What is TERF and Why Is It Rising in Prominence?

TERF is an acronym that stands for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminism, a political movement primarily made up of self-identified radical feminists who oppose the recognition and inclusion of transgender people in the feminist movement. Despite being a small subset within the larger radical feminist movement, these groups have been garnering more mainstream attention in recent years as they attempt to push their views on the larger feminist movement.

What is TERF’s Argument?

At its core, TERF philosophy is based on the idea that the women’s rights and liberation movement should prioritize the needs of “women-born-women”, who they refer to as “real” women, over the needs of transgender women. Rather than treating transgender and cisgender women equally, TERFs believe that cisgender women and transgender women are fundamentally different, and that transgender women are not and cannot be fully “women”. TERFs express this belief through various theories, such as the narrative that transgender women co-opt women’s spaces and that they have experienced different oppression than cisgender women, and therefore should not be included in the same conversation.

What are the Implications of TERF Discourse?

TERFs have had a number of negative impacts on the feminist movement by creating a hostile environment for transgender women. The insistence that transgender women should not be included in the movement has had the effect of excluding them, leaving them without a cohesive political community and leaving them vulnerable to harassment, discrimination, and violence.

In addition, TERF’s embrace of trans-exclusionary language and theories, has had the unintended consequence of undermining the rights of all women, both cisgender and transgender, by diluting the power of what feminists stand for, as collectively, when women are all excluded, the power and importance of the women’s rights movement diminishes.

Ultimately, while TERFs may constitute a small subset of the larger feminist movement, their beliefs and the implications of their discourse should not be dismissed. The rise of TERF discourse has caused serious harm to the transgender community, and their insistence on the “othering” of transgender women serves only to weaken the movement’s goals as a whole.