TERF FAQs

Aug 7

Q. What is a TERF?

A. It stands for “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist”, although people have advocated for using “Feminist-Appropriating Radical Transphobe,” or “FART.” Either way, it basically means a person who claims to be feminist but who does not consider trans women to be “real” women.

Q. What is transgender?

A. A person is transgender is when they identify as any gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. You can learn more about the difference between sex and gender here.

Q. Isn’t this all brand new anyway? Nobody was transgender back in my day.

A. Actually, throughout history and across cultures there have always been gender nonconforming people. You can read more and find sources at my post on Sex and Gender. It’s true that the way we understand and talk about the experience of being transgender is newer - back in the 70s and 80s the word used was “transexual” (do not use this word today as it is no longer considered respectful) and it could mean people who dressed as the opposite gender as well as people who would today identify as transgender. So as the world grows and changes, the language and discourse can also change. But none of this means that being trans or gender nonconforming is new.

Q. Is TERF a slur?

A. No. In their 2020 paper, “The Instability of Slurs,” Christopher Davis and Elin McCready define a slur as an expression that, among other criteria, “functions to subordinate” the group referred to (1). The term “TERF” does not subordinate, or oppress, a community. The actions of those who would be called TERFs, however, do oppress the trans community. The “TERF” community cannot be oppressed because to be a TERF is a choice. It’s a belief system, a set of opinions. To be trans however, is not a choice. You cannot have a slur against an oppressor group.

Q. You can’t argue with biology!

A. That’s not really a question, but let’s talk about it. In high school (and even college) basic bio classes you’ll learn that sexes are determined by genes and that XX = female and XY = male. This isn’t untrue, exactly, but it isn’t the whole truth, either. Once you get into higher level biology courses, you learn how fluid sex is both in the animal kingdom as well as for humans. In truth, there are many intersex conditions (when a person’s physical and/or hormonal sex characteristics do not align with either “male” or “female”) and some people don’t even know they are intersex.

This means that gender (the feeling that one is a man, a woman, or outside of the binary) cannot be linked to sex because sex cannot be reduced to just two versions.

Frankly, this has the same energy as scientific racism had in the 1800s. If you want an example of that, check out this post about founding father Thomas Jefferson.

If you’d like to know more and to see sources, once again check out my post on Sex and Gender.

Q. Words have to mean something or they’re pointless! You can call anyone a “woman,” but it doesn’t mean they are a woman.

It is true that words have meaning. But it is equally true that the meanings of words evolve and change. Dictionaries do not set the standard for what words mean, they simply record the ways that humans use words, meaning that while dictionaries may be a good resource, their contents are not recorded in stone. A word becomes a legitimate word when people use it to mean a certain thing, dictionaries can sometimes be behind the times in this way. Understanding this flexibility and nuance in language, we must remember that people are more important than definitions. Don’t oppress someone based on a word, period.

Q. You could teach a parrot to say it’s a woman, though.

A. For reals? (Editor’s note: yes, I have for reals gotten this comment.) Okay let’s talk about how humans, trans ones or not, are different than birds.

A parrot is a mimic. I’ve seen parrots that learned to count in English, but that doesn’t mean they can utilize language the way that we do. Humans can share their innermost thoughts and dreams by speaking. They can tell you who they are. Parrots don’t have that kind of access to language.

Believe people when they tell you who they are, they are the best authority on that.

Q. Aren’t children too young to decide their gender? Isn’t this grooming?

A. Aside from the fact that, yes, children can understand who they are at a very early age, this is hypocritical in that we color-code our babies based on their genitals (yes, really). Babies assigned female at birth are dressed in pinks, often with head bows. Babies assigned male at birth are dressed in blues and sports themes. Is this not the same kind of indoctrination feared by those who would make claims such as this comment? It may be “normal” and we are certainly all used to it, but it really is assuming a lot of a tiny person who cannot communicate who they are yet.

Allowing a child to live as who they are saves lives. “Trans youth know who they are. Multiple studies have shown that providing gender-affirming care is life-saving by dramatically reducing depression and suicidal ideation” (2).

Q. Fine, but isn’t childhood still too young for medical transitioning?

A. This is a misconception because children only transition socially. Sometimes, as a child nears puberty, they are put on puberty blockers to delay puberty and give them more time to understand who they are and to make the best choice moving forward that they can. But puberty blockers are not permanent - they simply delay puberty and as soon as the child stops taking them, things will progress as normal (3). Sometimes teenagers do start medically transitioning, but this is after years of treatment and is usually accompanied by a team of doctors and therapists to ensure best practices.

Surgeries are uncommon before adulthood.

Guidelines say such surgery generally should be reserved for those aged 18 and older. The World Professional Association for Transgender Health says breast removal surgery is OK for those under 18 who have been on testosterone for at least a year. The Endocrine Society says there isn’t enough evidence to recommend a specific age limit for that operation. (4)

If you are concerned that young children may be permanently harmed by medical procedures which affect their gender, let’s talk about babies who are born intersex (their genitals do not clearly fit either “male” or “female”) and receive cosmetic surgeries in infancy - before they can consent. Let’s stop performing cosmetic surgeries on infants, okay? There, now you have a new mission.

Q. How can I keep myself safe when men are pretending to be trans women but are really predators?

A. An important thing to remember here is that men who are pretending to be trans women, but who are actually predators, are actually not trans women at all, but predatory men. In other words, we cannot oppress a population because another population is an oppressor. In other other words, men can dress like women at any time and have always been able to do so if they wanted to be predatory in this way.

Trans folx are one of the most marginalized and at risk populations. Transgender men and women are more than four times more likely to experience violence than cis folx (5). Let’s make sure that the populations being blamed for atrocities are actually the ones committing the atrocities. Don’t blame trans folx for what cis men do.

Sources:

bonnianne ratliff