Essay on TERFism: The Forgotten (almost) Terrorism
Essay on TERFism: The Forgotten (almost) Terrorism
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Cw: Nazis, Fascism, TERFS, Rape, Forced Pregnancy
TERFS (or trans exclusionary radical feminists) are terrorist-like. They are, however, state sanctioned, which is a big problem for those of us who are trans and living in countries which promote TERFism as a convenient way to ‘support the feminists’ while beating down trans people.
How are these TERFS terrorist-like? The answer to that question lies in what terrorism is and how right-wing white terrorism in particular is overlooked.
Terrorism, broadly speaking, is any act, movement or ideology that seeks to achieve its goals through the use of violence and fear. But the narrow definition is increasingly hard to pin down. In Root Causes of Terrorism (2004) terrorism is defined as “a set of methods or strategies of combat rather than an identifiable ideology or movement, and that terrorism involves premeditated use of violence against (at least primarily) non-combatants in order to achieve a psychological effect of fear on others than the immediate targets”[1].
So, how do TERFS fit into this? To consider TERFS’ psychological violence in the same vein as physical violence would be a stretch, granted. But we don’t have to. TERFS have committed acts of physical violence towards the transgender community that have their roots in the same right wing violence commonly enacted by incels and fascists. In 2018 and 2019 London Pride and Manchester Pride respectively, were interrupted by a group calling themselves “Get the L Out”[2][6], which refers to the lesbian separatist movements which orginated in mid-1980s second wave feminism. This group and many others like it are borne from a very similar mindset as inceldom is- stemming from a perceived inferiority that develops into a bigotry when directed towards or compared to a group that they are not a part of. For TERFS it’s trans people- they perceive us to be evil trans men stealing all of the lesbians by transitioning, or the evil trans women who are appropriating lesbianism by identifying as such- as a result, bigoted lesbians fall prey to TERFism after coming to the false conclusion that trans people being successful is a threat somehow. Incels do the same, but instead they perceive that they have an inferiority to women due to the fact they cannot get a partner and begin to come to the false conclusion women are a threat to them. And thus fall into inceldom. It’s not surprising to hear that both incels and TERFs both end up becoming affiliated with alt-right fascist movements- and yes, that includes acts of right wing terror.
TERFS go about their terrorism in a few specfic ways which bear startling resemblances to fascist methods of subjgating people that they despise. TERFS, or their forerunners, have been involved in fascist movements since the start of the 20th Century, Take French nazi Violette Morris for example, or Rotha Lintorn-Orman, founder of the UK’s first fascist party, or Mary Sophia Allen who met with Hitler and Mussolini on introducing women police officers and later joined the BUF (British Union of Fascists) [3]. All were militant suffragettes who turned their love of women’s rights into a hateful ideology that fair and inclusive feminism does not condone. Many more examples exist, such as Mary Richardson, who destroyed the Rokeby Venus painting (not like fascists to destroy art is it? /s) in an act of sex-negativity that would come to define much of second wave feminism- both in regards to sex workers and trans people.
TERFS spend a lot of their time dedicated to eradicating trans people. Which is, whichever way you look at it, a little bit fashy. The ways in which they do this might not be so obvious, but they are in no doubt, insidious and impactful on the trans community as a whole. Eugenics is a particularly nasty method attempted and encouraged by TERFS to eradicate trans people[4]. Citing TERF Abigail Shrier’s transphobic book Irreversible Damage one fascist wrote on a right-wing blog about trans men that “we need these wombs” and “What they are doing with this tranny thing is taking [afab people] out of the game”. This is a kind of eugenics that seeks to eradicate trans men not by killing us outright, but by forcing trans men to become pregnant- which would force these trans men to be feminised by the process of being pregnant- never mind that they would also have been raped beforehand for this to have happened. Other TERFs advocate for the forced sterilisation of trans women and other trans people seeking to transition, a practice which was a requirement to transition in Sweden as recently as 2013 [5]. Trans people do not create other trans people, least not when they have children- but the removal of a perceived ‘defect’ in trans people (their transness) from the gene pool reflects a deeply flawed and deeply troubling philosophy that is wrapped up more in dragging down trans people than it is in women’s rights.
Sources and Further Reading:
Bjorgo, Tore, Root Causes of Terrorism, Routledge, 2004
https://asaseresin.com/2021/02/11/lesbian-fascism-on-terf-island/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-transgender-sterilisation-idUSKBN16Y1XA
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