Yesterday, a small group of TERF women hijacked the front of London’s Pride parade and, completely unchallenged, led the march all the way to Trafalgar Square while handing out extremely transphobic leaflets.
Can you imagine feeling so damn insecure in your own identity that your highest priority for a day of LGBTQIA Pride is to be hateful towards the most marginalized group within the LGBTQIA community?
Dafuq kinda team spirit pride is that?
Spoiler Alert: it ain’t.
I remember last year, my pastor spoke on the idea of how, even within a marginalized groups, there still remains a pecking order of status and credibility. He referred to it as “tribalism”, which for me, has a bitter, anti-indigenous aftertaste. Personally, I’m more comfy calling it “sectarianism“, which is low-key ironic since the term is typically applied in religious settings.
Earlier today, a friend, who prefers to remain anonymous, did the emotional labor of elaborating on the terms and tactics of TERFs. I knew some of it, but not enough. Now I’m equal parts grateful and disgusted.
Please note that her phrasing, interpretation, and understanding are hers; feel free to discard, embrace, expand, or evolve her definitions as desired. Also? If after reading this, you find yourself at least 2.5 ounces smarter about a marginalization you’re lucky enough to avoid in your day-to-day life, please consider making a donation of gratitude to the National Center for Transgender Equality.
In light of recent events, I wanted to make a list of terms and tactics used by anti-trans hate groups, such as but not limited to TERFs (Trans-Exclusive Radical Feminists), to help my trans friends and allies navigate discussions.
TERMS
Dog Whistles – coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different, or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup.
* TIM & TIF aka Trans Identified Man/Male or Woman = Trans Woman & Trans Men
* Gender Critical = Self-imposed ‘politically correct’ term for TERF
* TRA or Trans Rights Activist = Trans Person
* Peak Trans – Moment that made a TERF dislike the Trans Community, sometimes used to describe a trans person’s action
* Trans Politics = Trans Acceptance
* Womyn = Woman/Women
* AFAB Trans Woman = Assigned Female At Birth Transgender Woman troll label
* Harmful Drugs = HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) or Puberty Blockers
* Unnecessary Medical Practices – Transitioning
* Conversion Therapy & Enforced Bisexuality = Cis Lesbians dating Trans Lesbians
* Queer = Anti-Lesbian
* Lesbian/Women Erasure = Trans acceptance
* Rape Culture = Cis-lesbians having sex with trans lesbians
* Autogynephilia = Pseudo-science term that attempts to invalidate trans lesbians as a fetishist
* Safety, Privacy, & Biological Sex when used to describe bathrooms are politically charged buzzwords.
* Concern Troll = Anti-trans person who tries to express hatred under the guise of being concerned or helpfulRETRIED OR UNCOMMON TERMINOLOGY
SCAM = Surgically & Chemically Altered Males
MTT/FTT = Male/Female To Trans an alternative to MTF/FTM (Male to Female, Female to Male)
Tranny & Shemale = Common porn terminology that is used as a slur against trans woman.
Traps = Traps is an internet culture originally meaning crossdressing male who passes as a female. Over time it has become synonymous with a passive trans woman and fetishized. It’s very commonly asked at panels with a trans woman, “if traps make you gay”.Additionally, man anti-trans groups will try and mislabel Cis or Cisgender as a slur when it simply means “same” or “same gender” the opposite of cisgender. This is also true with TERF which is descriptive of beliefs and not slight against a group.
TACTICS
Anti-Trans groups specifically TERFs will always attempt to create a narrative that transgender people, particularly trans women, are violent, rapist, criminalistic, and deceptive. You see this most common with the bathroom politics where they describe trans women as a rapist in dresses.
Another narrative is that violence is only performed by the male population, to the point that when a female terrorist does form, they will immediately suspect her as being transgender to fit their narrative. This can be seen in the Youtube Headquarters shooting when the shooter wasn’t a white-het-male but a female-person of color.
TERFs will attempt to make some words synonymous with each other in people’s mind; particularly;
TERF = Lesbian
Transgender = Misogyny
Gender = Sex
Queer & LGBT = Anti Lesbian & Pro-Trans PropagandaCommonly they will use the wrong pronouns, genders, and dead names to upset a trans person. Their entire game is to get trans people to respond violently so that they can have evidence that they are victims. Additionally, if you block them they will also document that as you not being reasonable and unwilling to discuss and be equal.
There’s a tactic known as “concern trolling” which is where someone who is clearly against transgender people try and use a concerned tone to upset or dissuade people. This is usually using outdated statistics, terms, or studies or blowing out of proportion statistics. For example;
“Transgender people are at a high risk of suicide/ ___% of Trans people kill themselves”
“Trans people almost always regret their transition!” (1% Do, 99% Don’t.)
“We don’t know the effects of puberty blockers and HRT will have on people!”
“Trans people are damaging perfectly healthy bodies”
“Being transgender is a mental illness.”Because of Pride there have been a lot of debates and attempts to remove the history of some of the prominent members of the Stonewall Uprising from history, particularly Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera trans women of color. TERFS will cite Storme DeLarverie as the sole individual reason for the StoneWall Uprising as she was a butch-lesbian and fits better with their narrative.
TERF will reduce womanhood to oppression, genitals, periods, pregnancy and childbirth.
TERF’s will commonly state that they can always tell who is trans and cis on site, will use images of crossdressers, comedy bits, and non-gender conforming people as an example of how a trans woman could never assimilate into cis-passing life. Hypocritically will use gender stereotypes depending to help their case but demonize trans people for doing the same as it’s now a performance.
Non-TERF anti-trans individuals will create “joke” media about trans people that perpetuate falsehood but if negative feedback is stated their response was “it’s clearly a joke”. It’s media that ignorant people can learn a misconception and it has an “iron-clad” defense of “if you go against it you’re just feeding the trolls” and you are now incorrect one going up against a joke.
COMMON HASHTAGS
#GetTheLOut – Current England-based TERF tag used to encourage lesbians from no longer using LGBTQ+ or queer and become its own movement. This hashtag was used for the 2018 Pride in London Parade protest which resulted in London Pride allowing a group of anti-trans lesbians leading the parade with anti-trans signs and flyers.
#ManFriday – Primarily England-based tag where Feminist Women accept male privilege by claiming to men exclusively on Friday’s to protest trans women from using women’s bathroom, locker rooms, etc. They document and post in this hashtag selfies of themselves in men’s bathrooms, reciting the confused store clerks, and sending their male partners in women’s bathrooms.
#PeakTrans – Originally a TERF hashtag to rant and vent about trans women, but has recently been reclaimed by trans women documenting moments of happiness or turning points in which their life got better through the transition.
Thank you again to my marvelous anonymous friend for all of the hard work. May it help all of us use whatever privilege we have to call out transphobic asshattery and make room for the marginalized to have a voice in this discussion.
And may the women who perpetuated this re-centering temper tantrum eat toenail clippings for breakfast.
Go team.
