TERF: what it means and where it came from
Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERF) are quick to make fact assertions about the term, TERF. According to TERFs, the term is a slur and use […]
Why this article may matter
Community significance
This article may be important to community memory because it documents experiences, arguments, or organizing connected to feminism and gender politics and makes that material easier to locate alongside related records.
Historical significance
This record may have historical value because it preserves or interprets source material concerning feminism and gender politics and situates it within a chronology, archive, or first-person account.
Policy significance
No dominant policy frame was detected automatically. Editors can add a policy significance note when the article has institutional or regulatory implications not captured by the local analysis.
Themes and framings
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Themes
Academic framing
Editorial function
Source topics
How “Feminism and gender politics” appears across the Collective corpus
This article appeared 1 year(s) after the theme’s highest annual presence in the registered corpus in 2013.
Relative presence by year
Peak year indexed to 100Presence by member publication
- Transadvocate.com178
- The TERFs97
- Cristan’s Research3
Frequently co-occurring concepts
- Transgender identity and history178
- Community and organizing132
- Violence, safety, and dehumanization90
- Media, rhetoric, and discourse79
- Culture, identity, and representation63
- Law and civil rights61
- Education and youth46
- History, archives, and memory45
- Healthcare and medicine41
- Science, evidence, and expertise35
Academic framings in this topic
- Interpretive analysis128
- Historical analysis78
- Critical theory55
- Media and discourse analysis50
- Clinical and medical analysis45
- Psychological analysis45
- Qualitative and interview research22
- Ethical analysis20
Policy framings in this topic
- Public accommodations and facilities40
- Civil rights and anti-discrimination27
- Criminal justice and public safety22
- Research ethics and data governance14
- Housing and social services9
- Education policy8
- Labor and employment policy7
- Elections and democratic governance6
Values measure relative presence in the registered Collective corpus, not public search interest or public opinion.
Sources that reference this article
References over time
Available scholarly citations plus verified non-scholarly sourcesWhy I support #CancelNetflix. It’s not because Chapelle is offensive.
Next, Chappelle claimed that trans people created the term TERF. The fact is that cis people created the term. Chappelle claimed that he was labeled a TERF because trans people disagreed with him. What makes one a TERF isn’t merely disagreeing with a trans person; instead, what makes one a…
JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, announces that she is a TERF
TERF: Trans Exclusionary RadFem. A term used to identify those individuals who sympathize with and support a brand of so-called “radical feminism” that is so rooted in sex essentialism and its resulting biologism, it actively campaigns against the existence, equality, and/or inclusion of trans people. The term appears to have…
Are Misogynist, Homophobe, & TERF slurs?
By 2015, the “cis is a slur” campaign was dealt a critical blow when the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) added the term “cisgender” to its dictionary. Webster’s likewise announced the addition of the term to their dictionary in 2016. Since the 2015 OED addition, the “cis is a slur” campaign…
Is Sadism Popular With TERFs? A Chat With An Ex-Gendercrit
TERF: Trans Exclusionary #RadFem. A term used to identify those individuals who sympathize with and support a brand of “radical feminism” that is so rooted in sex essentialism and its resulting biologism, it actively campaigns against the existence, equality and/or inclusion of trans people. The term appears to have been…
Rowan Atkinson makes more sense than BBC’s “Woman’s Hour”
This article discusses the clash of ideology and lived experience as exemplified by a recent BBC radio program in the UK. This article uses the term Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) to distinguish between the trans-supportive Radical Feminism of Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon, The Olivia Collective or the West Coast…
Linda V. Shanko, AKA GenderTrender’s GallusMag
Additionally, an email was sent from a TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) who provided specific identifying information about Shanko. The email contained a private conversation between the TERF and Shanko which corroborates information from the anonymous doxxing.
An intersex perspective on the trans, intersex and TERF communities
Most trans folks are familiar with the label “TERF,” standing for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. This is the term used in most writing by trans people to refer to feminists who oppose the acceptance of trans women in feminist organizations, women-only “safe spaces,” and female facilities, and who fight against regulations,…
Intro to the ‘Sexing the Body is Gender’ Series
About a decade ago, the feminist community came up with the term Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist (TERF) as a way to halt the default colonization of Radical Feminism and feminism itself by TERFs (and this move by feminists is, of course, claimed to be incredibly insulting). Now, under a wave…
#TERFweek starts now!
#TERFWeek is about education and empowerment through naming a shared history of oppression, pain and suffering. It’s about openly grieving the lives lost to the TERF movement and talking about the suffering TERFs have inspired over the last 40 years within not only the trans community, but within the feminist,…
Glossary
Trans Exclusionary RadFem. A term used to identify those individuals who sympathize with and support a brand of so-called “radical feminism” that is so rooted in sex essentialism and its resulting biologism, it actively campaigns against the existence, equality, and/or inclusion of trans people. The term also refers to those…
You might be a TERF if…
Bonus: Pretend that the term “TERF” –popularized, in 2008 by a radical feminist-inclusive feminist community as a way of distinguishing between radical feminists from anti-trans bigots who label themselves “radical feminists”– was actually created by the trans community in order to slur feminism.
Coverage combines links inside the Collective corpus, verified Webmentions, curated sources, and DOI-based scholarly indexes when configured. It is not an exhaustive index of the public web.
Author profiles and related researchers
Related authors in the Collective corpus
Related authors are calculated from co-authorship, shared themes and framings, and citation relationships in the registered corpus. This does not imply a personal or institutional association.
Continue through the Collective
TERF: what it means and where it came from
Examines a closely shared theme in greater detail or with a more specialized framing.
Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERF) are quick to make fact assertions about the term, TERF. According to TERFs, the term is a slur and use… Continue readingTERF: what…
Full SFGN Interview: ‘I am not a bigot’ Says Gender Identity Watch’s Cathy Brennan
Approaches the shared subject through a related analytical or disciplinary frame.
Recently the South Florida Gay News interviewed me for an article on the TERFs, Cathy Brennan and her group, Gender Identity Watch: The Web is where […]
1973: West Coast TERFs
Offers a critical, contrasting, or corrective interpretation of the shared issue.
… perhaps the most consequential incident in the rising tide of hostility toward transgender people in the summer of 1973 was directed against transsexual lesbian singer… Continue reading1973:…
#TERFweek: Let’s not repeat our history
Supplies historical or archival context for the issue discussed here.
The following article was published in 1974. Note the way the overall public held anti-trans views in contempt. Note the dismissive way the author of this […]