TERF

TERF (tɜːrf) is an acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist. First recorded in 2008, the term was originally used to distinguish transgender-inclusive feminists from a group of radical feminists and social conservatives who reject the assertion that trans women are women, including trans women in women's spaces, and transgender rights legislation. Trans-inclusive feminists who support transfeminism assert that these ideas and positions are transphobic and discriminatory towards transgender people. The use of the term TERF has since broadened to include reference to people with trans-exclusionary views who are not necessarily involved with radical feminism. Though TERF was created to be a "deliberately technically neutral description", the term is now typically considered derogatory or disparaging. People labeled TERFs often reject the label, instead describing their beliefs as gender critical. In academic discourse, there is no clear consensus on whether TERF constitutes a slur. Critics of the label have said that it is used alongside insulting or abusive rhetoric while other academics have argued that this alone does not make it a slur. Trans-inclusive cisgender radical feminist blogger Viv Smythe has been credited with creating and popularizing the term in 2008 as an online shorthand. Smythe coined the term in a blog post she wrote reacting to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's policy of denying admittance to trans women. She wrote that she rejected the alignment of all radical feminists with "trans-exclusionary radfem (TERF) activists". It was used to describe a minority of feminists who espouse sentiments that other feminists consider transphobic, including the rejection of the view - predominant in feminist organizations - that trans women are women, opposition to transgender rights, and the exclusion of trans women in women's spaces and organizations. In a 2014 interview with Cristan Williams of The TransAdvocate blog, Smytheusing her net-pseudonym "TigTog"said: Smythe initially used TERF to refer to a particular type of feminist whom she characterized as "unwilling to recognise trans women as sisters".