I'm going to explain why, and move onto analysing the article of one Viv Smythe, in far too many words. But, if you want the TL;DR, here's a synopsis:
The acronym was cooked up during a political struggle over a women's event and the inclusion or exclusion of the group of women otherwise known as.... Men.
'Terf' was created because women were sick of being called transphobes, which is understandable. While Smythe appears to aim for a rounded analysis, the question as to why not accepting an oxymoron (transwomen - males - are women) is akin to hatred is never even alluded to.
That these women were the group singled out for a specific moniker is indicative of the hostile landscape. Where it's since progressed to is full scale dehumanisation and an unleashed hatred.
Further, the relentless framing of trans people being depicted as more delicate than butterfly wings really needs a good kick around. In this story, the women's claims to having a safer place with just other women alone is borne out with more savagery than anyone would have imagined. Does this get a mention? No.
The struggle involved two, perhaps three groups who consider themselves feminist
*Women who do not subscribe to the idea males can truly be women;
*Women who do subscribe to the idea males can be women;
*Those males
As mentioned, the first record of 'terf' in writing is from an ideologically opposed, liberal feminist: one Viv Smythe.
Smythe is not a 'terf'. She is very much on the 'TWAW!' side. You can read "I'm credited with having coined the word 'Terf'. Here's how it happened" to see for yourself.
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I will claim the term 'terf' as referencing myself, to make this easier and clearer, and out of a bitter and shrugging indifference.
I'll move onto liberal feminism and why I think it's pretty unmitigated wank, and in the next parts will focus in on Smythe's arguments in the Guardian article, and finally to the horrifying erasure of what actually happened when MichFest, the woman only festival, was broken by Camp Trans and a complicit media; the role of Camp Trans' Dana Rivers; and the breathtaking deceit of those who consistently ignore a family annihilation.
You're Slurring Your Speech
'TERF' is a disclaimer, a dog whistle, to excuse and justify the misogyny which follows its announcement.
Think of that nasty tactic of shouting 'nonce!' when some bloke is getting his head kicked in - there are similarities.
For too long, I scrawled the struggle out in painstaking pleas, offers of compromise and a growing list of infractions suffered. Infractions which I envisaged no good person looking away from.
I thought maybe I could get through to people, and they would see. I was wrong, on either who was good, or what studied negligence good people are capable of.
So, I'll be a terf. I'd never have defined myself that way nor thought the standout element of my feminism was that I see a difference between men and women. Or that those differences are still there, no matter what he says about himself or how truly honest he is being.
I thought that was basic.
***
"Terfs named themselves" is a star of the TRA constellation, a network of supposedly factual points which in fact are shibboleths and fables, strung together with the imaginative craft of a spider on acid.
In examining this hackneyed canard, and then delving further into Smythe's article, I concluded the matter needs the piñata treatment. So here goes.
(Just, don't eat anything that falls out of it. This piñata is full of shit).
The word that became the sparkly, must-use slur all the beardy-bros, Not-Like-Other-Girls™ and idiot support club cherish, could have been, and I once assumed was, ergonomically designed in erasing the humanity of targeted women. But, apparently this was mere serendipitous luck.
It's also worth noting that there's a reason certain words, like for example, 'handicap' fall from favour, and that The Spastics Society became Scope. That is; the usage makes the slur.
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And it is targeted, derogatory and isolates a specific group of women (new attempts to use it against men noted, and dismissed as a late-in-the-game, expedient PR maneuver to de-venom the overt woman-hate). It accompanies threats. It degrades and dismisses. Not to mention the mask it confers to the toxic misogyny of men ordering women to suck their cocks.
...
That might be the point you will leave, but I think Smythe's article is a good example of a loud, flashy, liberal feminism which talks passionately, which praises and condemns assertively, but does little but increase hostility towards women who actually pursue feminist ideals.
Liberal feminism
Literal femicide
Emma Watson, for me, is the epitome of liberal feminism. She appears in professionally shot and stylised photos, flexing puny biceps, pouting, posing, boasting vague slogans on Twitter where she plies her popular, jingly hashtag politics.
From her accent you can tell she's been well educated, however I can't say she comes over as anything but vapid and banal. She doesn't seem to have anything to contribute, and certainly anyone who was supporting Mermaids only two years ago is either stupid or dangerous or both.
When the moment to show bravery or loyalty came, she spewed clunky platitudes and turned her back for the obvious, easy, middle of the road for-men-ism. She affects a shocked "oh my gosh, of course!" when asked if bathroom access is extended to Paris Lees, but she has her own body guard for day to day life.
For all the posing, liberal feminism doesn't get far before collapsing into an un-sisterly one-upmanship and martyrdom of wet-nursing The Vulnerable™.
And, The Vulnerable™ doesn't tend to include many, actual, women. They are often too messy, maybe ungrateful.
Liberal feminism eschews the horrors, happily subverts itself and snipes at those with less fashionable politics. It's a girl's night out, a social gathering. Girl Power.
It has obvious appeal for the young, and I don't want to get caught up in blaming the young for doing what they have always being prone to do - to merge with the peer group and path of least resistance, especially when it's mis-advertised as edgy. But because of its utility to all manner of causes, from the benign to the nefarious, LibFem-ism is a hugely successful brand that's spread far beyond the "I'm grown up and caring - and I, like, totes love being an adult, with the sex and all that" Loose Women-style tedium (an unforgivably shite daytime show in the UK).
It says progressive, it fronts body positivity ads where all body hair is shaved and a cellulite-free, possibly-size 14 arse jiggles at the camera. "Be a devil" it whispers "eat that cake! Just remember to eat less and move around more tomorrow".
It chants and marches, attends the slut walk, but shuts the fuck up when strip clubs are criticised (unless to offer 'solidarity' to the dancers, like any decent pet communist assets). It wears pussyhats and then apologises for an 'essentialism' it doesn't even understand. It even, like no generation before, gets a vast swathe of young men animated. And that, perhaps, should worry you.
Most of all it rallies around trans activist's talking points, the weight and validity of their claims forming barely a cluster of vague points. The rest must be built discursively with legends and fear-mongering, associations and suggestion. And by god that's been successful.
A case in point: below is a famous character of huge bravery and legendary exploits:
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You may be wondering "what the fuck it that?"
It could be a maimed, one eyed crab, or an angular sperm crawling up an invisible wall with a zimmer frame.
Once I tell you, though, you'll almost hear the nattering twats whisper to each other, swearing they saw it too. They "just won't be able to un-see it now..."
Because when you turn it upside down, those handful of stars become Pegasus, the winged stallion of Greek mythology.
Beautiful, isn't he? And though this is just a few stars, forming a wonky box and three barely articulated tassels, he is a mythological beast known for millenia.
There actually aren't any wings, though. Or, in fact, hind legs. Or a tail, or a back. And, somehow, an entire horse's head had been constructed from two stars.
That is trans activism. Their narrative builds something incredible from a handful of unrelated points, linked by nothing but imagination, legend and a grand, ornate vision superimposed over the top.
"Terfs named themselves" is a star of the TRA constellation, a network of supposedly factual claims which in fact are shibboleths, taboos and fables, webbed together with the imaginative craft of a spider on acid.
In addition, there's plenty of stars not included. There's going to be a reason for that, but it's better not to ask why.
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