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.
I honestly hold it to be a semantic argument. It depends on how you define “social constructionism” and how that definition relates to trans experiences. TERFs oftentimes do define gender being a social construct in a way that does invalidate trans experiences, but I don’t think gender abolitionism has to, in all interpretations, be at odds with trans experiences being valid. Quite frankly, I’d argue the contrary, especially since The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto liberated my mind on gender which liberated the way I handle my own sense of gender.
Yeah exactly, I learned about gender and sex abolition from transgender feminists. I’m curious what Serano is talking about though so I’ll acquire that book sooner rather than later.
There are some trans people who effectively argue that “If you assert that gender and sex are socially constructed and can be abolished, you’re basically saying that my transness/dysphoria isn’t real when it feels very real,” and that interpretation leads to quite a lot of trans people opposing this abolitionist viewpoint. I know because I used to be one of them, even though I am non-binary. The Gender Accelerationist Manifesto cured my ignorance there. I only learned to properly understand what gender abolition is about after reading that, so I don’t fault trans people who don’t have as coherent of an understanding of such a position.
The issue with feminism is that all the terms have so many different meanings