But what is a TERF? I want to clear up some misconceptions about what the term means and about who we actually are as a political movement.
It is not entirely clear when the term was first coined, but it originally stood for “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.” A more accurate characterization would be “male-exclusionary radical feminist,” since the only category of people we seek to exclude from sex-based spaces, such as restrooms and prisons and sports teams, are men. Many women who are targeted with the term (which is often accompanied by threats of rape and torturous death — just ask author J.K. Rowling) take offense at it. But others have embraced it, arguing that it stands for “tired of explaining reality to f***wits.”
In recent years, gender ideologues have expanded the TERF label to apply to anyone who understands that biological sex is grounded in material reality. This is inaccurate, too, because many people who understand this truth are not radical feminists. Some are conservatives. Some are centrist leftists. In fact, most people understand that sex is grounded in reality, but they’re not necessarily radical feminists.
Finally, it is common to characterize TERFs as being essentially conservative or “right-wing reactionaries.” This is not accurate either. Radical feminists come from the Left and typically have very traditional liberal values. Most radical feminists are either Democrats or Greens, or they have become independents in the past few years because they are tired of the Democratic Party’s embrace of “gender identity” (among other things). I know of no radical feminists who are Republicans and of no Republicans who claim to be radical feminists.
So, what are we, exactly? In short, a TERF is a radical feminist leftist who recognizes the material reality of sex.
The prevailing narrative is that being “pro-trans” or “trans-inclusive” is a leftist position. But it’s not. All of “gender identity” and “transgender” issues are an embrace of politically regressive, sexist, homophobic stereotypes. It is the most politically regressive idea the Democrats have embraced in my lifetime. TERFs see right through all of it.
TERFs are committed political leftists dedicated to protecting the rights, privacy, and safety of women and girls, and we aren’t going anywhere. In fact, we’re just getting started.
Source: What is a TERF, and why does it matter in today’s political climate?
I have called myself for more than 50 years a radical feminist and it always meant that my position is based on the reality of two sexes, of which the male sex is the norm of humanity in a culture, which could be called phallogocentric. This feminist position is for me not necessarily including the issue of ‘sexualities’ and particularly not gay sexuality, because ‘sexuality’ does not contain the biological differences of the sexes, since it identifies as the political position ‘sexuality’, ie. which sexual practices we identify with. In particular gay sexuality (however much I support and identify as a lesbian and have nice males as gay friends) does not include the basis of women’s oppression, ie. the erasure of the female sex as one of the human norms of the species, in favour of the male sex of the social/political norm. I believe this is a better normative understanding of our western and non-western cultures, a than one based on sexual practices (ie. who we ‘fuck’), which has nothing to do with the position of the female sex, where the biological reproductive is the basis of of the female sex, and therefore as not being any sex at all for a male norm! The phallocentric comparison is that of clitoris vav penis, and as Adrienne Rich remarked that is a male yardstick, not the female, which mainly is incorporal and reproductively defined.