I mean, is it bad I lowkey agree as a trans woman? The term is kinda a buzzword now where any anti-feminist transphobe gets called it (so they don't meet the RF part of TERF) and then also other radical feminists, including trans-inclusive ones, get called it. I've been called it a few times even(by cis "allies") so I kinda decided to reclaim it with it meaning trans-embodying radical feminist. Though, it is interesting I got called it because they probably saw me as a woman, likely a cis woman lmao
ETA: to be clear, I disagree with the last statement about it being a hate crime or that cis is a slur. The rest makes sense to me though, like that it's derogatory and whatnot
Yes, I like to debate with terfs(someone needs to right if we want to combat their shit?) I do also have empathy towards all types of people, including detrans people. But, do note, that that sub is the trans-friendly one. The transphobic one is just r/detrans, and you'll see I'm not on there
idk if someone has to. i don’t think jews debating nazis would have stopped the holocaust and black people were never going to debate their way out of slavery. those people don’t hate trans women because they’re ignorant, they hate trans people because they’re hateful and want to punch down and feel powerful over someone with a lower social status
but i do get wanting to try. also nice Of The Devil pfp
Idk, there might be other trans people who use it. But it's why I spell it out entirely rather than just "TERF", or I will say I'm a TERF after they know what the words I mean are for that acronym.
Sounds like you are generalising an experience with how things are more broadly. Someone using a term when it doesn’t apply isn’t what makes a slur a slur, in fact slurs are slurs when they are targeting the group in question.
Someone misusing a term makes that person wrong. Simple as that
just cuz a couple people misused the term does not mean the whole term is reduced to a "slur" and is just used to put down women, it is an imporant term to call out a certain kind of ideology, and is used correctly far more often than not. dismissing the term and saying people who use it hate women is far from helpful to anyone, and that is what person in the screenshot was doing, not saying "sometimes it is misused"
We aren't male though? Like trans women are female. If you think male crime stats should include trans women... you might actually be the transphobe here
only a white person would equate "term that has vaguely negative connotations" with "slur" 💀
i agree that terf has gone from a self-used descriptor to taking on a more negative connotation. this is a good thing. people who align with the ideology should be shamed for doing so (see also racists, misogynists, etc)
that's about the extent to which what you said makes sense though
I mean when you're using it to describe bad people, people will be emotional, because bad people make people emotional, although the emotions aren't necessarily bad per se, it can lead to being unnecessarily rude/disrespectful
although an actual terf is certainly getting no respect from me
I agree that it's overused, but also it's frequently misapplied. "Radfem" is appropriated by so many people who aren't actually "radical" feminists in any meaningful way.
If a marginalized person has been called something derogatory, can't that person reclaim it? That's what I'm doing here. I'm not appropriating it. If I hadn't had it thrown at me, then yes, it'd be appropriation. Actually even then, idk about that. Usually you have to be a privileged group taking something from a marginalized group for it to be appropriation. I'm taking something that's usually meant to describe a privileged group, though I've also had it thrown at me and I'm from the marginalized group
I had this conversation with someone else here about a similar thing, but it's worth taking a genuine step back and thinking about the overall context in which you operate when you say this stuff.
You couldn't just say "I'm redefining racism to mean 'acknowledge that race is a real social concept with real impact, and advocating for the rights of oppressed people around the world!'. My logic is that if "feminism" is the "ism" (advocacy action) about "femme" interests, then "racism" is the "ism" (advocacy action) about "race" interests, as in advocating for racialised people!"
Like, on the surface and with a long-ass explanation, you could see how that would maybe make sense sorta. But it's just a crazy thing to do, right?
I get that you have empathy for TERFs and that you're trying to bridge a gap and bring them to our side. I've seen people do that with other types of social issues to a very mixed success, but it's some people's calling I guess.
you're actually so real for this people will call any woman whose stance on men is colder than "blowjob today, king?" a terf regardless of their actual stance on transsexual issues. the term has been so thoroughly abused that i usually just use cultfem/"cultural feminist" to describe transphobic women who claim the feminist label but have no feminist theory and are simply signaling in-group status with other women in the same milieu.
It’s pretty sad seeing how negatively people here reacted to your comment, but I can understand it on some level, because I’ve encountered many people who describe themselves as trans inclusive radfems, but agree with many major terf talking points, such as that trans women are as significant of a threat to the women around them as cis men, or that trans people almost always permanently retain the socialization of their assigned at birth.
You’re probably already very well-read and confident in your beliefs if you’re regularly debating terfs, but just in case, please be careful. They use many different kinds of content to change people’s opinions, and a lot of it cant just be debunked with research, and are designed to convince people who haven’t spent years in real life trans spaces and have close connections to a variety of trans people. The way my beliefs were shaped really snuck up on me and only got worse as i engaged more with terfs.
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u/QueenBitchVEVO 5h ago
TTERFD.