29 August 2022 |date=5 September 2019 |quote="I don't think American women are buying it," she said, pointing out that nearly every major US feminist advocacy group is vocally pro-trans rights and inclusion. |archive-date=11 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200811100302/https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical |url-status=live}}</ref> In a 2014 interview with Cristan Williams of ''The TransAdvocate'' blog, Smythe{{snds}}using her net-pseudonym "TigTog"<ref name="TigTog">{{cite web |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/viv-smythe/33440 |title=Viv Smythe |website=abc.net.au |date=5 February 2020 |publisher=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=15 January 2023 |archive-date=28 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220928072223/https://www.abc.net.au/news/viv-smythe/33440 |url-status=live}}</ref>{{snds}}said:
-==Opposition to the word==
-Feminists described as ''TERFs'' generally object to the term and sometimes refer to themselves as "gender critical".{{What|Reason=Using term without saying what it means is pointless|date=October 2019}}<ref name="Goldberg 2015">{{cite magazine |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |title=The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Aren't Women |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/12/gender-critical-trans-women-the-apostates-of-the-trans-rights-movement.html |accessdate=12 April 2019|magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref name="Flaherty 2018">{{cite web |last1=Flaherty |first1=Colleen |date=29 August 2018 |title='TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur? |website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |accessdate=12 April 2019 |language=en|quote=While the term has become controversial over time, especially with its often hateful deployment on social media, it originally described a subgroup of feminists who believe that the interests of cisgender women (those who are born with vaginas) don’t necessarily intersect with those of transgender women (primarily those born with penises)...TERF 'is widely used across online platforms as a way to denigrate and dismiss the women (and some men) who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues...Targeted groups include 'lesbians who merely maintain that same-sex attraction is not equivalent to transphobia,' and 'women who believe that women’s oppression is sex-based, and are concerned about erasing the political importance of female bodies...."}}</ref><ref name="Vasquez 2014">{{cite magazine |magazine=Bitch |last1=Vasquez |first1=Tina |title=It's Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women |publisher=[[Bitch Media]] |date=17 February 2014 |url=https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/the-long-history-of-transgender-exclusion-from-feminism |accessdate=13 April 2019|quote=[Cathy] Brennan, fellow attorney Elizabeth Hungerford, and other modern-day feminists continue to actively question the inclusion of trans people in women’s spaces. These feminists refer to themselves as “radical feminists” or “gender critical feminists.” In 2008, trans women and trans advocates started referring to this group as “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” or TERFs, a term Brennan considers a slur.}}</ref><ref name="Serano n.d." /> British columnist Sarah Ditum wrote in 2017 that "the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low."<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Ditum|first1=Sarah|date=29 September 2017|title=What is a Terf? How an internet buzzword became a mainstream slur|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/09/what-terf-how-internet-buzzword-became-mainstream-slur|magazine=[[New Statesman]]|accessdate=13 April 2019|quote=On the other hand, if you are a feminist, the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low. Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray achieved it by writing an article in which she pointed out that someone born and raised male will not have the same experiences of sexism as a woman; novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie likewise made the grade by answering 'transwomen are transwomen' when asked whether she believed that 'transwomen are women'.}}</ref>
+{{blockquote |quote = It was meant to be a deliberately technically neutral description of an activist grouping. We wanted a way to distinguish TERFs from other radfems with whom we engaged who were [[wikt:trans*|trans*]]-positive/neutral, because we had several years of history of engaging productively/substantively with non-TERF radfems...<ref name="Williams 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Cristan |title=Radical Inclusion |journal=TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly |date=1 May 2016 |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=254–258 |doi=10.1215/23289252-3334463|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Williams 2014">{{Cite web |date=2014-03-15 |title=TERF: what it means and where it came from |url=https://www.transadvocate.com/terf-what-it-means-and-where-it-came-from_n_13066.htm |access-date=2023-01-16 |website=TransAdvocate.com
-Some self-described gender critical feminists say they cannot accurately be described as trans-exclusionary because they say they are inclusive of trans men.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flaherty |first1=Colleen |date=29 August 2018 |title='TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur? |website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |accessdate=12 April 2019 |language=en |quote=Allen objected&nbsp;... 'most radical feminists who are apparently described' by the term TERF are inclusive of trans men, and so are not 'trans-exclusionary' anyway, she said.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Natacha |title=Anti-Trans Activism – Not What It Seems |url=http://www.progressonline.org.uk/2016/12/15/anti-trans-activism-not-what-it-seems/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170511094932/http://progressonline.org.uk/2016/12/15/anti-trans-activism-not-what-it-seems/|archivedate=11 May 2017 |publisher=[[Progress (organisation)|Progress]] |accessdate=29 April 2019 |date=15 December 2016 |quote=Beyond that, it's also entirely inaccurate, radical feminism is inclusionary of trans men (who are female by birth), it only excludes males—as a female liberation movement&nbsp;...}}</ref> Some critics have called this reasoning "divisive and contradictory" and say that it represents "[[transmisogyny|transmisogynist]] ideology".<ref name="Erickson-Schroth 2014">{{cite book |last1=Erickson-Schroth |first1=Laura |title=Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community |date=12 May 2014 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0199325351 |page=568–569 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ef1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA568|quote="Some feminists have perceived transmasculine people as traitors—that is, as women who identify politically with men. When inclusive of trans men, these feminists have  often gendered them as women.  Conversely, these feminists have tended to  perceive transfeminine people as infiltrators of womanhood and of women's space. Many commentators refer to feminists who think in these ways as 'trans-exclusionary radical feminists' (TERFs).&nbsp;...'The fetishistic (often {{Sic|infantalizing}}) embrace of trans men by lesbian communities is ungendering, othering, and transphobic.'"}}</ref><ref name="Wylder and Westing 2018">{{cite news|last1=Wylder|first1=Danelle|last2=Westing|first2=Corrie|title=Terfs Have No Place on the Left|url=https://socialistworker.org/2018/08/21/terfs-have-no-place-on-the-left|accessdate=28 April 2019|newspaper=[[Socialist Worker]]|date=21 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503083334/http://socialistworker.org/2018/08/21/terfs-have-no-place-on-the-left|archivedate=3 May 2019|quote=It is worth noting, however, the divisive and contradictory position they held, wherein trans men were allowed on the land because TERFs considered them '[[Womyn-born womyn|women-born]]' as part of their [[Transmisogyny|transmisogynist]] ideology.|url-status=live}}</ref>
+|language=en |archive-date=19 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519015937/https://www.transadvocate.com/terf-what-it-means-and-where-it-came-from_n_13066.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>}}
+== Usage ==
-In a 2015 article, American feminist scholar [[Bonnie J. Morris]] argued that ''TERF'' was initially a legitimate analytical term but quickly developed into a defamatory word associated with sexist insults. She described the word as "emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions" and called on scholars and journalists to stop using it.<ref name="Morris 2015">{{cite magazine|last=Morris|first=Bonnie J.|author-link=Bonnie J. Morris|date=July-August 2015|volume=22|issue=4|pp=13&ndash;15|journal=[[The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide]]|url=|title=The Hijacking of Lesbian History|quote=TERF is an important new slur, emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions. ... It began as a legitimate means of isolating and critiquing the work of a very few controversial feminist authors, namely Janice Raymond and Sheila Jeffreys ... TERF is a unique new insult for non-transgender lesbians by other LGBT activists, and it bears monitoring. Those women relegated to the TERF bin of bad feminism are now being subjected to traditional sexist canards, including charges of unattractiveness, mental instability, and penis envy. ... My charge to every responsible editor, journalist, feminist scholar, and LGBT historian is to please stop recycling the acronym TERF; it is defamatory.}} [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0013.pdf p. 13], [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0014.pdf p. 14], [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0015.pdf p. 15]</ref>
+Smythe initially used TERF to refer to a particular type of feminist whom she characterized as "unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters". She also notes that the term has taken on additional connotations and that it has been "weaponised at times" by both inclusionary and exclusionary groups.<ref name="Smythe 2018" /> The term has since become an established part of the contemporary feminist language, but its usage is contested.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hines |first1=Sally |author-link=Sally Hines |title=The feminist frontier: on trans and feminism |journal=[[Journal of Gender Studies]] |date=17 February 2019 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=145–157 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2017.1411791 |s2cid=149145967}}</ref>
+Several writers have observed that TERF can be used in broader senses to refer to trans-exclusionary feminists who are not radical, people with a certain kind of trans-exclusionary politics regardless of whether they are radical feminists or even things that are culturally associated with [[second-wave feminism]] in general.<ref name="Lewis 2019" /><ref name="Miller 2018" /><ref name="Wilson 2018">{{cite web |website=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/lesbian-history-terfs-and-queer-culture-do-queer-women-have-to-reject-all-second-wave-feminism-to-be-inclusive.html |title=Do I Have to Give Up Lesbian History to Participate in Queer Culture? |last=Wilson |first=Lena |date=16 August 2018 |quote=TERF, as an insult, has become so far removed from its original activist intentions (rightly criticizing trans exclusion in feminism) that, at this point, it's also a word for anything that queer millennials deem uncool. Things I've seen called "TERFy" on Twitter and Tumblr include tampon ads, the word "female", the non-word "womxn", Janelle Monae's "Pynk," the Venus symbol, bangs, Jill Stein, Cardi B, and&nbsp;... trans women. |access-date=2 November 2019 |archive-date=23 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923024914/https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/lesbian-history-terfs-and-queer-culture-do-queer-women-have-to-reject-all-second-wave-feminism-to-be-inclusive.html |url-status=live}}</ref>
-British journalist [[Catherine Bennett (journalist)|Catherine Bennett]] has described the word as "a bullying tool" which has "already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research".<ref name="BennettBullies">{{cite news|first=Catherine|last=Bennett|title=Bullies everywhere delight in coming up with new insults|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=19 November 2017|url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2017/nov/19/bullies-everywhere-take-delight-in-coming-up-with-new-insults|quote=the advance of terf, as a bullying tool, has already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research ... ugly terf, fucking terf scum}}</ref><ref name="BennettBullies" /><ref name="BennettViolent">{{cite news|last=Bennett|first=Catherine|date=29 April 2018|title=Violent misogyny is unfortunately not confined to the internet's 'incels'|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/violent-misogyny-not-confined-to-internet-incels|work=[[The Guardian]]|quote=Photographs of one vitrine, featuring a red bespattered T-shirt reading: “I punch terfs!” (trans-exclusionary radical feminists/women who disagree with me), may have struck a chord with anyone following the current UK debate about the government’s self-ID proposals. To date, threats, from one side, which echo, inescapably, some of those in the pro-Rodger playbook (“die in a fire terf scum”) have yet to generate comparably widespread concern, even after a woman was punched. Her assailant had earlier expressed the wish to “fuck up some terfs”.}}</ref>
+The [[Oxford English Dictionary]] (OED) added an entry for TERF (noun) in June 2022, which states that although the term was first intended as a neutral descriptor, it is "now typically regarded as derogatory".<ref name="TerfOED">{{Cite OED|term=TERF|id=98002894|access-date=14 July 2022|date=June 2022}}</ref> OED editor Fiona McPherson explained that because "there is a little bit more nuance behind its usage{{snds}}it's not always just a straight-out insult", the dictionary's editors opted to explain this rather than simply label the term "derogatory" or "chiefly derogatory".<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=22 June 2022 |title="Terf", "pangender" and "vaxxer" included in the OED new words list |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2022/06/oed-new-words-list-terf-pangender-vaxxer-included |access-date=15 July 2022 |magazine=[[New Statesman]] |language=en-US |archive-date=12 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220712001431/https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/2022/06/oed-new-words-list-terf-pangender-vaxxer-included |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2023, the ''[[AP Stylebook]]'' advised journalists to avoid the term, deeming it "vague and politicized."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.advocate.com/media/associated-press-dont-say-terf|title=Don't Use 'TERF,' AP Stylebook Advises|website=www.advocate.com}}</ref>
-Feminist blogger Claire Heuchan argues that the word is often used alongside "violent rhetoric".<ref name="Heuchan 2017" /><ref name="HeuchanGI">{{cite web|url=https://glasgowinternational.org/artists/claire-heuchan/|title=Claire Heuchan|date=30 January 2018|website=[[Glasgow International]]|accessdate=5 October 2019}}</ref> Phrases like "Kill a TERF!" or "Punch a TERF!" are also posted by [[Internet troll|trolls]] online and there have been other depictions of violence aimed at TERFs.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Pilgrim|first=David|date=2018-10-20|title=The transgender controversy: a reply to Summersell|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/14767430.2018.1539825|journal=Journal of Critical Realism|volume=17|issue=5|pages=523–528|doi=10.1080/14767430.2018.1539825|issn=1476-7430}}</ref> Heuchan adds that language of this type is used to "[[dehumanise]] women", often lesbians.<ref name="Heuchan 2017">{{cite news |last1=Heuchan |first1=Claire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/feminist-linda-bellos-women-trans-male-violence |title=If feminist Linda Bellos is seen as a risk, progressive politics has lost its way |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 October 2017 |quote=Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Online, {{sic|it often it|nolink=y}} appears alongside violent rhetoric: punch a Terf, stab a Terf, kill a Terf. This language is used to dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system.}}</ref>
+=== Slur debate ===
-The 2018 [[All-party parliamentary group|All Party Parliamentary Group]] (APPG) on Hate Crime stated that they received several submissions that indicated a high degree of tension between trans activists and feminists groups opposed to transgender rights legislation, with reports on both sides detailing incidents of extreme or abusive language. The report noted that some women had submitted reports which argued that "women who object to the inclusion of trans women as female are being attacked both online and, in the street, with the term 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist' or (TERF) being used as a term of abuse."<ref name=APPG2019>{{cite web|author=All Party Parliamentary Group on Hate Crime|title=How Do We Build Community Cohesion When Hate Crime Is On The Rise?|url=http://www.appghatecrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/APPG%20on%20Hate%20Crime%20Report%20Hate%20Crime%20and%20Community%20Cohesion.pdf|publisher=[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]|date=2019|accessdate=2 November 2019|page=25}}</ref>
+People who have TERF directed at them often characterize it as a [[pejorative]] or [[hate speech]].<ref name="Vasquez 2014" /><ref name="Compton 2019">{{cite news |last1=Compton |first1=Julie |title='Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456 |access-date=19 March 2019 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=14 January 2019 |archive-date=19 June 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190619112530/https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Goldberg 2014">{{cite magazine |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |author-link=Michelle Goldberg |title=What Is a Woman? |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=4 August 2014 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2 |access-date=20 November 2015 |quote=TERF stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist.' The term can be useful for making a distinction with radical feminists who do not share the same position, but those at whom it is directed consider it a slur. |archive-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113031943/https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2 |url-status=live}}</ref> In a July 2018 solicitation of essays regarding "transgender identities", British magazine ''[[The Economist]]'' required writers to "avoid all slurs, including TERF", stating that the word was used to try to silence opinions and sometimes incite violence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Transgender identities: a series of invited essays |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=29 June 2018 |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/29/transgender-identities-a-series-of-invited-essays |access-date=19 March 2019 |quote=In the interests of fostering open debate we have set ground rules, both for essays and reader comments: use the pronouns people want you to use, and avoid all slurs, including TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which may have started as a descriptive term but is now used to try to silence a vast swathe of opinions on trans issues, and sometimes to incite violence against women. |archive-date=28 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928115218/https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/29/transgender-identities-a-series-of-invited-essays |url-status=live}}</ref> In August 2018, seven British philosophers wrote on the website ''Daily Nous'' that two articles by [[Veronica Ivy]]<ref name="McKinnon2018">{{cite journal |last1=McKinnon |first1=Rachel |author-link=Veronica Ivy |title=The Epistemology of Propaganda |journal=[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]] |date=7 March 2018 |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=483–489 |doi=10.1111/phpr.12429 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/MCKTEO-19 |quote=many contemporary TERFs accuse trans women of coining the phrase/term—and, ludicrously, claim that 'TERF' is a misogynistic slur.{{nbsp}}... The idea—it seems to be—is that 'TERF' is a term used to denigrate women, and so it is a slur. However, this is an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs. |access-date=3 August 2022 |archive-date=20 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220720081100/https://philpapers.org/rec/MCKTEO-19 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Jason Stanley]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stanley |first1=Jason |author-link=Jason Stanley |title=Replies |journal=[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]] |date=7 March 2018 |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=497–511 |doi=10.1111/phpr.12427 |doi-access=}}</ref> published in the journal ''[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]]'' normalized the term. They described the term as "at worst a slur and at best derogatory", and argued it had been used to denigrate those "who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues".<ref name="Allen et al.">{{cite web |last1=Allen |first1=Sophie R. |last2=Finneron-Burns |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Leng |first3=Mary |authorlink3=Mary Leng |last4=Lawford-Smith |first4=Holly |last5=Jones |first5=Jane Clare |last6=Reilly-Cooper |first6=Rebecca |last7=Simpson |first7=R. J. |title=On an Alleged Case of Propaganda: Reply to McKinnon |date=24 September 2018 |url=https://philpapers.org/rec/ALLOAA-3 |quote=representative examples of derogatory uses of the term: 'kill all TERFs'; 'shoot a terf today'; 'all TERFs deserve to be shot in the head'; 'somebody slap this TERF c*nt across the face'; 'literally kill all TERFs'{{nbsp}}... To summarize, we've considered three specific accounts of slurs, Anderson and Lepore's account which appeals to whether those targeted by the term take it to be a slur, Nunberg's account on which slurs signal in-group membership, and Swanson's account on which slurs cue harmful ideologies. We've argued that 'TERF' is a slur on all three of the specific accounts surveyed. |access-date=29 August 2022 |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803221947/https://philpapers.org/rec/ALLOAA-3 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Flaherty 2018" /><ref name="Weinberg 2018">{{cite news |last1=Weinberg |first1=Justin |title=Derogatory Language in Philosophy Journal Risks Increased Hostility and Diminished Discussion |url=http://dailynous.com/2018/08/27/derogatory-language-philosophy-journal-hostility-discussion/ |publisher=[[Daily Nous]] |access-date=19 March 2019 |date=27 August 2018 |archive-date=28 August 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180828150531/http://dailynous.com/2018/08/27/derogatory-language-philosophy-journal-hostility-discussion/ |url-status=live}}</ref> In response, Ernest Sosa, the journal's editor in chief, stated that scholars consulted by the journal advised that the term could become a slur at some point, but that its use as a denigrating term in some contexts did not mean it could not be used descriptively.<ref name="Flaherty 2018" /> Transgender author [[Andrea Long Chu]] described the claim that TERF was a slur as "a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory."<ref name="Chu 2018">{{cite magazine |last=Chu |first=Andrea Long |author-link=Andrea Long Chu |title=On Liking Women |magazine=[[n+1]] |url=https://nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/ |issue=30 |date=Winter 2018 |quote=They also don't much like the name TERF, which they take to be a slur—a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory. |access-date=6 October 2019 |archive-date=27 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200827002536/https://nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
+Transgender rights activist<ref name="bbc">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/46453958 |title=Transgender women in sport: Are they really a 'threat' to female sport? |last=Magowan |first=Alistair |date=18 December 2018 |work=[[BBC Sport]] |access-date=5 June 2021 |archive-date=12 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200812104132/https://www.bbc.com/sport/46453958 |url-status=live}}</ref> and former philosophy professor Veronica Ivy argues that just because the word could be used pejoratively, it did not mean it was a slur in general.<ref name="McKinnon2018" /> In a 2020 paper published in the philosophy journal ''[[Grazer Philosophische Studien]]'', linguists Christopher Davis and [[Elin McCready]] argued that three properties could make a term a slur: it had to be derogatory towards a particular group, used to subordinate them within some structure of power relations and that the derogated group must be defined by an intrinsic property. Davis and McCready wrote that the term TERF satisfied the first condition, but failed the third condition (an ideology is not an intrinsic group like race or sexuality), and that the second condition was contentious, in that it depended upon how each group saw itself in relation to the other group.<ref name="Davis and McCready">{{cite journal |title=The Instability of Slurs |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |date=4 March 2020 |last1=Davis |first1=Christopher |last2=McCready |first2=Elin |authorlink2=Elin McCready |journal=[[Grazer Philosophische Studien]] |volume=97 |pages=63–85 |doi=10.1163/18756735-09701005 |s2cid=216218536}}</ref> Philosophy of language professor [[Jennifer Saul]] disagreed with categorizing TERF as a slur, arguing that a term does not necessarily become a slur when coupled with violent or abusive rhetoric. Her main criticism is that the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" is inaccurate, preferring the term "anti-trans activists" instead. Firstly because many people so-labelled are not at all radical feminists (citing [[J. K. Rowling]] as an example) and secondly that the term embeds the idea that radical feminists could work to "harm the interests of marginalized women".<ref name="Saul 2020">{{Cite news |last=Saul |first=Jennifer |author-link=Jennifer Saul |date=5 March 2020 |title=Why the words we use matter when describing anti-trans activists |work=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]] |url=https://theconversation.com/why-the-words-we-use-matter-when-describing-anti-trans-activists-130990 |access-date=3 October 2021 |archive-date=9 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909210036/https://theconversation.com/why-the-words-we-use-matter-when-describing-anti-trans-activists-130990 |url-status=live}}</ref>
-==Slur debate==
+Feminist philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher argued that, regardless of whether the term was accurately classified as a slur, it "has at least become offensive to those designated by the term", which suggested it might be best to avoid "in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference".<ref name="Bettcher 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Bettcher |first1=Talia Mae |title=Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments. |journal=Philosophy Compass |date=November 2017 |volume=12 |issue=17 |page=7 |doi=10.1111/phc3.12438|quote=Part of the issue, however, concerns whether the expression continues to be used as a mere abbreviation for a description of a position (i.e., Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist) as it was originally coined or whether it has also acquired a derogatory use. The issues here are delicate{{nbsp}}... it seems that caution should at least be deployed in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference. This seems particularly important since much of trans politics is deeply committed to the importance of self-naming and respect for self-identities.}}</ref> Feminist philosopher [[Judith Butler]] disputed that the term TERF was a slur in an interview with ''[[New Statesman]]'', saying "I wonder what name self-declared feminists who wish to exclude trans women from women's spaces would be called? If they do favour exclusion, why not call them exclusionary? If they understand themselves as belonging to that strain of radical feminism that opposes gender reassignment, why not call them radical feminists?"<ref name="Butler New Statesman">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times |date=22 September 2020 |last=Ferber |first=Alona |title=Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in 'anti-intellectual times' |magazine=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=8 September 2021 |archive-date=29 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929171104/https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times |url-status=live}}</ref>
-The people at whom the word ''TERF'' is directed often characterize it as a [[pejorative|slur]] or [[hate speech]].<ref name="Vasquez 2014" /><ref name="Compton 2019">{{cite news |last1=Compton |first1=Julie |title='Pro-lesbian' or 'trans-exclusionary'? Old animosities boil into public view |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/pro-lesbian-or-trans-exclusionary-old-animosities-boil-public-view-n958456 |accessdate=19 March 2019 |publisher=[[NBC News]] |date=14 January 2019}}</ref><ref name="Goldberg 2014">{{cite magazine |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |title=What Is a Woman? |magazine=[[The New Yorker]] |date=2014-08-04 |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/08/04/woman-2 |accessdate=20 November 2015 |quote=TERF stands for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist.' The term can be useful for making a distinction with radical feminists who do not share the same position, but those at whom it is directed consider it a slur.}}</ref> In a July 2018 solicitation of essays regarding "transgender identities", British magazine ''[[The Economist]]'' required writers to "avoid all slurs, including TERF", stating that the word is used to try to silence opinions and sometimes incite violence.<ref>{{cite news |title=Transgender identities: a series of invited essays |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=29 June 2018 |url=https://www.economist.com/open-future/2018/06/29/transgender-identities-a-series-of-invited-essays |accessdate=19 March 2019 |quote=In the interests of fostering open debate we have set ground rules, both for essays and reader comments: use the pronouns people want you to use, and avoid all slurs, including TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist), which may have started as a descriptive term but is now used to try to silence a vast swathe of opinions on trans issues, and sometimes to incite violence against women.}}</ref>
+Serena Bassi and Greta LaFleur say that "the argument by trans-exclusionary radical feminists that the term TERF (an acronym for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”) is a “slur”— rather than a description of a particular approach to politics—leans on a “politics of injury” that distances itself from the real and very harmful work trans-exclusionary radical feminism is doing in the world."<ref name=Bassi>{{cite journal |last1=Bassi |first1=Serena |last2=LaFleur |first2=Greta |title=Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms |journal=[[Transgender Studies Quarterly]] |date=2022 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=311–333 |doi=10.1215/23289252-9836008|s2cid=253052875 |doi-access=free }}</ref>
-[[Transgender]] rights activist<ref name=bbc>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/46453958|title=Transgender women in sport: Are they really a 'threat' to female sport?|date=18 December 2018|publisher=|via=www.bbc.com}}</ref> and [[Philosophy of language]] professor [[Rachel McKinnon]] has maintained the word is not a slur. She argues that merely being "a term used to denigrate women" does not make a word a slur, that being "an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs".<ref name="McKinnon2018"/> In a YouTube video she further argues that ''TERF'' can be used in a purely descriptive way, while slurs and all derogatory terms are necessarily derogatory in all contexts.<ref name="McKinnon 2017">{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmDauuQOOdU |title=Trans 101 #4: 'TERF' is Not a Slur |last1=McKinnon |first1=Rachel |work=[[YouTube]] |date=24 May 2017 |accessdate=22 April 2019|quote=We don't need a non-pejorative correlate for TERF. The acronym Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist ''is'' the non-pejorative term. It can't be a slur if the term itself is its own non-pejorative correlate. So, that's strike 1 for TERF as a slur and frankly it's a pretty big one. ... TERF is not even a derogatory term, it is much closer to 'short' than it is to 'runt' and it's nowhere near the seriousness of a slur.}}</ref> In August 2018, seven British philosophers wrote on the website ''[[Daily Nous]]'' that two articles by Rachel McKinnon<ref name="McKinnon2018">{{cite journal |last1=McKinnon |first1=Rachel |title=The Epistemology of Propaganda |journal=[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]] |date=7 March 2018 |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=483–489 |doi=10.1111/phpr.12429 |url=https://storage.googleapis.com/wzukusers/user-32241190/documents/5bf5e044e681bCc43WKe/16%20Rachel%20McKinnon%20-%20The%20Epistemology%20of%20Propaganda.pdf|quote=many contemporary TERFs accuse trans women of coining the phrase/term—and, ludicrously, claim that ‘TERF’ is a misogynistic slur. ... The idea—it seems to be—is that ‘TERF’ is a term used to denigrate women, and so it is a slur. However, this is an absurd, nonsensical view of the nature of slurs.}}</ref> and Jason Stanley<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stanley |first1=Jason |title=Replies |journal=[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]] |date=7 March 2018 |volume=96 |issue=2 |pages=497–511 |doi=10.1111/phpr.12427|doi-access=free}}</ref> published in the journal ''[[Philosophy and Phenomenological Research]]'' normalized the term. They described the term as "at worst a slur and at best derogatory", and argued that the term had been used to denigrate those "who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues".<ref name="Weinberg 2018">{{cite news |last1=Weinberg |first1=Justin |title=Derogatory Language in Philosophy Journal Risks Increased Hostility and Diminished Discussion |url=http://dailynous.com/2018/08/27/derogatory-language-philosophy-journal-hostility-discussion/ |publisher=[[Daily Nous]] |accessdate=19 March 2019 |date=27 August 2018}}</ref><ref name="Flaherty 2018" /><ref name="Allen et al.">{{cite journal |last1=Allen |first1=Sophie R. |last2=Finneron-Burns |first2=Elizabeth |last3=Leng |first3=Mary |last4=Lawford-Smith |first4=Holly |last5=Jones |first5=Jane Clare |last6=Reilly-Cooper |first6=Rebecca |last7=Simpson |first7=R. J. |title=On an Alleged Case of Propaganda: Reply to McKinnon |date=24 September 2018 |url=https://philpapers.org/archive/ALLOAA-3.pdf|quote=representative examples of derogatory uses of the term: ‘kill all TERFs’; ‘shoot a terf today’; ‘all TERFs deserve to be shot in the head’; ‘somebody slap this TERF c*nt across the face’; ‘literally kill all TERFs’ ... To summarize, we’ve considered three specific accounts of slurs, Anderson and Lepore’s account which appeals to whether those targeted by the term take it to be a slur, Nunberg’s account on which slurs signal in-group membership, and Swanson’s account on which slurs cue harmful ideologies. We’ve argued that ‘TERF’ is a slur on all three of the specific accounts surveyed.}}</ref> In response, Ernest Sosa, the journal's editor in chief, stated that scholars consulted by the journal advised that the term "might evolve to become a slur", but that its use as a denigrating term in some contexts was still "compatible with its having a descriptive meaning".<ref name="Flaherty 2018" />
+== ''Gender-critical'' label ==
-In a 2018 draft paper, linguists Christopher Davis and Elin McCready argue that three properties make a term a slur: it must be derogatory towards a particular group, it must be used to subordinate them within some structure of power relations, and the derogated group must be defined by an intrinsic property. Davis and McCready write that the term ''TERF'' satisfies the first condition, fails the third condition, and that the second condition is contentious, in that it depends on how each group sees itself in relation to the other group.<ref name="Davis and McCready">{{cite journal |title=The Instability of Slurs |publisher=Semantics Archive |date=19 November 2018 |last=Davis |first=Christopher |last2=McCready |first2=Elin |journal = Prepublication |url=https://semanticsarchive.net/Archive/2Y0NTg2Y/Davis-McCready-Instability_of_Slurs.pdf |accessdate=24 April 2019|quote=The term has subsequently become viewed as a slur by people subscribing to the ideology described by the acronym, and certainly it has been used with derogatory force by some people. But is it technically a slur in our sense? ... It clearly does not satisfy condition (iii), because holding this ideology is completely optional and in no sense an inherent property. If this condition correctly delimits the domain of slurs, then ‘TERF’ cannot be a slur after all for it too is not an inherent property, but an ideological one.}}</ref>
+{{see also|Gender-critical feminism}}
+In the 2020s, the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" is used synonymously with or overlaps with "[[gender-critical feminism]]", which Grinspan and co-authors describe as a "self-definition by some individuals and groups labelled TERFs."<ref name=Grinspan>{{cite journal |last1=Grinspan |first1=Mauro Cabral |last2=Eloit |first2=Ilana |last3=Paternotte |first3=David|author-link3=David Paternotte |last4=Verloo |first4=Mieke |title=Exploring TERFnesses |journal=Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |date=2023 |volume=10 |issue=2 |doi=10.21825/digest.90008|doi-access=free }}</ref>
+People labeled as TERFs generally object to the term and may refer to themselves as ''gender critical''.<ref name="Vasquez 2014">{{cite magazine |magazine=Bitch |last1=Vasquez |first1=Tina |title=It's Time to End the Long History of Feminism Failing Transgender Women |publisher=[[Bitch Media]] |date=17 February 2014 |url=https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/the-long-history-of-transgender-exclusion-from-feminism |access-date=13 April 2019 |quote=[Cathy] Brennan, fellow attorney Elizabeth Hungerford, and other modern-day feminists continue to actively question the inclusion of trans people in women's spaces. These feminists refer to themselves as "radical feminists" or "gender critical feminists". In 2008, trans women and trans advocates started referring to this group as "trans-exclusionary radical feminists" or TERFs, a term Brennan considers a slur. |archive-date=13 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190413190326/https://www.bitchmedia.org/post/the-long-history-of-transgender-exclusion-from-feminism |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="Flaherty 2018">{{cite web |last1=Flaherty |first1=Colleen |date=29 August 2018 |title='TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur? |website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |access-date=12 April 2019 |language=en |quote=While the term has become controversial over time, especially with its often hateful deployment on social media, it originally described a subgroup of feminists who believe that the interests of [[cisgender]] women (those who are born with vaginas) don't necessarily intersect with those of transgender women (primarily those born with penises){{nbsp}}... TERF 'is widely used across online platforms as a way to denigrate and dismiss the women (and some men) who disagree with the dominant narrative on trans issues'{{nbsp}}... Targeted groups include 'lesbians who merely maintain that same-sex attraction is not equivalent to transphobia,' and 'women who believe that women's oppression is sex-based, and are concerned about erasing the political importance of female bodies'{{nbsp}}... |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407014511/http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Goldberg 2015">{{cite magazine |last1=Goldberg |first1=Michelle |author-link=Michelle Goldberg |title=The Trans Women Who Say That Trans Women Aren't Women |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/12/gender-critical-trans-women-the-apostates-of-the-trans-rights-movement.html |access-date=12 April 2019 |magazine=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=9 December 2015 |archive-date=12 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412191052/https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/12/gender-critical-trans-women-the-apostates-of-the-trans-rights-movement.html |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2017, British columnist [[Sarah Ditum]] wrote that "the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low", citing ''[[PinkNews]]''{{'}}s criticism of ''[[Woman's Hour]]'' presenter [[Jenni Murray]] and a [[Medium (website)|Medium]] writer's blog entry about [[Nigeria]]n novelist [[Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Ditum |first1=Sarah |author-link=Sarah Ditum |date=29 September 2017|title=What is a Terf? How an internet buzzword became a mainstream slur |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/09/what-terf-how-internet-buzzword-became-mainstream-slur |magazine=[[New Statesman]] |access-date=13 April 2019 |quote=On the other hand, if you are a feminist, the bar to being called a 'terf' is remarkably low. Woman's Hour presenter Jenni Murray achieved it by writing an article in which she pointed out that someone born and raised male will not have the same experiences of sexism as a woman; novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie likewise made the grade by answering 'transwomen are transwomen' when asked whether she believed that 'transwomen are women'. |archive-date=20 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420133941/https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/feminism/2017/09/what-terf-how-internet-buzzword-became-mainstream-slur |url-status=live}}</ref>
-[[Transfeminism|Transfeminist]] and author [[Julia Serano]] has argued that because the word was originally created by radical feminists as a neutral term, it cannot be a slur, and "if the term has since accrued negative connotations, it is simply because most contemporary feminists view trans-exclusion as invalid, and TERF rhetoric as unnecessarily disparaging".<ref name="Serano n.d.">{{cite web |last1=Serano |first1=Julia |title=TERFs |url=http://www.juliaserano.com/terminology.html#TERF |date=n.d. |accessdate=21 April 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Transwoman author [[Andrea Long Chu]] describes the claim that ''TERF'' is a slur as "a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren't also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory."<ref>{{cite journal|last=Chu|first=Andrea Long|title=On Liking Women|journal=N+1 Magazine|url=https://nplusonemag.com/issue-30/essays/on-liking-women/|issue=30|date=Winter 2018|quote=They also don’t much like the name TERF, which they take to be a slur—a grievance that would be beneath contempt if it weren’t also true, in the sense that all bywords for bigots are intended to be defamatory.}}</ref>
+In a 2015 article, American feminist scholar [[Bonnie&nbsp;J. Morris]] argued that TERF was initially a legitimate analytical term, but quickly developed into a defamatory word associated with sexist insults. She described the word as "emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions" and called on scholars and journalists to stop using it.<ref name="Morris 2015">{{cite magazine |last=Morris |first=Bonnie J. |author-link=Bonnie J. Morris |date=July–August 2015 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=13&ndash;15 |journal=[[The Gay & Lesbian Review Worldwide]] |title=The Hijacking of Lesbian History |quote=TERF is an important new slur, emblematic of the unresolved tensions between our LGBT community's L and T factions.{{nbsp}}... It began as a legitimate means of isolating and critiquing the work of a very few controversial feminist authors, namely Janice Raymond and Sheila Jeffreys{{nbsp}}... TERF is a unique new insult for non-transgender lesbians by other LGBT activists, and it bears monitoring. Those women relegated to the TERF bin of bad feminism are now being subjected to traditional sexist canards, including charges of unattractiveness, mental instability, and penis envy.{{nbsp}}... My charge to every responsible editor, journalist, feminist scholar, and LGBT historian is to please stop recycling the acronym TERF; it is defamatory.}} [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0013.pdf p. 13] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507003514/https://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0013.pdf |date=7 May 2020}}, [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0014.pdf p. 14] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507045107/https://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0014.pdf |date=7 May 2020}}, [http://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0015.pdf p. 15] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507213322/https://www.glreview.org/wp-content/uploads/DigitalEditions/mtdownload7894_2015.07.01_11.55/files/assets/common/downloads/page0015.pdf |date=7 May 2020}}</ref>
-On her blog, ''Language: A Feminist Guide'', [[Oxford University]] linguist [[Deborah Cameron (linguist)|Deborah Cameron]], whose academic research is focused on the relationship of language to gender and sexuality, wrote that arguments about whether ''TERF'' is a neutral descriptive term or a derogatory slur "raise a question which linguists and philosophers have found quite tricky to answer", but that "many individuals who have been described as TERFs have called it a slur".<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://debuk.wordpress.com/2016/11/06/what-makes-a-word-a-slur/ |title=What makes a word a slur? |last=Cameron |first=Deborah |date=6 November 2016 |website=Language: A Feminist Guide |accessdate=19 September 2019}}</ref> Feminist philosopher Talia Mae Bettcher argues that, regardless of whether the term is accurately classified as a slur, it "has at least become offensive to those designated by the term", which suggests it might be best to avoid "in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference".<ref name="bettcher_2017">{{cite journal |last1=Bettcher |first1=Talia Mae |title=Trans Feminism: Recent Philosophical Developments. |journal=Philosophy Compass |date=November 2017 |volume=12 |issue=17 |page=7 |doi=10.1111/phc3.12438|quote=Part of the issue, however, concerns whether the expression continues to be used as a mere abbreviation for a description of a position (i.e., Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminist) as it was originally coined or whether it has also acquired a derogatory use. The issues here are delicate ... it seems that caution should at least be deployed in case one wants to have a conversation across deep difference. This seems particularly important since much of trans politics is deeply committed to the importance of self-naming and respect for self-identities.}}</ref>
+British journalist [[Catherine Bennett (journalist)|Catherine Bennett]] has described the word as "a bullying tool", which had "already succeeded in repressing speech{{snds}}and maybe even research".<ref name="BennettBullies">{{cite news |first=Catherine |last=Bennett |author-link=Catherine Bennett (journalist) |title=Bullies everywhere delight in coming up with new insults |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=19 November 2017 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2017/nov/19/bullies-everywhere-take-delight-in-coming-up-with-new-insults |quote=the advance of terf, as a bullying tool, has already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research{{nbsp}}... ugly terf, fucking terf scum |access-date=2 October 2019 |archive-date=5 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200505114311/https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2017/nov/19/bullies-everywhere-take-delight-in-coming-up-with-new-insults|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="BennettViolent">{{cite news |last=Bennett |first=Catherine |author-link=Catherine Bennett (journalist) |date=29 April 2018 |title=Violent misogyny is unfortunately not confined to the internet's 'incels' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/violent-misogyny-not-confined-to-internet-incels|work=[[The Guardian]]|quote=Photographs of one vitrine, featuring a red bespattered T-shirt reading: "I punch terfs!" (trans-exclusionary radical feminists/women who disagree with me), may have struck a chord with anyone following the current UK debate about the government's self-ID proposals. To date, threats, from one side, which echo, inescapably, some of those in the pro-Rodger playbook ("die in a fire terf scum") have yet to generate comparably widespread concern, even after a woman was punched. Her assailant had earlier expressed the wish to "fuck up some terfs". |access-date=2 October 2019 |archive-date=2 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002190342/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/29/violent-misogyny-not-confined-to-internet-incels |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2017, British feminist author Claire Heuchan argued that the word was often used alongside "violent rhetoric",<ref name="Heuchan 2017" /><ref name="HeuchanGI">{{cite web |url=https://glasgowinternational.org/artists/claire-heuchan/ |title=Claire Heuchan |date=30 January 2018 |website=[[Glasgow International]] |access-date=5 October 2019 |archive-date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191014175123/https://glasgowinternational.org/artists/claire-heuchan/ |url-status=live}}</ref> and that this violent language was used to "dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system", often lesbians.<ref name="Heuchan 2017">{{cite news |last1=Heuchan |first1=Claire |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/feminist-linda-bellos-women-trans-male-violence |title=If feminist Linda Bellos is seen as a risk, progressive politics has lost its way |work=[[The Guardian]] |date=6 October 2017 |quote=Terf stands for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. Online, {{sic|it often it|nolink=y}} appears alongside violent rhetoric: punch a Terf, stab a Terf, kill a Terf. This language is used to dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system. |access-date=27 April 2019 |archive-date=15 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200615162221/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/06/feminist-linda-bellos-women-trans-male-violence |url-status=live}}</ref> British clinical psychologist and medical sociologist David Pilgrim says that phrases like "Kill a TERF!" or "Punch a TERF!" are also posted by [[Internet troll|trolls]] online, and that there had been other depictions of violence aimed at women labeled as TERFs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pilgrim |first1=David |title=The transgender controversy: a reply to Summersell |journal=[[Journal of Critical Realism]] |date=20 October 2018 |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=523–528 |doi=10.1080/14767430.2018.1539825 |doi-access=free}}</ref>
-==See also==
-{{Wiktionary|TERF}}
+The 2018 United Kingdom [[All-party parliamentary group|All Party Parliamentary Group]] (APPG) on Hate Crime received several submissions that indicated a high degree of tension between trans activists and feminist groups opposed to transgender rights legislation, with both sides detailing incidents of extreme or abusive language. The report noted that some women had submitted reports which argued that "women who object to the inclusion of trans women as female are being attacked both online and, in the street, with the term 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist' or 'TERF' being used as a term of abuse."<ref name=APPG2019>{{cite web |author=All Party Parliamentary Group on Hate Crime |title=How Do We Build Community Cohesion When Hate Crime Is On The Rise? |url=http://www.appghatecrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/APPG%20on%20Hate%20Crime%20Report%20Hate%20Crime%20and%20Community%20Cohesion.pdf |publisher=[[House of Commons of the United Kingdom]] |date=2019 |access-date=2 November 2019 |pages=25–26 |archive-date=1 November 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101015429/http://www.appghatecrime.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/APPG%20on%20Hate%20Crime%20Report%20Hate%20Crime%20and%20Community%20Cohesion.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref>
+Some people who have been called trans-exclusionary radical feminists say that ''trans-exclusionary'' is an inaccurate label, as they are inclusive of [[transgender men]], who have a female [[sex assignment]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Flaherty |first1=Colleen |date=29 August 2018 |title='TERF' War – Philosophers object to a journal's publication 'TERF,' in reference to some feminists. Is it really a slur? |website=[[Inside Higher Ed]] |url=https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |access-date=12 April 2019 |language=en |quote=Allen objected&nbsp;... 'most radical feminists who are apparently described' by the term TERF are inclusive of trans men, and so are not 'trans-exclusionary' anyway, she said. |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407014511/http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/08/29/philosophers-object-journals-publication-terf-reference-some-feminists-it-really |url-status=live}}</ref> Peter Cava notes that when these feminists are inclusive of trans men, they often gender them as women.<ref name="Erickson-Schroth 2014">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Activism, Politics, and Organizing |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ef1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA568 |date=12 May 2014 |editor-last1=Erickson-Schroth |editor-first1=Laura |pages=568–569 |isbn=978-0199325351 |quote="Some feminists have perceived transmasculine people as traitors—that is, as women who identify politically with men. When inclusive of trans men, these feminists have often gendered them as women. Conversely, these feminists have tended to perceive transfeminine people as infiltrators of womanhood and women's space. Many commentators refer to feminists who think in these ways as 'trans-exclusionary radical feminists' (TERFs)." |last1=Cava |first1=Peter |encyclopedia=Trans Bodies, Trans Selves: A Resource for the Transgender Community |access-date=4 May 2019 |archive-date=14 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114213502/https://books.google.com/books?id=7Ef1AwAAQBAJ&pg=PA568 |url-status=live |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Linguists Christopher Davis and [[Elin McCready]] view this "purported support" of trans men as a denial of their agency and self-determination, and suggest it is trans-exclusionary "because it excludes the very category of 'trans man{{' "}}.<ref name="Davis and McCready"/>
+=="TERF Island"==
+[[File:Anti-Transphobia Sticker (52710624598) (cropped).jpg|thumb|right|Anti-TERF sticker in the United Kingdom]]{{Further information|Transgender rights in the United Kingdom#Transphobia and "TERF Island" debate|21st-century anti-trans movement in the United Kingdom
+}}
+Some commentators refer to the [[United Kingdom]], often in a jocular or droll fashion, as "TERF Island".<ref>{{cite web |last=Baska |first=Maggie |date=October 2021 |title=Aspiring scholar explains in the simplest of terms why 'the UK became TERF island' |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/10/01/transphobia-uk-terf-island-tiktok/ |access-date=2024-04-15 |website=PinkNews |quote=If you look up “TERF island” on Twitter, several people can be seen tweeting about the rise in anti-trans sentiment and hate in the UK.}}</ref> The name references the perception that gender-critical activism and [[anti-trans rhetoric]] are particularly culturally prominent in the [[United Kingdom]] compared to the United States or other locations.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Urquhart |first=Evan |date=2024-02-23 |title=The British Prime Minister Is Under Fire for a Transphobic Gibe. What's Different This Time? |url=https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/rishi-sunak-brianna-ghey-scandal-explained.html |access-date=2024-04-15 |work=Slate |language=en-US |issn=1091-2339 |quote=Anti-trans rhetoric is so common in the U.K. that Great Britain has been nicknamed “TERF Island” (with TERF short for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, a type of anti-trans activist) among trans people.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-11 |title=In the U.K., queer and trans self-defence classes are growing in popularity {{!}} Xtra Magazine |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/activism/trans-self-defence-uk-248998 |access-date=2024-04-15 |language=en-CA |quote=U.K. transphobia is so severe that the country is known as “TERF Island.”}}</ref> In their 2024 book ''Who's Afraid of Gender?'', philosopher [[Judith Butler]] explores this notion, as well as the history of the gender-critical movement in the UK.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Butler |first=Judith |title=Who's Afraid of Gender? |date=2024 |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |isbn=978-0-241-59582-4 |location=London |chapter=TERFs and British Matters of Sex |quote=While other regions of the world are producing strong coalitions, like Ni Una Menos in Argentina, which includes trans, feminist, and LGBTQIA+ groups opposed to racism, extractivism, and capitalist structures of debt, financial terror, and economic inequality, the situation in the United Kingdom exemplifies radical division and opposition, efforts to shut down gender studies programs, and associate scholars in the field of gender studies with scenes of abuse.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=This Ideology Threatens Our Fundamental Freedoms &#124; Judith Butler Meets Ash Sarkar |url=https://novaramedia.com/2024/03/31/this-ideology-threatens-our-fundamental-freedoms-judith-butler-meets-ash-sarkar/ |website=Novara Media |quote=[Butler's] new book, ''Who’s Afraid of Gender'' charts how a transphobic moral panic morphed into an all-our war on so-called ‘gender ideology’. Together, Ash and Judith explore how Britain became TERF island, the limits of self-identification, and what really defines a woman.}}</ref>
+== See also ==
+{{Portal|Feminism|Language|LGBTQ|Transgender}}
+* [[Anti-gender movement]]
 * [[Feminist theory]]
 * [[Feminist views on transgender topics]]
-* [[Meghan Murphy]]
+* [[Gender essentialism]]
+* [[Lesbian erasure in relation to transgender women]]
+* [[Radical feminist views on transgender topics]]
+* [[Reactionary feminism]]
+* [[Social construction of gender]]
+* [[SWERF]]
+* [[Transmisogyny]]
+* [[Womyn-born womyn]]
-==References==
+== References ==
 {{Reflist}}
+== External links ==
+* {{Wiktionary inline|TERF}}
+* {{wikiquote-inline|Trans exclusionary radical feminism}}
+* [https://hoydenabouttown.com/2008/08/17/carnivalia-transgenderism-and-the-gender-binary/ Carnivalia, transgenderism and the gender binary], 2008 blog post with the earliest recorded use of the acronym.
 {{LGBT slang}}
 {{DEFAULTSORT:TERF}}
+[[Category:2008 neologisms]]
 [[Category:Acronyms]]
+[[Category:Discrimination against transgender people]]
 [[Category:English words]]
+[[Category:Feminism and transgender topics]]
+[[Category:Feminist movements and ideologies]]
 [[Category:Feminist terminology]]
-[[Category:LGBT-related controversies]]
+[[Category:LGBTQ-related controversies]]
-[[Category:LGBT slang]]
+[[Category:LGBTQ slang]]
-[[Category:Slang terms for women]]
+[[Category:Linguistic controversies]]
-[[Category:Trans-exclusionary radical feminism| ]]
+[[Category:Radical feminism]]
+[[Category:Transphobia]]
 [[Category:Women-related neologisms]]
-[[Category:Words coined in the 2000s]]
+[[Category:2020s anti-LGBTQ movement in the United States]]
-[[Category:Feminism and transgender]]
+[[Category:Anti-rights movements]]

v t e Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) slang
List	Aro Ace Bareback Banjee Bear Beard Beat Bi-curious Butch and femme Boi Top, bottom and versatile Bottom surgery Breeder Bugchasing Bulldagger Butch Castro clone Chicken Chickenhawk Chub Chubby chaser Cottaging Cruising Daddy Down-low Drag Dyke En femme En homme Fag (Faggot) Fag hag Fag stag Female queen F2M/FTM Femboy Femme Flagging (hanky code) Friend of Dorothy Fruit Fruit fly Gay-for-pay Gaydar Gaymer Genderfuck Gold star Glory hole Heteroflexibility Lesbian until graduation Lipstick lesbian M2F/MTF Muffing Non-op Packing Party and play Passing Poppers Post-op Pre-op Queen RLE Same gender loving Shemale Soft butch Scissoring SRS Stone butch Stealth Swish T Tea-room TERF Top surgery Trache shave Trade Tranny Trans chaser Transition Travesti Tribbing Troll Twink U-Haul lesbian Unicorn hunting Womyn-born womyn
Related	Polari LGBTQ linguistics Terminology of homosexuality
Category