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]
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."[35]
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.[38]
British journalist Catherine Bennett has described the word as "a bullying tool", which had "already succeeded in repressing speech – and maybe even research".[39][40] In 2017, British feminist author Claire Heuchan argued that the word was often used alongside "violent rhetoric",[41][42] and that this violent language was used to "dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system", often lesbians.[41] 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.[43]
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."[44]
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.[45] Peter Cava notes that when these feminists are inclusive of trans men, they often gender them as women.[46] 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]
Some commentators refer to the United Kingdom, often in a jocular or droll fashion, as "TERF Island".[47] 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.[48][49] 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.[50][51]
^ abcLewis, 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.
^ abcdMiller, 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.
^ abcVasquez, 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.
^ abcdSmythe, 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.
^ abBurns, 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.
^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.
^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.
^ abMcKinnon, 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.
^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.
^ abcFlaherty, 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'...
^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.
^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.
^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. 13Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 14Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine, p. 15Archived 7 May 2020 at the Wayback Machine
^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".
^ abHeuchan, 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.
^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. ISBN978-0199325351. 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).
^Butler, Judith (2024). "TERFs and British Matters of Sex". Who's Afraid of Gender?. London: Penguin Random House UK. ISBN978-0-241-59582-4. 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.
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