I see a lot of people say things like “TERFs aren’t real feminists” or “We should call TERFs something besides feminists,” and I understand where this viewpoint comes from, but as a transfeminine person, I honestly don’t like this approach.

I feel like when people utilize this approach, they’re trying to see TERFs as a problem from the outside rather than a problem within. We cannot build a better, more inclusive, and more intersectional flavor of feminism if we assume that problematic tendencies such as transphobia are inherently beyond feminist thought.

Is TERF ideology flawed and misguided? Absolutely, 100%. Is it not feminist? On some level, I see why some would say it isn’t, but at the very least, it’s in the name of feminism. Although TERFs are incredibly sus with their hyperfocus on trans people, especially transfeminine people, and very minimal focus on actually advocating for women’s rights, TERFs are not exactly stemming their transphobia from a viewpoint that conservative Christians, for instance, might stem their transphobia. Their viewpoint is tied to a certain interpretation of feminism, even if that interpretation sucks major doodoo ass.

We have to remember that even mainstream, liberal feminists are not exempt from some problems that TERFs embody. These kinds of feminists can often have transphobic and bioessentialist ideas as well. The difference? They are often more implicit and mask-on with these problematic tendencies. If they’re not outright transphobic in their thinking, they, at the very least, tend to be very erasing of trans struggles, as they usually are with all other kinds of intersectionality. Their major issue with failing to grasp intersectionality is painfully obvious with how much they focus on white cishet women, failing to demonstrate that they don’t even have a single place in their mind concerned about black women, trans women, and other more marginalized groups of women. I see these feminists as a problem obviously (because libs suck), but I certainly wouldn’t say they’re not feminists.

I’m functionally at a point where I can only trust feminists that are truly intersectional and communists, but unfortunately, I wouldn’t say that outlook comprises most self-identified feminists. However, I wouldn’t say that any feminist that deviates from the most helpful outlook on patriarchy isn’t a feminist. They’re just, in some way, a failed one in desperate need of education.

  • Angel [any]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
    2·
    5 months ago

    And this is what gender abolitionists like myself believe in, hence my comment here tying in perfectly, the one starting with “I honestly hold it to be a semantic argument…” These semantic discrepancies are what got me to reject the notion of gender abolitionism initially. I don’t base my view of the existence of trans people off of conditioning like you mentioned, and that isn’t an inherent part of proper gender abolitionist views. Any gender abolitionist with a proper grasp on how gender works in this society will not see it that way, but the same can’t be said for TERFs. TERFs don’t often manifest this kind of thinking because they try to have bioessentialism and gender abolition co-exist, which is just nonsensical on their part. I was exactly thinking the same way as you before I understood these things, so I understand where you’re coming from for sure. This knowledge may not do the same for everyone, but in my personal experience, I found so much more comfort, peace, and liberation in my gender (or lack thereof) once these realizations hit.