| Brittany Munoz |
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What I try to express in my work is the vast array of differences that exist in the lives that reside outside myself. We often forget that we live in a system where we are not given the luxury of thinking outside of ourselves and from that we begin to forget and give no admission to the concerns and oppressions of others. It is the breaking of the boundaries of the mind, where I want to further explore the needs of the individual while recognizing the need for social harmony.
What I want to hear is different voices. I want to know that there is never one way of thinking or looking at things. This is the space I have created where I can share my thoughts and I want you to share back. |
While there is no clear evidence of who the original creator of the word was, some of the credit goes to cis woman radical feminist, Viv Smythe, who popularized the term terf in her blog entries in the summer of 2008 during a blogging carnival (Cristan, 2014). The term stands for an acronym meaning, Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. Smythe, more commonly known as blogger TigTog, began to use the word to indicate and create a division among those who were trans positive radical feminists and those who were more trans exclusionary. Those that were referred to as terfs were identified as such because they recycled misogynistic and conservative views that enforced the gender binary. From there, the word gained traction on social media sites, such as Twitter and Tumblr, which were used as a way to call out the words and actions of trans exclusionary feminists.
Many radical feminists view the word as a slur and did not appreciate every radical feminist being automatically labeled as a terf by other feminists. Other feminists and groups took on the term as their own, such as the Gender Identity Watch. The GIW is a well known hate group, famous for monitoring state legislations and court laws in order to ensure that those who are transgender do not receive certain rights, like health care, because trans women were dmab (designated male at birth), seen as “men in disguise”, so they can never correlate with women’s suffering and therefore do not belong in women’s spaces (Williams, 2014).
An extension of the word would be twerf which represents the acronym for Trans Women Exclusionary Radical Feminist. This is different from the word terf, with many radical feminists adopting a womanist perspective, which centers on the idea that the needs of trans women are irrelevant to feminism because trans women are still men (Mckenna & Kessler, n.d.). Those who are identified as twerfs seem to have no problem including trans men, agender, or other non-binary people into their women-only spaces because trans men and others can have possession of female genitals or can claim to have lived the life of a woman and have the right to speak in women-only spaces, while trans women are shunned and turned away by some cis women for a multitude of reasons.
Some of the reasons that cis women often use for ostracizing trans women from women's spaces were that trans women are not biologically female so do not count as real women, that trans women are socialized as male so they experience male privilege, trans women are misogynistic and predatory, trans women experience less violence and discrimination , trans women cannot have female brains as they sometimes claim to have because there is no such thing, and trans women are simply not legitimate women with legitimate women's experiences (Thom, 2015).
Cis women feminists were not the only ones labelled as twerfs. There has also been the presence of trans women who have also believed that trans women did not belong in women’s spaces and had a strong presence in lobbying and rallying in order to ensure that trans women did not get the same rights as cis women, often taking the political stance of Transexual Seperatist. While no longer identifying as a part of this group, an example of this would be Dana Taylor who was well known for teaming up with Cathy Brennan for removing trans protections in the United States. While the recent use and popularization of the term, TWERF, is new and currently not widely used, it has caused the feminist community to further investigate and further contribute to the conversation of gendered spaces.
For Further Information:
Cristan, W. (2014, March 15). TERF: What it means and where it came from. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://www.transadvocate.com/terf-what-it-means-and-where-it-came-from_n_13066.htm
Mckenna, W., & Kessler, S. (n.d.). Transgendering: Blurring the Boundaries of Gender. Handbook of Gender and Women's Studies, 342-355.
Thom, K. (2015, October 4). Still Think Trans Women Have Male Privilege? These 7 Points Prove They Don't. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://everydayfeminism.com/2015/10/trans-women-male-privilege/
Williams, C. (2014, February 12). Full SFGN Interview: 'I am not a bigot' Says Gender Identity Watch's Cathy Brennan. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://www.transadvocate.com/full-sfgn-interview-i-am-not-a-bigot-says-gender-identity-watchs-cathy-brennan_n_12360.htm#sthash.LCZ2FdfC.dpuf