<
https://juliaserano.medium.com/a-gender-critical-and-terf-primer-92ba8a1d6a1e>
"There are many strands of feminism: liberal, radical, lesbian, separatist,
anti-pornography, sex-positive, poststructuralist, materialist, Marxist,
womanist, intersectional, postcolonial, ecofeminist, to name but a few. Each of
these strands defines the mission, scope, and focus of feminism somewhat
differently. And within each strand, there may be further differences of
opinion.
This essay is about one particular strand that is sometimes called “Gender
Critical” (GC) or “Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminism” (TERF). Here, I will
use the acronym “GC/TERF” as an umbrella term, although I will also be
highlighting some of the differences that exist within this umbrella.
The distinguishing characteristic of GC/TERFism is the belief that feminism and
transgender activism are somehow fundamentally opposed to one another: Every
step forward for trans rights is necessarily a step backwards for women’s
rights. Crucially, this position is not generally held by other feminists,
especially those who recognize intersectionality: that different forms of
marginalization exist and exacerbate one another, so we should work to
simultaneously end all of them.
Because of GC/TERFs’ nearly singular focus on opposing trans rights, they will
sometimes dismiss trans-inclusive feminists as “anti-woman,” “misogynist,” or
“handmaidens.” That is to say, GC/TERFs portray themselves as the only true
feminists, rather than acknowledging differences of opinion within feminism.
Reciprocally, because GC/TERFs tend to pay little attention to more standard
feminist concerns and sometimes even team up with social conservatives in order
to push their shared anti-trans policies and rhetoric, trans people and allies
will sometimes claim that GC/TERFs are not actually feminists. While it is true
that many people who call themselves “gender critical” these days couldn’t care
less about feminism (especially in the UK, where the term is now widely used as
a euphemism for “anti-trans”), here I will be focusing on the feminist origins
of this movement."
Via Janet Logan.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
