TERF

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{{cquote|TERFs try to speak for feminism, but the feminist movement has already spoken. It stands with trans people.|||[[#How feminists resist TERFs|How feminists resist TERFs]]}}
[[File:TERF sticker.jpg|thumb|right|165px|TERF sticker]]
{{gender}}
'''TERF''' ideology ('''trans-exclusionary radical feminism'''), self-styled as "'''[[#Rebranding as "gender critical"|gender-critical]]'''" (GC), is a specific form of [[transphobia]]<ref>{{cite web
 |title=How to Spot TERF Ideology 2.0
 |url=https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/pageassets/resources/guides/spottingterfideology/How-to-Spot-TERF-Ideology-2.0-2.pdf
 |publisher=Cambridge SU Women's Campaign (Cambridge Students' Union)
 |date=2021–2022
 |format=PDF
}}</ref> with [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]], [[Populism|populist]], [[Fascism|fascist]], and [[Conspiracy theory|conspiratorial]] characteristics. It presents itself as [[feminism]] while aligning with [[far-right]] [[populism]] and targeting trans people, especially women. A type of {{wpl|Pseudo-feminism|pseudofeminism}}, it emerged from [[fringe]] anti-trans views on the margins of [[second-wave feminism]], rejects core feminist principles such as solidarity and intersectionality, and claims the legacy of [[radical feminism]]. At its core are [[Biological determinism|essentialist]] definitions of womanhood and efforts to police bodily autonomy, particularly that of trans people. In practice, the TERF movement draws from the [[#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|far-right playbook]]: presenting [[bigotry]] as "reasonable concern," exploiting populist fears, and weaponizing [[culture war]] narratives. TERFs are a key faction of the transnational [[anti-gender]] movement, a loose coalition of [[reactionary]], [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]], and populist actors opposing [[LGBT rights|LGBTQ+ rights]], feminism, {{wpl|gender studies}}, and so-called "[[gender ideology]]." A defining feature of the movement is its increasing {{wpl|radicalization}} and turn toward anti-democratic, conspiracist politics. {{wpl|UN Women}} described the anti-gender and "gender-critical" movements as extreme anti-[[rights]] movements that employ hate propaganda and disinformation.<ref name=unwomen/>

TERF ideology draws on manipulative populist rhetoric, portraying trans rights as threats to "ordinary women" in order to stoke [[moral panic]], grievance, and resentment. Such rhetoric reflects a collapse of {{w|empathy||,}} reducing trans people to threats rather than recognizing their humanity. This perspective falsely presents [[human rights]] as a [[zero sum game]] in which one group gaining rights would mean another necessarily loses theirs — an attempt to justify {{w|gender policing||,}} which betrays core feminist principles. As a result, it is one variant of divisive politics failing to innovate potential "win-win" alternative solutions between groups of people purported to be at conflict (in this case, women and gender-diverse people). Some tactics this form of divisive politics relies on include {{wpl|dehumanization||,}} "[[just asking questions]]" and appeals to so-called "[[#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|common sense]]," cloaking transphobia in a [[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|distorted imitation]] of feminist language. This rhetoric is often deeply [[Anti-intellectualism|anti-intellectual]], [[#Hostility to knowledge and expertise|rejecting academic consensus]], feminist scholarship, and expertise in gender studies in favor of reactionary slogans, [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] claims, [[Cherry picking|cherry-picked]] data, fringe sources, emotional manipulation, and misleading [[Anecdotal evidence|anecdotes]]. A common tactic is the use of [[pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] language: made-up legal claims that [[Style over substance|mimic human rights discourse]] to give transphobia a false sense of legitimacy. One example is "[[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," a slogan used to justify anti-trans policies while claiming that gender diversity "[[#Conspiracy theories, disinformation, and moral panics|erases women]]." They employ simplistic slogans like "[[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|adult human female]]," which reduce womanhood to anatomy and function as dog whistles for [[biological determinism|biological essentialism]]. TERFs are hostile to modern feminist movements, including [[Third wave feminism|third-wave]] and fourth-wave feminism, which center [[intersectionality]], stand with trans people, and reject biological essentialism. Because their views conflict so sharply with contemporary feminist values, mainstream feminist scholars and groups do not consider them part of the feminist movement, viewing their ideology instead as pseudofeminist transphobia rooted in [[transmisogyny]], the specific and obsessive hatred of trans women.

TERF networks function as an extremist hate movement. They coordinate {{wpl|harassment}} campaigns through [[doxxing]], [[trolling]], and targeted abuse, spread {{wpl|disinformation}}, and [[#Conspiracy theories, disinformation, and moral panics|promote conspiracy theories]] like "{{wpl|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory|groomer}}" rhetoric and claims that gender-affirming care is a "[[Big Pharma]]" scheme. Their efforts focus on erasing trans people from public life, often through attacks on [[#Attacks on healthcare access|trans healthcare]], [[#Attacks on education|education]], legal recognition, [[#Attacks on inclusive language|inclusive language]], manufactured panics over [[#Bathroom panic|bathroom and locker room access]], [[#Attacks on inclusive sports|trans participation in sports]], and the portrayal of [[#Trans people are not a debate|trans people as a "debate"]] rather than a marginalized group with basic rights. They work closely with the [[far right]]—including [[Trumpism|MAGA Republicans]] and [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]]—[[Fundamentalism|religious fundamentalists]], and other anti-LGBTQ+ groups, forming alliances that promote bigotry, fuel moral panic, and attack basic rights through coordinated bad-faith campaigns. Reactionary TERF messaging plays a central role in radicalizing people into authoritarian, anti-democratic, and anti-LGBTQ+ politics, and has increasingly been studied for its role in pathways to [[#Harassment, radicalization, and violent extremism|broader and violent extremist]] worldviews. The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] saw a sharp rise in online radicalization: isolation and instability pushed large amounts of people to adopt more antisocial attitudes,<ref>Aria Bendix (September 28, 2022). [https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/pandemic-altered-personalities-more-neurotic-less-agreeable-rcna49595 "Pandemic may have made young adults more neurotic and less agreeable, study finds"]. ''NBC''. {{quotebox|During the 2020 period, the responses were fairly consistent with those gathered before Covid emerged. But the researchers saw significant changes during the 2021-2022 period, suggesting that the collective stress of the pandemic affected people's dispositions over time. … [F]rom 2021 to 2022, adults ages 64 and under saw declines in extroversion, openness, agreeableness and conscientiousness.}}</ref> and conspiracy-driven online spaces were a place where transphobia acted as a low-barrier entry point into far-right ideology, [[#How TERF ideology is connected to racism and other bigotries|including racism]]. TERF ideology is predominantly associated with older generations, though its reach has expanded through radicalizing online spaces and populist media. A growing number of scholars describe TERF ideology as a [[#TERF ideology as a form of fascism|form of neofascism]], citing its fixation on social purity, [[Scapegoat|scapegoating]] of marginalized groups, authoritarian populism, rejection of pluralism, and alignment with [[White nationalism|white nationalist]] and ultra-conservative movements. Its role in {{wpl|democratic backsliding}} is increasingly recognized as both a symptom and tool of authoritarian politics.

Well-known TERF groups include [[Women's Declaration International]], [[FiLiA]], and their new umbrella groups, [[Women's Platform for Action International]] and the Orwellian-named "[[MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]]," with their parent group, the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]]. TERF activists include [[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]], a far-right provocateur, and [[J.K. Rowling]], whose platform has helped normalize transphobia and fuel a climate of hostility toward trans people. TERF ideology is [[#How media amplify TERF ideology|amplified]] through a feedback loop of sensationalist tabloids, far-right alternative media, and social media platforms that radicalize users through fear-driven narratives and disinformation. The term TERF originated in 2008 to describe this form of transphobia. Although some TERFs attack the label, this is [[#Why "TERF" is not a slur|a rhetorical tactic]] to deflect criticism and avoid accountability. In practice, many use the term themselves without hesitation, alongside euphemisms like "[[#Rebranding as "gender critical"|gender-critical]]" (GC). Whatever the label, TERF ideology inflicts real harm on trans people under the guise of feminism. Over 100 French feminist organizations called TERFism "a confusionist and conspiratorial ideological movement using the cover of feminism to disrupt real feminist fights."<ref name=liberation/> [[Judith Butler]] warned that TERFism is "a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and our responsibility is to [[#How feminists resist TERFs|refuse to let that happen]]."<ref name=Butler2020>{{cite news |title=Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in "anti-intellectual times" |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times |date=22 September 2020|work=New Statesman |archive-date=17 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220417111403/https://www.newstatesman.com/uncategorized/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times}}</ref>

== What are TERFs? ==
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<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
<li><b>TERF ideology started on the fringe — and grew through right-wing amplification.</b> Born in insular radical feminist circles, it gained reach as anti-trans media and politicians picked up its talking points to justify backlash and policy attacks.</li>
<li><b>TERF ideology dehumanizes trans people through a collapse of empathy.</b> It reduces them to threats instead of recognizing their dignity, lived experiences, or humanity.</li>
  <li><b>TERFs are a core part of the populist anti-gender movement.</b> They work alongside far-right, religious, and authoritarian groups to attack LGBTQ+ rights and roll back progress.</li>
  <li><b>TERF politics follow a fascist pattern.</b> From biological essentialism to moral panic and scapegoating, their worldview mirrors classic fascist strategies — using fear and purity politics to justify repression and erase vulnerable people from public life.</li>
<li><b>TERF ideology isn't feminism.</b> Real feminism is a universal commitment to equality and justice for all. TERFs reject that vision by targeting the vulnerable and fueling hate.</li>
</ul>
</div>

A trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) is someone who organizes or promotes anti-trans activism, particularly targeting trans women, while claiming to speak for feminism. Though often presented as a defense of "women's rights," TERF politics are defined by hostility to gender diversity and the rejection of trans people's legitimacy. At their core is the belief that womanhood is biologically fixed and that recognizing trans identities threatens women's safety or status. TERF ideology does not advance feminist goals; instead, it constructs a new, reactionary worldview that uses feminist-sounding language to justify the exclusion and marginalization of trans people. Increasingly, scholars describe TERFism as part of the global [[anti-gender]] movement, where it functions as a gateway to broader authoritarian and anti-LGBTQ+ politics.

TERF ideology is predominantly associated with older generations. The original wave of TERF activists often came from self-identified radical leftist circles, exemplifying a broader strain of leftists who turned right with age. Today, newer recruits are more likely to be drawn in through online radicalization and right-wing populist media, with little or no prior involvement in feminism or progressive movements. This generational and ideological shift has helped expand the movement's reach beyond its original roots, deepening its alignment with far-right and anti-democratic politics.

=== The roots of TERF ideology ===

TERF ideology has its roots in radical feminism, a fringe subculture that developed out of 1970s second-wave feminism. Radical feminists believed that men form a "sex class" that systematically oppresses women, and that gender — not class — is the primary division in society. Many embraced separatist politics, calling for "women-only spaces" and rejecting alliances with men. As Anuradha Ghandy describes it in ''Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement'', "women should relate only to women, they should build a women's culture and institutions."<ref>Ghandy, Anuradha. ''Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement''. Utrecht, 2016.</ref> Within this insular mindset, some radical feminists began to see trans women as a threat to women's ability to organize as a "sex class," a fixation driven by paranoia and boundary obsession, treating trans existence itself as an intrusion. In 1979, [[Janice Raymond]] published ''The Transsexual Empire'', a foundational text of TERF ideology, which claimed: "All transsexuals rape women's bodies by reducing the real female form to an artefact, appropriating this body for themselves."<ref>Raymond, Janice. The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male. Boston, 1979.</ref>

This strain of ideology reflects a marked collapse of both cognitive and emotional {{w|empathy||,}} particularly toward transgender and gender-diverse individuals. This erosion of empathy allows adherents to deny the lived realities, rights, and dignity of trans people, reducing them to abstract threats rather than recognizing them as fellow human beings deserving of care and inclusion. Within TERF thought, trans people are not seen as individuals with legitimate identities and experiences, but as symbols of supposed cultural decline or ideological contamination.

Second-wave-style radical feminism as a whole has never been especially popular. Even at its height, it remained relatively niche, especially compared to more mainstream feminist movements that embraced working with men, coalition-building, and a broader commitment to gender equality and, over time, openness to gender diversity as understandings of gender evolved. Though TERF ideology remained marginal for decades, it persisted in spaces like the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival and re-emerged in the 2010s as so-called "gender critical feminism," particularly in the UK. There, its talking points were promoted by anti-trans media outlets and right-wing politicians.<ref>{{cite web
 |last1=John
 |first1=Tara
 |title=Anti-trans rhetoric is rife in the British media. Little is being done to extinguish the flames
 |date=9 October 2021
 |website=CNN
 |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/09/uk/uk-trans-rights-gender-critical-media-intl-gbr-cmd
}}</ref> In the UK transphobia now constitutes a public health crisis.<ref>Connolly, D.J., Meads, C., Wurm, A. et al. Transphobia in the United Kingdom: a public health crisis. ''Int J Equity Health'' 24, 155 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-025-02509-z</ref> These anti-trans talking points were then exported to the U.S., where they provided ideological framing for Republican and Christian nationalist anti-trans campaigns.<ref>{{cite web
|last1=Ffrench
|first1=Méabh
|title=Transphobia is the Feminism of Fools
|url=https://rupture.ie/articles/transphobia-is-the-feminism-of-fools
|website=Rupture
|date=2022
}}</ref>

Briar Dickey argues that while the "TERF movement [is] largely understood as taking influence from fringe segments of second-wave radical feminist thought, to which [...] sex essentialism is inherent, as well as the attachment of violence to male bodies," the "contextualisation of contemporary TERF discourse as an extension and evolution of fringe second-wave feminism [...] neglects its relationship to a wider international wave of anti-transgender sentiment" anchored in conservative and religious movements.<ref name=BD>{{cite journal |last1=Dickey |first1=Briar |title=Transphobic Truth Markets: Comparing Trans-hostile Discourses in British Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminist and US Right-wing Movements |journal=Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |date=2023 |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=34–47 |doi=10.21825/digest.85311|doi-access=free }}</ref>

===TERFs in the anti-gender movement===

TERFs have become a key faction in the global [[anti-gender]] movement: a loose alliance of far-right populists, religious fundamentalists, and authoritarian interests opposed to LGBTQ+ rights, feminism, and gender equality. Though they frequently present themselves as grassroots feminists, many TERFs are embedded in coordinated disinformation campaigns and legal strategies aimed at rolling back trans rights.

Increasingly, TERF groups collaborate with right-wing think tanks, religious lobbyists, and far-right politicians to promote policies that restrict gender-affirming care, education on gender and sexuality, and the legal recognition of trans people. By presenting themselves as the "feminist" wing of the anti-gender movement, TERFs help provide a rhetorical cover for broader attacks on trans rights.

Internationally, TERFs have participated in events and campaigns that oppose so-called "[[gender ideology]]," a catch-all term used by anti-gender actors to attack everything from same-sex marriage to comprehensive sex education. In Europe and Latin America, TERF talking points are increasingly echoed in far-right and religious rhetoric. In the United States and the UK, TERFs have testified in court cases, submitted amicus briefs, and engaged in media campaigns to influence public opinion and legislation against trans rights.

By aligning themselves with broader authoritarian and anti-LGBTQ+ forces, TERFs play an instrumental role in normalizing transphobia in populist discourse. Scholars like Sophie Lewis have traced how TERF ideology has actively enabled the global far right. As Lewis writes, "American rightwing transphobia was only able to roar into life after the infusion of radical-feminist language, framing, support and vocabulary." Far from being a separate or opposing force, TERFs have supplied the rhetoric and legitimacy that allows far-right actors to justify attacks on trans rights in the name of "protecting women."<ref>{{cite web 
 |last1=Wong 
 |first1=Julia Carrie 
 |date=21 February 2025 
 |title='It's a scary time': Sophie Lewis on the 'enemy feminisms' that enable the far right 
 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/feb/21/sophie-lewis-feminism-far-right 
 |website=The Guardian 
}}</ref>

=== TERF ideology as a form of fascism ===
A growing body of scholarship identifies TERF ideology not simply as a reactionary form of transphobia, but as a manifestation of contemporary [[Fascism|neofascist]] politics. While it presents itself as a defense of "women's rights," its core features, such as [[authoritarianism]], [[Biological determinism|biological essentialism]], [[moral panic]], and [[Scapegoat|scapegoating]], align closely with classic fascist strategies.

TERFs portray trans people, especially trans women, as existential threats to society, morality, and "real" women, echoing how fascist movements have historically targeted marginalized groups as corrupting forces. As [[Judith Butler]] has noted, "it is painful to see that Trump's position that gender should be defined by biological sex, and that the evangelical and right-wing Catholic effort to purge 'gender' from education and public policy accords with the trans-exclusionary radical feminists' return to biological essentialism." Butler has described anti-gender movements as part of a "fascist trend."<ref>{{cite web
 |last=Butler
 |first=Judith
 |title=Why is the idea of 'gender' provoking backlash the world over?
 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/commentisfree/2021/oct/23/judith-butler-gender-ideology-backlash
 |website=The Guardian
 |date=23 October 2021
}}
</ref>

TERFs routinely collaborate with far-right political parties, white nationalist groups, Christian nationalist networks, and anti-democratic actors who also target LGBTQ+ people, migrants, and reproductive rights. Their rhetoric about "protecting women" functions as a moral alibi for increasingly authoritarian policies, including the suppression of education, healthcare, and civil rights.

The fascist tendencies of TERF ideology are especially evident in its reliance on:
*'''Biopolitics''': Reducing womanhood to reproductive anatomy and enforcing rigid gender roles based on "biological sex."
*'''Authoritarian [[populism]]''': Positioning themselves as the silenced voice of "ordinary women" against elites or institutions.
*'''Purity discourse''': Obsessive boundary policing of who counts as a "real" woman.
*'''[[Scapegoat]]ing''': Blaming trans people for social decline or violence, despite evidence to the contrary.
*'''Eliminationist rhetoric''': Calls for exclusion, criminalization, or erasure of trans people from public life.

Some scholars compare TERF rhetoric to the early stages of fascist discourse, where hate is laundered through pseudo-intellectualism or protective concern, only to escalate toward dehumanization and systemic violence.

In this context, TERF ideology must be understood as a key component of a broader global reactionary movement. Its role in enabling authoritarian politics, undermining democratic norms, and legitimizing structural violence reflects the hallmarks of modern fascist resurgence. Feminist resistance must reject not only the transphobia at the heart of TERF ideology but also the fascist frameworks it increasingly advances.

=== Why TERF ideology is not feminism ===

TERF ideology is a form of {{wpl|pseudo-feminism}}. While TERFs often claim to represent [[feminism]], their beliefs and actions contradict what feminism actually stands for. Feminism is about fighting for a world where everyone regardless of gender can live with freedom, safety, and equal respect. That includes trans people. At its heart, feminism challenges rigid gender roles and fights for bodily autonomy — not just for cisgender women, but for everyone. TERFs, on the other hand, promote a version of womanhood that is fixed, narrow, and defined entirely by biology. They argue that womanhood begins and ends with being born female, and they use that claim to exclude and attack trans women.

This isn't just a disagreement about language or definitions. TERFs actively campaign against the rights and well-being of a marginalized group. They oppose gender-affirming care, fight to exclude trans people from public life, and work to roll back legal protections. None of this is in line with feminist principles. Instead of challenging power structures, TERFs reinforce them. Their politics depend on drawing hard boundaries, creating an "us vs. them" view of womanhood that echoes the same gatekeeping feminism has fought against for generations.

Feminism recognizes that gender-based injustice affects people in different ways — and that trans people face serious discrimination and harm. A truly inclusive feminist movement understands that advancing gender equality means standing with all those whose rights and dignity are under attack. TERFs reject that solidarity. They treat trans people as outsiders or threats, using fear and division instead of compassion and truth. This scapegoating mirrors the tactics of far-right movements that target gender minorities to inflame hate and stall progress.

TERFs often claim that they are protecting women. But real feminist protection means opposing violence, supporting autonomy, and standing with those most at risk. Trans people, especially trans women, face disproportionate violence and discrimination. Excluding them from feminist movements doesn't make anyone safer — it just reinforces the same hierarchies feminism exists to dismantle. The way TERFs deny autonomy is most plainly shown in their treatment of trans men, who they insist are women that are either confused or just trying to escape sexism, no matter how many trans men say that this is not even remotely the case.

Feminism means standing with people facing harm, not pushing them out. It means listening, showing up, and recognizing that the fight against gender oppression includes everyone affected by it.

== How TERFs operate ==
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<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>TERFs copy far-right tactics to spread hate.</b> They stoke fear, attack rights, and build alliances with anti-LGBTQ+ and authoritarian groups.</li>
<li><b>They use loaded slogans and stolen symbols to hide their agenda.</b> Terms like "sex-based rights" and "adult human female" are dog whistles, not feminist values — and the purple, green, and white color scheme has been appropriated as a symbol of hate.</li>
  <li><b>TERFs push wild conspiracy theories to stir panic.</b> From "erasure of women" lies to calling trans people "groomers," they recycle far-right talking points to justify censorship, bigotry, and violence.</li>
  <li><b>They target and troll trans people to cause harm.</b> TERFs organize online abuse, mockery, and harassment as a group effort — not "debate," but coordinated cruelty meant to silence and intimidate.</li>
  <li><b>TERF ideology is tied to racism, antisemitism, and other hate.</b> Their networks overlap with white nationalists and religious extremists, feeding a wider campaign against equality, knowledge, and democracy itself.</li>
</ul>
</div>

=== How TERFs follow the far-right playbook ===

TERFs don't act alone: they operate as part of a broader backlash against LGBTQ+ rights and gender equality. Their strategies, language, and alliances closely mirror the [[far-right]] playbook. They borrow tactics long used by [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] movements—spreading fear, pushing [[Moral panic|moral panics]], and presenting bigotry as "[[common sense]]"—while appealing to bad-faith narratives about "protecting children" or "saving women's rights" to justify exclusion and discrimination.

A core tactic is the appeal to so-called "common sense," positioning regressive, exclusionary beliefs as natural or self-evident truths. Anti-trans claims are framed not as ideology, but as what "everyone knows," turning complex debates about rights and identity into simplistic binaries and obscuring their reactionary roots.

TERF disinformation campaigns focus on gender-affirming healthcare, trans participation in sports, and fabricated crime statistics. These narratives rely on [[pseudoscience]], [[Cherry picking|cherry-picked]] data, and fearmongering to stoke public anxiety. Simultaneously, TERF-aligned groups engage in targeted harassment campaigns, including [[doxxing]] of trans individuals and allies, smearing professionals, and organizing efforts to have events cancelled or people fired.

These strategies are often backed by legal activism ("lawfare"). TERF organizations file amicus briefs and lobby for laws that restrict gender recognition, access to healthcare, and civil rights protections, often in collaboration with right-wing groups. Meanwhile, through media framing, they brand themselves as rational or evidence-based critics, adopting euphemisms like "gender critical" to distance themselves from the far right, even as they echo its rhetoric and share platforms with its actors.

Their campaigns closely track far-right attacks on so-called "[[gender ideology]]," using the same conspiracy theories about trans people, schools, and healthcare. They repeat the same talking points and push for the same policy goals: bans on gender-affirming care, censorship of inclusive education, and rollbacks of legal recognition.

Many TERF groups have formed direct alliances with far-right political parties, anti-LGBTQ+ lobbyists, and religious extremists. Organizations like [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI) and [[Women's Liberation Front]] (WoLF) have worked with hate groups, attended far-right conferences, and supported regressive policies promoted by ultraconservative networks. These are calculated partnerships grounded in shared goals.

By copying the far right's methods and working within its networks, TERFs help mainstream bigotry under a feminist disguise. This playbook has been used to inflame moral panic, consolidate political power, and undermine hard-won rights. TERFs are now a central part of that agenda.

=== What TERFs say and mean ===
{{cquote|TERFs often self-refer as "gender critical" or "adult human female."<br/>They refer to believing in "sex-based rights", "LGB rights", and "protecting women and girls."<br/>They refer to trans people as "TRAs" (Trans Rights Activists), "the trans lobby", "the trans debate", and to trans women as "TIMs" (Trans Identified Males).|||How to Spot TERF Ideology,<br/>Cambridge SU Women's Campaign<ref>{{cite web
 |title=How to Spot TERF Ideology 2.0
 |url=https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/pageassets/resources/guides/spottingterfideology/How-to-Spot-TERF-Ideology-2.0-2.pdf
 |publisher=Cambridge SU Women's Campaign (Cambridge Students' Union)
 |date=2021–2022
 |format=PDF
}}</ref>}}

TERF ideology defines womanhood strictly by birth-assigned sex and reproductive anatomy. This view is central to their opposition to gender recognition laws, inclusive policies, and protections for trans people. Under slogans like "[[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," TERFs promote a rigid, exclusionary vision of gender that denies the legitimacy of trans identities, especially trans women.

To make their positions more acceptable to the mainstream, TERFs often present them as "concerns" about "fairness" or "safety" for "real women." They focus heavily on public spaces like [[#Bathroom panic|bathrooms]], [[#Attacks on inclusive sports|sports]], and shelters, where they claim trans inclusion poses a threat. These arguments aren't supported by evidence; they rely on fear, stereotypes, and moral panic.

Although TERFs often claim to speak for radical feminism, their ideology is rejected by most contemporary feminist scholars and movements. Rather than challenging patriarchy, TERF rhetoric reinforces its logic by policing who qualifies as a woman and by marginalizing gender-diverse people.

Language is central to this strategy. TERFs rely heavily on euphemisms and rebranded terms like "[[#Rebranding as "gender critical"|gender critical]]" and "sex-based rights" to make their positions sound reasonable or feminist. This language helps them gain platforms and appeal to liberal audiences unfamiliar with the movement's deeper alignment with far-right politics and anti-LGBTQ+ networks.

At the same time, TERF spaces use dehumanizing language to describe trans people, especially trans women. Phrases like "men in dresses," "female impersonators," or predator comparisons are common. These slurs are designed to provoke fear and disgust. Memes, hashtags, and insider slang circulate widely online, spreading these ideas in ways that seem casual or ironic, but serve to normalize hate.

====Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"====
{{main|TERF glossary}}
[[File:Woman is human female sticker.jpg|thumb|A TERF sticker with the slogan "adult human female", that reduces womanhood to biology and functions as a trans-exclusionary [[Dog whistle politics|dog whistle]].]]

TERFs use slogans that sound like feminist advocacy to push anti-trans messages. Phrases like "[[sex-based rights]]," "[[adult human female]]" and "material reality" act as political [[Dog whistle politics|dog whistles]]: terms designed to sound like neutral or feminist concerns, but which covertly signal transphobic beliefs to those in the know. These slogans didn't come from feminist theory. They were created by anti-trans activists in the 2010s to deny trans people's legitimacy, rights, and participation in public life.

The slogans follow a [[populist]] logic. They rely on appeals to "[[common sense]]," present trans rights as demands imposed by out-of-touch elites, and stir distrust toward institutions like media, academia, and NGOs. This anti-elite narrative is typical of the broader [[anti-gender]] movement, which portrays gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights as ideological projects pushed by global elites against the will of "ordinary people." Rather than encouraging real understanding, these slogans flatten complex issues into messages designed to provoke, mislead, and shut down conversation.

Far from defending women's rights, this rhetoric is designed to narrow the definition of womanhood to birth-assigned sex, erase trans identities, and legitimize discrimination. The slogan "adult human female," popularized by far-right campaigner [[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]] (Posie Parker), reduces womanhood to a dictionary-style formula. It relies on ''[[argumentum ad dictionarium]]'', the flawed idea that citing a basic dictionary definition can resolve a complex issue. It reduces a deeply personal and complex aspect of human life to a slogan designed to shut people out. Gender isn't just a word or a matter of anatomy. It's a multidimensional reality shaped by psychological, social, cultural, and lived experience.

Phrases like "what is a woman?" and claims that someone "knows what a woman is" act as rhetorical tools, not sincere questions. They assert that womanhood is fixed and biological, excluding trans women while presenting that exclusion as "common sense." Another such phrase is "ordinary meaning," seen on placards and online. In each case, the implied answer is the same: "adult human female."

The phrase "sex-based rights" is central to this strategy. It is not a long-standing feminist concept, but a recently coined [[Pseudolaw|pseudolegal]] slogan with no foundation in actual human rights law. Human rights scholar Sandra Duffy described it as "a fiction with the pretense of legality", noting that the word "sex" in international human rights law is widely understood to include gender and is not interpreted in the narrow, exclusionary sense promoted by TERFs.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Duffy |first1=Sandra |title=An International Human Rights Law Analysis of the WHRC Declaration |date=26 October 2021 |url=https://sandraduffy.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/ |archive-date=16 May 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250516024706/http://sandraduffy.blog/2021/10/26/an-international-human-rights-law-analysis-of-the-whrc-declaration/ }}</ref> Legal scholar {{wpl|Catharine A. MacKinnon}} likewise states "the recognition [that discrimination against trans people is discrimination on the basis of sex, that is gender, the social meaning of sex] does not, contrary to allegations of anti-trans self-identified feminists, endanger women or feminism," noting that "women do not have 'sex-based rights' in the affirmative sense some in this group seem to think."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacKinnon |first1=Catharine A. |date=2023 |title=A Feminist Defense of Transgender Sex Equality Rights |url=https://openyls.law.yale.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.13051/18252/88.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |journal=Yale Journal of Law and Feminism |volume=34}}</ref>

The rhetoric of "sex-based rights" is a political strategy designed to police who gets to count as a woman and to push trans people out of legal protections, healthcare, education, and public life. It exploits fears about women's safety, fairness, and bodily autonomy to weaponize them against a marginalized group. This mirrors the broader [[#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|far-right playbook]], where bad-faith actors co-opt rights-based language to attack vulnerable people and roll back social progress. Whether on placards, online, or at rallies, they're used to taunt and harass trans people rather than invite any honest debate.

====Symbols TERFs co-opt: Suffragette colors and feminist iconography====
{{cquote|The purple, green and white flag is associated with the women's suffrage movement in the United Kingdom and has become a rallying flag for a specific brand of anti-trans so-called "feminism." If a website or third-party group ''really'' seems to be leaning into the colour palette, you might want to give them pause.|||How to tell if that 'feminist' election group is actually anti-trans<ref>{{cite web
 |title=How to tell if that 'feminist' election group is actually anti-trans
 |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/terf-canada-election-explainer-206866
 |website=Xtra
 |date=2021-08-17
}}</ref>}}

In addition to slogans and dog whistles, TERFs make deliberate use of symbols to associate themselves with feminist history. One of the most visible tactics is their appropriation of suffragette aesthetics, especially the colors purple, white, and green. These colors, once used by early 20th-century British suffragettes to represent dignity, purity, and hope, now appear on TERF banners, merch, and online avatars, and are widely used by anti-trans groups. By displaying them, TERFs attempt to claim continuity with historical feminist struggles and to portray their movement as a defense of "women's rights."

TERFs invoke suffragette colors and symbols to borrow the credibility of feminist history. But the suffragette movement, while imperfect, fought to expand rights, not to deny them. Co-opting its imagery to attack trans people doesn't continue that legacy.

TERF groups also often use the raised feminist fist, the double Venus symbol, and other long-standing feminist icons. These are paired with messages like "adult human female" to falsely frame anti-trans views as part of a radical feminist tradition. In reality, mainstream and academic feminism overwhelmingly reject this co-optation.

There's a reason behind the co-optation of feminist aesthetics: TERFs rely on visual cues to gain credibility. For people unfamiliar with the movement, suffragette imagery can create the illusion that TERFs are simply advocating for women. The symbols act as cover, helping hide the movement's close alignment with far-right, anti-LGBTQ+, and anti-democratic politics.

Like their slogans, TERF symbols are used to make hate look like activism. Recognizing this tactic is key to understanding how the movement spreads and disguises itself.

====How TERFs attempt to speak for "women"====  
Closely tied to their use of co-opted feminist symbols, TERFs often present themselves as simply "women," as if their views represent all women by default. Despite being a fringe extremist movement, they routinely refer to the anti-trans backlash as the "women's movement," a deliberate attempt to hijack feminism and its language and symbols. This tactic conflates organized transphobia with legitimate women's rights activism — erasing the countless women, including trans women, who reject their hate and fight for true gender justice. A clear example of this strategy is the far-right hate group [[Women's Platform for Action International]], which brands itself as "a unified voice for a global women's movement" while pushing anti-trans propaganda under the slogan of "putting women and girls first" — a phrase notably reminiscent of [[MAGA]]-style populism.

=== Conspiracy theories, disinformation, and moral panics ===
{{cquote|Did [[Freemason|Freemasonry]] have a role in the roots of the trans movement?|||A lecture by TERF group [[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI)<ref>[[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI): "[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=foi7fFKx-kI Did Freemasonry have a role in the roots of the trans movement?]"</ref>}}

TERF ideology relies heavily on conspiracy theories and disinformation to justify exclusion, incite fear, and portray trans people as a threat. These include claims that trans rights are part of a secret plot to "erase women," that schools are "indoctrinating" children into being trans, or that gender-affirming healthcare is a profit-driven scheme by "[[Big Pharma]]." While baseless, such conspiracy theories are widely circulated through social media, blogs, books, and public events, often with the intent to provoke outrage and block policy advances. Though rejected by actual feminists, medical professionals, and human rights organizations, TERF narratives feed into larger moral panics. Their talking points are increasingly promoted by right-wing politicians, religious fundamentalists, and far-right media.

===="Erasure of women" conspiracy theory====
One of the most persistent conspiracy theories promoted by TERFs is the idea that recognizing trans people, especially trans women, "erases" women from society. This narrative claims that [[#Attacks on inclusive language|inclusive language]], legal recognition, and trans participation in public life are part of a broader campaign to eliminate the category of "woman" itself. TERFs describe this supposed erasure as an attack on the word woman, on women's rights, and on what they call the "female sex class." The narrative follows classic conspiratorial logic by imagining a powerful trans movement working to undermine women through cultural manipulation, "institutional capture," and control over language. Like other far-right myths, it turns growing visibility for marginalized people into a sign of crisis and collapse.

The "erasure of women" conspiracy theory is a major point of convergence between TERFs and the far right. Groups like the [[Heritage Foundation]] push the same narrative to justify anti-trans laws and policies.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=The Erasure of "Women" Is Escalating
 |url=https://www.heritage.org/gender/commentary/the-erasure-women-escalating
 |date=2021-10-14
 |publisher=The Heritage Foundation
}}</ref>

===="Groomer," "safeguarding," "women's spaces" and weaponization of "violence against women" narratives ====
{{cquote|The uncorrelation between a person's gender identity or sexual orientation and whether they are "child groomers" is obvious, but perpetrators of this conspiracy theory are not trying to prove the causal relationship. They seek to evoke visceral fears about children's safety and create moral panic about potential harm trans people would do to children.|||Esther Chan<ref>{{cite web
 |title=Transgender grooming conspiracy theory spreads to Australia
 |url=https://www.rmit.edu.au/news/crosscheck/grooming-conspiracy-theory
 |author=Esther Chan
 |publisher=RMIT University
 |date=16 May 2023
}}</ref>}}

One of the most common myths is that trans women are "men in disguise" trying to infiltrate "women's spaces." This claim draws from older far-right tropes that depict marginalized groups as deceptive or dangerous. TERFs recycle this claim in language that mimics "feminist" rhetoric, but turns it against trans people to justify their transmisogyny.

A central component of TERF rhetoric is the portrayal of trans people, especially trans women, as predators or threats to children. This is often couched in the language of "safeguarding," a term increasingly weaponized as a dog whistle to mask anti-trans hate speech as concern for child protection. In this context, "safeguarding" functions as coded language for moral panic, portraying trans existence as inherently dangerous. It's an example of how superficially "neutral" language can be weaponized to advance discriminatory agendas. TERFs routinely promote conspiracy theories that depict trans people as "groomers" or part of a supposed campaign to manipulate or sexualize youth. These accusations are not neutral or protective; they are a form of hate speech rooted in the long-standing {{wpl|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory}}, used historically by far-right and authoritarian actors to incite fear, justify censorship, and rationalize violence. By adopting and amplifying this rhetoric, particularly in attacks on schools, libraries, drag events, and gender-affirming care for minors, TERF groups are actively contributing to the normalization of anti-LGBTQ+ hate, with trans people as the primary target.

TERFs weaponize "violence against women" narratives to push anti-trans conspiracy theories. They claim that trans women endanger so-called "women's spaces" and call their presence a form of "male violence," twisting feminist language to justify fear and repression. These claims have no basis in actual patterns of harm. They recycle conspiracy logic that has long been used to brand marginalized people as infiltrators or predators. The result isn't "protection." It's targeted dehumanization: treating trans existence as inherently violent, and trans people as dangerous by default. In reality, trans people, especially trans women, experience staggering levels of violence, assault, and systemic neglect. Misuse of pseudofeminist language to justify these attacks doesn't protect anyone, but turns real concern for gender-based violence into a weapon against those most at risk.

=== How TERF ideology is connected to racism and other bigotries ===

The overlap between TERFs and the far right isn't just about shared tactics. It's also about shared targets. After copying [[#How TERFs follow the far-right playbook|far-right strategies]] to attack trans rights, TERFs have moved deeper into the same networks that promote [[racism]], [[antisemitism]], [[islamophobia]], and [[ableism]]. The same spaces where TERF talking points spread online are full of content targeting immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and people of color. These connections reflect a broader backlash against equality.

Many of the conspiracy theories pushed by TERFs follow a pattern long used to spread hate. The claim that trans people are being forced on society by powerful elites echoes classic antisemitic myths about secret influence and control. The idea that "Western women" are under threat draws from racist fearmongering about immigration and multiculturalism. TERF groups often rely on these same dog whistles, just directed at a different target.

Many TERF organizations go further, working openly with groups that promote white nationalism and authoritarian politics. In doing so, they help build alliances across different kinds of hate movements. The result is a wider campaign to roll back social progress and attack the rights of many marginalized groups at once.

=== How TERFs use trolling to target trans people ===

[[Troll|Trolling]] and online abuse are major parts of TERF culture. TERF-aligned users often organize dogpiles on social media, directing waves of harassment at trans individuals, allies, healthcare workers, and researchers. These campaigns frequently involve doxxing, impersonation, misgendering, and the spreading of disinformation. Targets are often chosen not only for their visibility but for their symbolic value, such as being trans, supportive of inclusive policies, or holding institutional authority. The use of mockery and coordinated trolling allows TERFs to portray their attacks as just "debate" or "criticism," while inflicting real harm.

In TERF online spaces, harassment is a bonding activity. Forums, group chats, and social media circles celebrate successful trolling campaigns and amplify one another's content. Screenshots, memes, and inside jokes are used to build a shared identity that thrives on outrage and ridicule. This toxic culture contributes to {{wpl|radicalization}} and reinforces the movement's alignment with broader reactionary and extremist networks. Rather than advocating for any meaningful version of feminism, TERF language and trolling function as tools to enforce exclusion, provoke conflict, and escalate harm against marginalized people.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ploch |first1=N. |title=A systematic review of TERF behaviour online in relation to sociopsychological group dynamics |journal=Journal of Gender Studies |date=2025 |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=526–539 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2024.2431569}}</ref>

=== Hostility to knowledge and expertise ===

TERF ideology is marked by a deep hostility to academic expertise, particularly in fields that challenge [[Biological determinism|biological essentialism]] or affirm the realities of gender diversity. This extends across contemporary feminist scholarship, gender studies, trans studies, sociology, psychology, and medical research. TERFs frequently dismiss the legitimacy of these disciplines, portraying them as ideologically captured, "anti-scientific," or even dangerous. This rejection of established fields mirrors a broader [[Anti-intellectualism|anti-intellectual]] strain found throughout the anti-gender movement and the far-right populist backlash against "elites."

In place of peer-reviewed research or engaged scholarly debate, TERF discourse elevates [[fringe]] voices, [[Cherry picking|cherry-picked]] studies, and [[pseudoscientific]] claims that support predetermined conclusions. Trans healthcare, for instance, is routinely denounced as "experimental" or "mutilation" despite widespread professional consensus supporting gender-affirming care. Rather than engage with the nuances of contemporary medical literature or feminist theory, TERFs often rely on anecdotal evidence, moral panic, and appeals to "common sense" as substitutes for evidence-based reasoning.

This anti-knowledge posture is foundational to the movement's populist appeal. TERFs position themselves as brave truth-tellers defying a "corrupt" or "captured" establishment. In this narrative, scholars, medical professionals, and activists who support trans rights are portrayed as ideologues silencing dissent. This framing mirrors far-right conspiracy logics, in which entire disciplines are delegitimized to create space for reactionary beliefs. Gender studies is not critiqued on scholarly terms but dismissed wholesale as "indoctrination," often lumped together with so-called "[[gender ideology]]," a term popularized by anti-LGBTQ+ [[religious fundamentalist]]s and authoritarians.

This rejection of expertise goes hand-in-hand with epistemic closure. TERF networks promote closed information ecosystems where only approved narratives circulate. Disagreement is labeled as betrayal, and formerly respected feminists are disavowed if they express support for trans inclusion. In this way, TERF spaces mimic cultic dynamics: insulating their worldview from scrutiny, isolating followers from broader feminist thought, and reinforcing ideological purity through constant repetition and policing of belief.

The result is a worldview that not only resists new knowledge, but aggressively polices the boundaries of acceptable inquiry. TERFs do not merely disagree with gender studies or trans-affirming scholarship, but seek to dismantle these fields altogether, often through campaigns aimed at harassing researchers, defunding academic programs, and pressuring institutions to silence dissent.

== Who's involved ==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;">
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>The TERF movement is built on coordinated networks, not isolated voices.</b> From [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]] to [[FiLiA]] to [[Women's Platform for Action International|WoPAI]], key groups across the UK, US, and Europe push anti-trans agendas while working closely with far-right actors.</li>
  <li><b>Its leading figures promote hate, not feminism.</b> Activists like [[Posie Parker]] platform white nationalists, push conspiracies, and spread violent, eliminationist rhetoric under the guise of "women's rights."</li>
  <li><b>It's not grassroots – it's funded by global reactionary interests.</b> Major TERF groups are bankrolled by Christian fundamentalists, far-right political networks, and authoritarian-linked funders working to roll back human rights.</li>
</ul>
</div>

=== Key TERF organizations ===
Several groups form the backbone of the international TERF network. While each claims independence, they frequently collaborate and share infrastructure:
[[File:Protest against FiLiA, Glasgow, 13 October 2023.jpg|thumb|Protesters rally against the [[FiLiA]] TERF conference in Glasgow, 2023, in defense of trans inclusion and gender justice.]]
*[[Women's Declaration International]] (WDI): One of the most openly far-right TERF groups, WDI is closely aligned with [[Trumpism|Trumpist]], [[alt-right]], and [[Fascism|fascist]] movements. Known for its anti-trans "declaration," WDI is designated as part of an "anti-LGBTQ+ [[pseudoscience]] network" by [[SPLC]].<ref name=SPLC-Timeline>{{cite web
 |title=Timeline: Building a Pseudoscience Network
 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/timeline-building-pseudoscience-network
 |website=Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience
 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center
 |date=2023
}}</ref><ref name=SPLC-Network>{{cite web
 |title=Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network
 |url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/defining-pseudoscience-network
 |website=Combating Anti-LGBTQ+ Pseudoscience
 |publisher=Southern Poverty Law Center
 |date=2023
 |quote=Table 5.2: Networked Groups by Typology [...] Narrative Manipulation: [...] Women's Declaration International}}</ref> It has publicly supported [[Donald Trump]]'s anti-trans policies and even claimed credit for inspiring his attacks on trans rights. WDI boasted about its influence on {{wpl|May Mailman}}, a far-right [[anti-abortion]] activist and Trump appointee who co-wrote Trump's executive order "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government" with [[Stephen Miller]].<ref name=Dansky>Kara Dansky: [https://karadansky.substack.com/p/ffs-friday-may-mailman FFS Friday: May Mailman]</ref>
*[[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull|Standing for Women/Let Women Speak]]: A UK-based group founded by far-right provocateur [[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]] (or Posie Parker), it uses transphobia to push [[Fascism|fascist]] talking points into public discourse. Known for inflammatory slogans, provocative rallies, and attracting [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]], it acts as a bridge between TERF ideology and [[White nationalism|white nationalist]] networks.<ref name=Elkin/>
*[[Women's Liberation Front]] (WoLF): Based in the U.S., WoLF is an anti-trans [[astroturf]] group that works with far-right networks and SPLC-designated hate groups, including [[Alliance Defending Freedom]], [[Concerned Women for America]], and the [[Heritage Foundation]]. It has received funding linked to [[James Dobson]] and [[Focus on the Family]], and has opposed the Equal Rights Amendment after trans rights advocates voiced support for it. Leaked emails in 2023 revealed WoLF's coordination with other religious far-right actors to push anti-trans legislation nationwide.
*[[FiLiA]]: FiLiA is a UK-based TERF conference, often nicknamed "TERFest," that brings together key figures and groups in the international anti-trans movement. The Trans Safety Network noted that FiLiA is characterised by "a disturbing trend of anti-trans extremism, [[conspiracy theory]] and harassment of trans and GNC people" and that "much of the content on their website indicates a hostility to trans women [and] conspiratorial beliefs."<ref name=Network>{{cite web |title=FiLiA conference 2022: Transphobia, harassment and arrests at conference in Cardiff |url=https://transsafety.network/posts/filia-2022-transphobia-harassment/ |publisher=Trans Safety Network |date=2022}}</ref>
*[[LGB Alliance]]: A UK-based anti-trans hate group posing as an "LGB" organization. Operating from the same office as several anti-immigrant and climate change denial organizations in London, it has branches in several countries. It is classified as a far-right hate group by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism.<ref>{{cite web|date=21 August 2022|title=New GPAHE Report Profiles Far-Right Hate and Extremist Groups in Ireland|url=https://globalextremism.org/post/release-ireland-report/|publisher=Global Project against Hate and Extremism}}</ref>
*[[Women's Platform for Action International]] (WoPAI): Co-founded by WDI, FiLiA, the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]], and the misleadingly named [[European Network of Migrant Women]] (a TERF group posing as a migrant rights organization) in 2025, WoPAI coordinates international TERF activity and claims to oppose the "[[queer agenda]]", a "pro-gender movement" in academia and NGOs, and "non-legal and not agreed upon by the international community concepts of '[[gender identity]]'"<ref name=womensplatformforactionwhy>{{cite web | url=https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/why-wopai-is-needed/ | title=Why WoPAI is needed |publisher=Women's Platform for Action International (WoPAI)| date=5 February 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250220151317/https://www.womensplatformforaction.org/why-wopai-is-needed/|archive-date=2025-02-20}}</ref>
*"[[MOTERIS Protecting the Civic Space of Women and Girls]]": This Orwellian-named group is yet another international TERF group founded by the notorious anti-trans group, the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]]. It states that it campaigns for "[[TERF#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]," i.e. against transgender rights, and includes a familiar cast of anti-trans groups around the world.
*[[Swedish Women's Lobby]] has emerged as one of the most influential global hubs of anti-transgender activism. Though not originally founded as an anti-trans organization, it underwent a spiraling anti-trans radicalization beginning in the late 2010s and now plays a central role in the transnational anti-gender movement, closely tied to far-right populist anti-LGBTQ+ networks.
*Sex Matters: A UK-based anti-trans lobbying group founded by {{wpl|Maya Forstater}}, best known for asserting a "right" to misgender trans people in the workplace. Masquerading as a civil liberties organization, Sex Matters campaigns to undermine trans rights and pushes a relentless agenda to erase legal recognition and protections for trans people, particularly in law, education, and workplaces.
*For Women Scotland: An anti-trans campaign group that cloaks its agenda in "women's rights" language while opposing gender recognition reforms and promoting exclusionary, essentialist definitions of womanhood. Closely aligned with other UK-based TERF actors.

Other organizations that are central to the movement are:
*[[Genspect]]: A self-described "parent advocacy" group that is, in reality, a pseudoscientific anti-trans network opposing all forms of gender-affirming care. Founded by Stella O'Malley, Genspect spreads moral panic about trans youth, champions the debunked "[[Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria|ROGD]]" hoax, and platforms conspiracy theories under the guise of "concern." [[SPLC]] designates Genspect as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group.<ref name="splc_hate_map">{{Cite web |title=Hate Map |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map?state=CA |access-date=5 June 2024 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |language=en |archive-date=12 July 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240712212103/https://www.splcenter.org/hate-map?state=CA |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=SPLCExtremistFiles/>
*[[Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine]] (SEGM): Closely linked to Genspect, SEGM is designated by [[SPLC]] as an anti-LGBTQ+ hate group and described as "a hub of pseudoscience" promoting anti-trans disinformation under the guise of medical objectivity.<ref name="splc">{{Cite web |date=December 12, 2023 |title=Group dynamics and division of labor within the anti-LGBTQ+ pseudoscience network |first1=R.G.|last1= Cravens|first2= Quinnehtukqut|last2=McLamore|first3=Lee|last3= Leveille|first4=Emerson|last4=Hodges|first5= Sophie|last5= Wunderlich|first6=Lydia|last6= Bates|url=https://www.splcenter.org/captain/defining-pseudoscience-network |access-date=2023-12-21 |website=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |language=en}}</ref><ref name=SPLCExtremistFiles>{{Cite web |title=Extremist Files: Anti-LGBTQ |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/anti-lgbtq |access-date=5 June 2024 |website=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]|archive-date=5 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210905172204/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/ideology/anti-lgbtq }}</ref>
*Fair Play For Women: A single-issue hate group that fixates on banning trans women from sports and public spaces. It uses fearmongering and disinformation to portray trans inclusion as a threat to fairness and safety, aligning closely with far-right and religious fundamentalist talking points.
*Save Women's Sports: A U.S.-based anti-trans pressure group that exploits fears around athletics to promote exclusionary policies targeting trans women. While presenting itself as a grassroots movement, it collaborates with religious conservatives and far-right lawmakers to push bans on trans participation in sports, serving as a vehicle for broader attacks on trans civil rights.
*Irish Women's Lobby: A British-influenced TERF group created to push transphobia into Irish discourse, largely in reaction to the National Women's Council of Ireland's inclusive stance. Founded and amplified by UK-based TERFs, it aims to replicate Britain's anti-trans moral panic on Irish soil.<ref>{{cite web 
 |last1=O'Toole 
 |first1=Emer 
 |title=Irish feminists must avoid British trap of transphobia 
 |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/irish-feminists-must-avoid-british-trap-of-transphobia-1.4507862 
 |website=The Irish Times 
 |date=2021-03-12 
 |access-date=2025-06-07 
 |publisher=The Irish Times 
 |quote=Trans-exclusionary ideas lack compassion and must be repelled from Ireland
}}</ref> One of the primary anti-trans groups in Ireland alongside Radicailín, LGB Alliance Ireland, and The Countess Didn't Fight For This.<ref>{{cite journal
 |last1=Duffy
 |first1=Sandra
 |title=Postcolonial Dynamics in Pro- and Anti-Trans Activism in the UK and Ireland
 |journal=feminists@law
 |volume=12
 |issue=2
 |year=2023
 |url=https://journals.kent.ac.uk/index.php/feministsatlaw/article/download/1086/2183?inline=1
 |access-date=2025-06-07
}}</ref>
*Women's Place UK (WPUK): Once a central hub of the UK TERF movement, WPUK organized anti-trans rallies and campaigns under the pretense of defending feminism. It collaborated with right-wing politicians, platformed notorious transphobes, and spread disinformation to undermine trans rights, all framed as "debate." Sociologist Sally Hines noted that "the primary goal of WPUK is to agitate against self-declaration of gender within recognition processes".<ref>{{cite journal
 |last1=Hines
 |first1=Sally
 |date=2020
 |title=Sex wars and (trans) gender panics: Identity and body politics in contemporary UK feminism
 |journal=The Sociological Review
 |volume=68
 |issue=4
 |pages=699–717
 |doi=10.1177/0038026120934684
}}</ref> Initially seen as the movement's "moderates," WPUK once distanced itself from [[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull|Posie Parker's]] overt racism and ties to the far right, but as the movement radicalized, it was sidelined and ultimately dissolved in 2024.

A number of lesser-known radical feminist organizations, often framed as focused on issues like prostitution or surrogacy and known under opaque acronyms, are nonetheless deeply embedded in the same circles as TERF groups. Though they may not always position themselves overtly as anti-trans, they share extensive personnel, participate in the same conferences, and collaborate closely with explicitly transphobic organizations. In many cases, it's the same activists, just wearing a different organizational hat. Groups like CAP international, SPACE International (founded by Rachel Moran who is deeply involved in TERF campaigns), [[Coalition Against Trafficking in Women]] (CATW), Equality Now, [[Nordic Model Now!]], and Surrogacy Concern frequently appear at TERF-aligned events, co-sign joint statements, publicly and knowingly support outspokenly anti-trans actors, and amplify each other's messaging. Their leadership and rhetoric often align with the core narratives of the TERF movement, particularly around essentialist definitions of womanhood and the policing of bodily autonomy, alongside [[#Hostility to knowledge and expertise|a deep hostility]] to contemporary feminist scholarship, gender studies, and forms of knowledge that challenge their worldview, revealing a shared ideological foundation cloaked in parallel advocacy. The male anti-trans activist behind TERF website "[[FeministWiki]]" lists several of these organizations on the site as ones he supports, while declaring to be "in full support" of WDI.

=== Key TERF activists ===
[[File:Kellie-jay keen-minshull.jpg|thumb|[[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]] – or Posie Parker – at a 2023 Glasgow rally in front of a sign reading "[[homophobia|defy the gaystapo]]."]]

[[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]], better known as Posie Parker, plays a major role in promoting TERF ideology internationally. Keen, who popularized the TERF movement's signature slogan, "[[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|adult human female]]," is among its most openly [[Fascism|fascist]]-aligned voices. She regularly appears alongside far-right activists, has platformed [[White nationalist|white nationalists]] and [[Holocaust denial|Holocaust deniers]], and has openly praised groups like the [[National Front]]. Her rallies have drawn [[Neo-Nazism|neo-Nazis]] giving Hitler salutes, and she continues to collaborate with white supremacist networks and Christian nationalist extremists. Keen's rhetoric is violent, conspiratorial, and explicitly eliminationist, including calling for "men with guns" in women's bathrooms and encouraging discrimination in employment, housing, and healthcare. Some TERF groups initially distanced themselves from her — not because they disagreed with her anti-trans views, but because of how openly racist and fascist her affiliations were. But over time, those concerns faded. Keen has become one of the movement's most recognizable figures, celebrated by [[J.K. Rowling]]. Her relentless [[Trolling|trolling]], viral stunts, and embrace of far-right talking points have not only helped mainstream transphobia but have actively merged it with broader fascist ideologies.<ref name=Elkin>{{cite web
 |title=TERF wars and neo-Nazis
 |author=Sam Elkin
 |url=https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2023/03/25/terf-wars-and-neo-nazis
 |website=The Saturday Paper
 |date=25 March 2023
}}</ref>

[[J.K. Rowling]] has used her massive platform to promote overt transphobia, routinely mocking trans people online and engaging in targeted trolling. She has amplified far-right and conspiracy-laden voices like Posie Parker and [[Reduxx]], helping spread disinformation and vilify trans women as dangerous.<ref name=thepinknews-reduxx/> Her actions have emboldened TERF groups, legitimized anti-trans panic in the media and policy debates, and contributed to rising hostility and institutional backlash against trans rights, especially in the UK.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=JK Rowling and anti-trans rhetoric have caused 'significant damage' to the UK, international LGBT+ report warns
 |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2021/02/17/ilga-europe-jk-rowling-anti-trans-rhetoric-annual-review-transphobia-uk/
 |website=PinkNews
 |date=17 February 2021
}}</ref> She has even engaged in [[Holocaust denial]],<ref>{{cite web
 |last=McCall
 |first=Vivian
 |title=Yes, JK Rowling, the Nazis Did Persecute Trans People: We Asked the Leading Expert on the Topic
 |url=https://www.thestranger.com/queer/2024/03/20/79436234/yes-jk-rowling-the-nazis-did-persecute-trans-people
 |website=The Stranger
 |date=2024-03-20
}}</ref> and attacked cis women who do not match Western European standards of beauty.<ref>{{cite web
 |last=Ewe
 |first=Koh
 |title=Taiwan Turns Against J.K. Rowling for Stirring Olympic Boxing Gender Controversy
 |url=https://time.com/7006869/taiwan-olympics-boxer-lin-yu-ting-gender-controversy-jk-rowling/
 |website=Time
 |date=2024-08-02
}}</ref>

Other key TERF voices include {{wpl|Lierre Keith}}, [[Meghan Murphy]], [[Helen Joyce]], [[Graham Linehan]], [[Kathleen Stock]], [[Julie Bindel]], [[Sheila Jeffreys]], [[Kajsa Ekis Ekman]], [[Allison Bailey]], Kara Dansky, and Holly Lawford-Smith. While some portray themselves as feminist intellectuals, their views stand in stark opposition to [[#How feminists resist TERFs|the overwhelming consensus]] within mainstream feminist scholarship, which overwhelmingly rejects trans-exclusionary ideology as regressive and harmful. Others, like Linehan and Murphy, focus on trolling, disinformation, and harassment campaigns. Murphy is especially notorious for pushing conspiracy theories and orchestrating harassment campaigns, including mass trolling and disinformation, which led to her Twitter ban in 2018.<ref>{{cite web
 |title=TERFs Don't Have a Right to Be Transphobic on Twitter, Court Rules
 |url=https://www.them.us/story/megan-murphy-terf-twitter-lawsuit
 |website=Them.us
 |date=16 February 2021
}}</ref> While not as widely known, Susannah Sjöberg is an important organizer of the international TERF movement, and is secretary-general of their new international umbrella organization, [[Women's Platform for Action International]], whose stated goal is to fight "the [[queer agenda]]."<ref name=womensplatformforactionwhy/>

[[Reem Alsalem]] has used her role as one of dozens of unpaid special rapporteurs for one of many UN entities to promote anti-trans talking points globally, presenting herself as if she is speaking for the UN. She has appeared with far-right groups such as WDI and [[Alliance Defending Freedom]].<ref name="Theilen">{{cite journal |last1=Theilen |first1=Jens |date=2024 |title=Intersectionality's Travels to International Human Rights Law |url=https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4504732 |journal=Michigan Journal of International Law |volume=45 |issue=2 |ssrn=4504732}}</ref><ref name=Report>{{cite web|url=https://allornone.world/2023/05/26/rights-for-me-not-for-thee-how-anti-trans-feminists-took-their-advocacy-to-the-united-nations/|title=Rights For Me, Not For Thee: How Anti-Trans Feminists Took Their Advocacy to the United Nations}}</ref> As a result, she has been condemned by hundreds of feminist and human rights organizations such as Women Deliver and Planned Parenthood.<ref>{{cite web |title=Joint Statement Concerning the Call for Input by the Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls |url=https://womendeliver.org/press/joint-statement-concerning-the-call-for-input-by-the-special-rapporteur-on-violence-against-women-and-girls/}}</ref>

===Who funds the TERF movement?===

The TERF movement often presents itself as grassroots feminism. But when you follow the money, a different picture appears. Many of the groups pushing anti-trans policies and rhetoric are not funded by feminist networks or community organizing — they're backed by powerful right-wing interests. These funders include Christian fundamentalists in the United States, far-right political actors in Europe, and even authoritarian-aligned interests in Russia. Their shared goal: to roll back human rights, gender equality, and the progress made by feminist and LGBTQ+ movements.

One of the clearest examples is the [[Women's Liberation Front]] (WoLF), a U.S.-based group that works closely with far-right Christian organizations. WoLF has received support from [[James Dobson]], a Christian fundamentalist leader, and his network, including [[Focus on the Family]] and the Family Policy Alliance. These groups have a long history of opposing LGBTQ+ rights, abortion access, and even protections against domestic violence. In 2016, WoLF accepted a donation from the [[Alliance Defending Freedom]] (ADF), a far-right SPLC-designated hate group.

In the United Kingdom, the [[LGB Alliance]] has tried to present itself as a rights-based organization. But it was headquartered at 55 Tufton Street, sharing office space with groups known for climate change denial, anti-immigration campaigns, and support for authoritarian populism.

Across Europe, similar funding patterns have been documented. A 2021 report for the European Parliament revealed that over $700 million in funding was directed to anti-gender movements between 2009 and 2018. Much of this came from conservative Catholic and evangelical networks, but also from sources linked to Russia and other authoritarian regimes. These funders view gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights as threats to "traditional values," and they see anti-trans campaigns as useful tools in their broader culture wars.<ref>{{cite web
 |last=Hughson
 |first=Greta
 |date=27 May 2021
 |title=Who's financing the 'anti-gender' movement in Europe?
 |url=https://www.aidsmap.com/news/may-2021/whos-financing-anti-gender-movement-europe
 |website=Aidsmap
 |access-date=12 June 2025
}}</ref>

A 2024 study found that between 2013 and 2017, at least $3.7 billion was spent worldwide by religious and political groups to oppose gender equality and LGBTQ+ rights. That money supported everything from lobbying efforts to disinformation campaigns to strategic litigation designed to erode protections for trans people.<ref>{{cite web
 |last=Johnson
 |first=Sarah
 |date=2024-09-11
 |title=Religious groups 'spending billions to counter gender-equality education'
 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/article/2024/sep/11/religious-groups-christians-islamists-catholic-billions-counter-gender-equality-sex-education-lgbtq-equal-rights
 |website=The Guardian
}}</ref>

These financial networks reveal that the TERF movement is part of a larger reactionary push, funded and supported by those who want to control bodies, restrict rights, and maintain traditional hierarchies. These efforts are fundamentally anti-feminist and anti-democratic.

==How media amplify TERF ideology==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;">
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>TERF websites are part of a coordinated anti-trans network.</b> Sites like ''[[Reduxx]]'' and ''[[Meghan Murphy|Feminist Current]]'' obsessively target trans people with dehumanizing content.</li>
<li><b>Far-right outlets promote and weaponize TERF narratives.</b> Sites like ''[[Breitbart]]'' and ''[[The Daily Wire]]'' spread anti-trans propaganda to fuel moral panic and dehumanize trans people.</li>
<li><b>Right-wing media normalize anti-trans misinformation.</b> In the UK and beyond, tabloids and columnists amplify fringe voices, spread falsehoods as "debate," and flood coverage with fear-driven narratives that misrepresent trans lives.</li>
</ul>
</div>

===Far-right platforms and the TERF ecosystem===
{{cquote|What kind of "feminist news" site has zero articles on fair pay or reproductive rights, and only articles about transgender people who have allegedly committed crimes?|||''The Washington Post'' on ''[[Reduxx]]''<ref name="wp">{{cite news |last=Hesse |first=Monica |date=March 6, 2023|title= Listening to 'The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling' is exhausting work | work= | publisher=Washington Post| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2023/03/06/witch-trials-jk-rowling-podcast-hesse-column/|location= | access-date=}}</ref>}}

[[File:Anna Slatz Rebel News.jpg|thumb|[[Anna Slatz]] during her time with the far-right media outlet ''{{wpl|Rebel News}}'', prior to founding ''[[Reduxx]]'', an anti-trans website known for obsessively publishing articles accusing trans people of being pedophiles.]]
Far-right alternative media outlets play a significant role in amplifying TERF narratives. One notable example is ''[[Reduxx]]'', a Canadian website co-founded by [[Anna Slatz]] and Genevieve Gluck. Slatz, its editor, was previously affiliated with the far-right website ''{{wpl|Rebel News}}'', where her colleagues included [[Proud Boys]] founder [[Gavin McInnes]]. Known for mainly publishing articles accusing trans people of being pedophiles, ''Reduxx'' is described by [[SPLC]] as "nothing but rabid transphobia,"<ref name=splcenter>{{Cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2023/04/18/male-supremacy-core-hard-rights-agenda|title=Male Supremacy Is at the Core of the Hard Right's Agenda|last=Miller|first=Cassie|date=April 18, 2023|accessdate=August 4, 2024|publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]]}}</ref> and by Media Bias/Fact Check as far-right.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/reduxx-bias-and-credibility/|title=Reduxx|date=31 December 2024|publisher=Media Bias/Fact Check}}</ref> ''Reduxx'' content is widely shared among TERF circles. [[J.K. Rowling]] has regularly amplified ''Reduxx'' articles.<ref name=thepinknews-reduxx>{{cite web |date=31 May 2022 |title=JK Rowling slammed for 'demonising' trans inmates at prison where women raped by guards |url=https://www.thepinknews.com/2022/05/31/jk-rowling-trans-prison-trans-reduxx-edna-mahan/ |website=PinkNews}}</ref>

[[Meghan Murphy]]'s ''Feminist Current'', 4W, UnHerd, The Critic, and male anti-trans activist Taylan Kammer's "[[FeministWiki]]" are also part of the TERF ecosystem.

Beyond these obsessively anti-trans alternative outlets, TERF ideology circulates widely across far-right digital platforms and social media networks. Outlets such as ''[[The Daily Wire]]'', ''[[Breitbart.com|Breitbart]]'', and ''[[GB News]]'' frequently host anti-trans talking points that mirror or amplify TERF rhetoric, often under the guise of defending "women's rights" or "free speech." These platforms provide broader audiences for TERF narratives, framing them as mainstream dissent rather than coordinated attacks on trans rights. This ecosystem creates a feedback loop where far-right media and TERF figures mutually reinforce each other's messaging.

===Sensationalist and right-wing media===
In the United Kingdom, mainstream media outlets, particularly sensationalist tabloids and right-wing publications, have been instrumental in promoting TERF ideology and normalizing anti-trans narratives. These outlets often platform self-described "gender-critical" voices without challenge, presenting their views as "reasonable debate" while sidelining trans perspectives entirely. Headlines frequently emphasize fear, threat, and controversy, framing trans rights as in conflict with the safety or rights of others, especially cisgender women.

Research indicates a significant increase in negative media coverage of transgender issues over the past decade. For instance, the ''[[Daily Mail]]'s'' coverage of trans topics rose from six articles in January 2013 to 115 in January 2023, with nearly all adopting a hostile or alarmist tone.<ref name=qub/> Other major outlets, including ''[[The Times]]'' and ''[[The Telegraph]]'', have run campaigns opposing gender-affirming care, inclusive education, and legal recognition for trans people. These narratives are often echoed by columnists and editorial boards, helping to entrench moral panic and misrepresent trans communities as inherently controversial.

This surge in negative reporting correlates with a documented rise in anti-trans sentiment, online harassment, and hate crimes.<ref name=qub>{{cite web |date=18 April 2024 |title=Why has the Transgender community been left behind? Rampant increase in transphobia and the role of the media |url=https://blogs.qub.ac.uk/pb-happ/2024/04/18/why-has-the-transgender-community-been-left-behind-rampant-increase-in-transphobia-and-the-role-of-the-media/ |website= |location= |publisher=British Politics at Queen's |access-date=}}</ref> The British press has created a uniquely hostile media environment for trans people, where bigotry is routinely reframed as legitimate skepticism, and public understanding of trans issues is shaped by misinformation and sensationalism.

Similarly, in other countries, established media outlets promote fringe anti-trans views and hate groups, often driven by journalists who personally hold such views. For example, in Sweden, Fanny zu Knyphausen, known under the pseudonym "Fanny Berg" in anti-trans circles, was the Swedish "country contact" of the far-right [[SPLC]]-designated anti-trans hate group [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]], while also making anti-trans "documentaries" for the state-owned broadcasting companies {{wpl|Sveriges Radio}} and {{wpl|Sveriges Television}}. Knyphausen/Berg is also a member of GENID, another anti-trans hate group.<ref>[https://bsky.app/profile/phindus.bsky.social/post/3lgpuhlvchk26 Så WDI's tidigare Sverige-kontakt (och GENID-medlem) hade ändå med Transkriget att göra!]</ref>

== How TERFs harm people and society ==

TERF ideology harm not just trans people, but also women's rights, pluralism, knowledge systems, and democratic structures.

<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;">
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>TERF rhetoric fuels real-world harm and extremism.</b> What starts as online hate spills into violence and opens the door to far-right radicalization.</li>
  <li><b>TERFs attack healthcare to control and punish.</b> TERFs push false claims to block gender-affirming care, leaving trans people without the support they need.</li>
<li><b>TERFs are trying to erase trans people from public life.</b> They attack inclusive language, ban trans kids from sports, fuel bathroom panics, and push the idea that trans people shouldn't be seen, heard, or supported – using disinformation and moral panic to radicalize others, especially online.</li>
<li><b>TERFs distort feminism to confuse and divide.</b> They mislead people — especially those who care about women's rights — by blurring the line between real feminist advocacy and anti-trans bigotry. This distraction buries urgent issues like violence, healthcare, and justice, while helping roll back democracy and pluralism.</li>
</ul>
</div>

=== Harassment, radicalization, and violent extremism ===
{{cquote|TERFs have deployed dangerous and extreme online tactics like hate campaigns against trans youth, doxxing of trans activists, and even creating their own online forums when they are kicked out of other online spaces. Often the online abuse has made its way into the real world.|||National Women's Law Center<ref name=nwlc2023>{{cite web
 |title=Happy Pride! Don't Be a TERF
 |url=https://nwlc.org/happy-pride-dont-be-a-terf/
 |publisher=National Women's Law Center
 |date=2023-06-21
}}</ref>}}

[[File:NazisAtStandingforWomenRally2.jpg|thumb|At a 2023 anti-trans TERF rally in Melbourne, held under the "Let Women Speak" banner and organized by [[Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull]]'s group Standing for Women, [[Neo-Nazism|Neo-Nazis]] joined in support, performing Hitler salutes and holding a sign reading "Destroy Paedo Freaks."]]

TERF rhetoric contributes to online and offline harassment. Trans people, especially women, are frequent targets of abuse, threats, and [[doxxing]]. But the impact doesn't stop at harassment. TERF ideology often functions as a gateway into broader extremist worldviews. Scholars of radicalization have noted how seemingly niche or "[[culture war]]" issues like trans rights can serve as entry points into far-right ecosystems. Many anti-trans talking points overlap with [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy theories]] about "[[globalist]] elites," child protection, and cultural decline, narratives also central to [[White nationalism|white nationalist]], Christian nationalist, and {{wpl|Accelerationism|accelerationist}} movements.

TERF communities frequently share content, tactics, and rhetorical frames with extremist actors. These include {{wpl|LGBTQ grooming conspiracy theory|"groomer" conspiracy theories}}, anti-UN paranoia about "[[gender ideology]]," and the misappropriation of liberal values like "[[free speech]]" or "women's rights." These ideas circulate through a radicalization pipeline that blends pseudofeminist transphobia with authoritarian [[populism]], disinformation, and [[moral panic]].

In the UK, Craig McLean argues that discourse around trans rights has been increasingly radicalized by the anti-transgender movement pushing "a radical agenda to deny the basic rights of trans people (...) under the cover of 'free speech'."<ref>{{cite journal |author-last1=McLean |author-first1=Craig |title=The Growth of the Anti-Transgender Movement in the United Kingdom: The Silent Radicalization of the British Electorate |journal=International Journal of Sociology |date=2021 |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=473–482 |doi=10.1080/00207659.2021.1939946 }}</ref> This mirrors the findings of other researchers, who have identified "gender-critical" ideology as a vector for political hardening and identity-based extremism, particularly in online spaces where transphobia, [[antisemitism]], and misogyny often co-occur.

The [[COVID-19 pandemic]] saw a surge in online radicalization, as isolation, fear, and political instability pushed more people toward conspiracy-driven spaces. In that environment, anti-trans rhetoric became a gateway into broader extremist ideologies. What started as posts about "protecting women" or "free speech" often led users into far-right narratives about global elites, cultural decline, and "[[gender ideology]]." Transphobia acted as a low-barrier entry point, that was emotionally charged, seemingly "common sense," and deeply tied to identity, making it an effective tool for pulling people deeper into the online culture war.

Researchers studying {{wpl|violent extremism}} have increasingly focused on TERF ideology and its role in fueling radicalization. While not all individuals influenced by TERF ideology become violent, its alignment with far-right narratives, {{wpl|Dehumanization|dehumanizing}} rhetoric, and conspiracy-driven grievance makes it part of a broader ecosystem that has contributed to real-world violence. Anti-trans hate crimes are rising, and TERF or "gender-critical" forums have been documented as overlap zones with explicitly extremist communities that promote {{wpl|stochastic terrorism}}, [[doxxing]], and political intimidation. What begins as a "reasonable concern" about [[#Attacks on inclusive language|language]] or [[#Bathroom panic|bathrooms]] can quickly become a broader worldview that sees social equality itself as dangerous. This is how TERFism feeds and is fed by the radical right.

=== Legal and policy rollbacks ===
TERF groups have played a prominent role in campaigns to restrict trans rights around the world. In the UK, the U.S., Sweden, and elsewhere, they've opposed gender recognition reforms, lobbied against trans-inclusive policies, and successfully pressured institutions to adopt exclusionary definitions of sex. These efforts have often focused on redefining legal terms, blocking updates to existing laws, or introducing new legislation that frames trans existence as a threat to "women's rights."

These rollbacks undermine civil rights for trans people and reinforce structural discrimination across healthcare, education, and public services. In many countries, legal definitions of sex have been narrowed to exclude trans people, limiting access to ID documents, healthcare, employment protections, and equal treatment under the law. In practice, this means denying trans people the ability to fully participate in society, from voting and traveling to accessing shelter, insurance, or justice.

TERF-driven policy changes often become test cases for broader authoritarian and anti-rights agendas. By aligning with far-right actors, TERFs help normalize policies that restrict bodily autonomy, suppress minority rights, and weaken legal protections. These legal rollbacks contribute to a chilling climate that discourages advocacy, undermines trust in democratic institutions, and signals that trans lives are disposable.

=== Attacks on healthcare access ===
[[File:Protect Trans Healthcare (52174817324).jpg|thumb|A protest sign reading "Protect Trans Healthcare and Abortion Rights 4 All" at a 2022 demonstration, highlighting the intersection of trans rights and reproductive justice]]

TERFs have played a key role in spreading fear and disinformation about gender-affirming care. Their messaging often focuses on the false claim that this care is dangerous, experimental, or part of a broader effort to "confuse" or "recruit" children. In reality, gender-affirming care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and support services, is backed by decades of research and is supported by major medical organizations around the world. Despite this, TERF-aligned groups have launched aggressive campaigns to restrict access, especially for young people.

Attacks on healthcare access often rely on emotional manipulation and misleading anecdotes. TERFs promote stories of "regret" or "detransition" as if they represent the norm, when in fact the vast majority of trans people who access care report long-term improvement in mental health and quality of life. They use [[Cherry picking|cherry-picked]] data and fringe sources to spread panic about supposed "harm," often in collaboration with far-right media outlets, religious lobbying groups, and right-wing politicians. Together, they push for laws and policies that ban or severely restrict gender-affirming care for minors, delay treatment for adults, or criminalize medical providers.

The impact of attacks on healthcare access is severe. Denying access to care doesn't make trans people disappear, but it increases suffering. Studies consistently show that gender-affirming care is linked to lower rates of depression, anxiety, and suicide attempts, especially among trans youth. When that care is taken away, those risks rise dramatically. TERF activism has contributed directly to clinic closures, harassment of healthcare professionals, and the chilling of medical research. In some countries and U.S. states, the climate of hostility is so extreme that families have been forced to flee in order to access safe, legal treatment for their children.

Attacks on gender-affirming care often go hand in hand with efforts to restrict reproductive healthcare. Both are driven by attempts to control people's bodies and enforce narrow, binary ideas of gender. Trans healthcare and abortion rights are deeply connected struggles, both about the right to make personal decisions without coercion, punishment, or discrimination. TERF opposition to gender-affirming care directly undermines this principle, and contributes to a broader climate of fear, stigma, and suffering for trans people.

=== Attacks on education ===

TERF groups have increasingly focused on influencing school policies, curricula, and classroom environments. They claim that teaching about gender identity or including trans students in schools is "confusing" or "dangerous" to children, claims not backed by evidence. In reality, these attacks are part of a broader effort to push trans people out of public life, starting with the youngest generation.

They have supported book bans, opposed LGBTQ+ inclusive lessons, and pushed to exclude trans students from school activities, restrooms, and sports. These exclusionary policies, often introduced with backing from far-right or religious conservative groups, don't make anyone safer. Instead, they create a hostile environment and increase harm, especially for trans and gender-diverse students who already face high rates of bullying and discrimination.

=== Attacks on inclusive language ===
[[File:Sign explaining inclusive language in spanish.jpg|thumb|Unlike TERFs and their far-right allies, actual feminists support inclusive language. A sign explaining inclusive language at a feminist protest in Madrid.]]

TERFs and other anti-gender actors – especially on the far right – often target {{wpl|inclusive language}} in schools, healthcare, media, and government policies. They claim that terms acknowledging gender diversity "erase" women, but this claim is unfounded. Inclusive language aims to respect and encompass all individuals affected by gender-based issues, including trans, nonbinary, and intersex people. TERFs reject this inclusivity, promoting rigid and outdated views of gender. These attacks rely on disinformation and manufactured moral panic, painting inclusive language as dangerous or absurd. By distorting basic terms and stoking fear, TERFs create a low-barrier entry point into wider anti-trans radicalization — especially through online spaces and populist media.

In her 2023 review of recent scholarship on language, gender, and sexuality, Lucy Jones notes that "gender-critical" actors often oppose linguistic practices affirming trans and nonbinary identities, citing the preservation of "[[#Dog whistles TERFs use: "Sex-based rights", "adult human female" and "what is a woman?"|sex-based rights]]" as justification. She observes that this resistance is typically framed by a binary and [[Biological determinism|essentialist]] ideology that defines "woman" exclusively as someone assigned female at birth. Jones characterizes this stance as part of a broader "cisnormative preoccupation with trans people's bodies" and a form of linguistic policing aimed at denying the legitimacy of trans and nonbinary identities.<ref name=Jones>{{cite journal 
 |last1=Jones 
 |first1=Lucy 
 |date=2023 
 |title=Language, gender and sexuality in 2022: Documenting and resisting regressive ideology 
 |journal=Gender and Language 
 |volume=17 
 |issue=2 
 |pages=1–18 
 |doi=10.1558/genl.26176 
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1558/genl.26176 
}}</ref>

Claims that inclusive language "[[#"Erasure of women" conspiracy theory|erases women]]" are rooted in [[Conspiracy theory|conspiracy-driven]] narratives, and are a major point of convergence between TERFs and the far right. Anti-trans groups portray gender-inclusive terms as part of a hidden effort to abolish the "category of women" or what TERFs call the "female sex class," accusing institutions and public bodies of "erasing women from language and law." These claims rely on imagined threats and exaggerated consequences, typical of moral panic, where social change is portrayed as a danger rather than a shift toward inclusion.

Rodrigo Borba examines the emergence of an "anti-gender register" in trans-exclusionary discourse, including "gender-critical" narratives. He argues that this register, drawing on essentialist ideas about sex and gender, gains traction through "enregisterment," a process making certain ideological positions appear "natural" or "[[Common sense|commonsensical]]." Borba suggests this has been achieved partly by appropriating the language of feminist and LGBTQ+ antidiscrimination activism, reframing it to emphasize threats to the rights of cisgender women and children.<ref name=Borba>{{cite journal 
 |last1=Borba 
 |first1=Rodrigo 
 |date=2022 
 |title=Enregistering 'gender ideology': the emergence and circulation of a transnational anti-gender language 
 |journal=Journal of Language and Sexuality 
 |volume=11 
 |issue=1 
 |pages=57–79 
 |doi=10.1075/jls.21003.bor 
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1075/jls.21003.bor
}}</ref>

Attacks on inclusive language don't stop at internet harassment. TERFs have advocated for laws and policies banning inclusive terms in public documents, education, and medical settings. They often collaborate with far-right politicians and religious groups opposing LGBTQ+ rights. This shared focus on restricting gender discussions underscores how closely TERFs align with broader far-right campaigns to reverse social progress.

The inclusive terms targeted by TERFs are not attempts to erase the word woman, but context-specific language meant to include all those affected – like trans men and nonbinary people in reproductive healthcare. Phrases such as pregnant people are typically used in medical, legal, or policy settings to reflect this diversity. However, TERFs and other anti-gender actors frequently distort and ridicule such language, presenting it as absurd or offensive to stoke [[Populism|populist]] outrage. This rhetorical strategy fuels disinformation, inflames [[culture war]] narratives, and makes it harder for trans and nonbinary people to be seen, respected, and protected. Beyond semantics, the ultimate goal is political: to restrict visibility, enforce exclusion, and deny trans people safe and equitable participation in public life.

This rhetorical inversion — claiming oppression while carrying it out — is a common feature of [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]] politics. By presenting themselves as victims of "erasure," TERFs deflect attention from the harm they're inflicting on already marginalized people. It's a familiar [[Fascism|fascist]] tactic: invent a threat, blame a vulnerable group, and use that fear to justify further harm — in this case, against trans people simply trying to live their lives.

=== Attacks on inclusive sports ===
{{cquote|Take the story of Fischer Wells, a 13-year-old trans girl who helped recruit for her school's field hockey team, opening up new team spots for herself and cisgender girls. Despite basically creating this team, Fischer was heartbreakingly kicked off her team as the lone middle-schooler targeted by Kentucky's anti-trans sports ban.|||National Women's Law Center<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |title=Once and For All: This Is Why We Support Trans Women and Girls in Sports |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250424210052/https://nwlc.org/once-and-for-all-this-is-why-we-support-trans-women-and-girls-in-sports/ |location= |publisher= National Women's Law Center|date=6 December 2023}}</ref>}}

[[File:Students Protest Anti-Trans Law (51934906805).jpg|thumb|Students stand in solidarity with their transgender fellow students as they protest a new anti-trans sports ban driven by [[Trumpism|MAGA Republicans]] and TERFs]]
Anti-trans activists have weaponized sports as a key front in their broader campaign to exclude trans people from public life. These attacks are not truly about sports. They are part of a coordinated effort to stir [[moral panic]], spread misinformation, and isolate and shame trans women and girls. Time and again, moral panics like these have served as stepping stones to broader discrimination, aiming to normalize exclusion and lay the groundwork for even more harmful policies.

There is no credible evidence of trans people "dominating" sports. On the contrary, trans athletes — particularly trans girls and women — face systemic exclusion from both sports and public life. Participation rates remain extremely low, and when trans youth do play, they are often subjected to invasive scrutiny, harassment, and legal battles.

From state legislatures in the United States to right-wing media campaigns in the UK, TERFs and their far-right allies have turned trans athletes into political targets. Their attacks rely on public misunderstanding of biology and sport, turning trans people into scapegoats and portraying their presence in sports as a threat.

Stories are routinely stripped of context, turned into viral outrage bait. Sensationalized anecdotes and dehumanizing headlines dominate coverage, often at the expense of actual trans people, especially children. Young athletes are bullied, misrepresented, and dragged into national debates they never asked to be part of. Slogans like "Save Women's Sports" are used not to promote fairness, but to attack and exclude. Behind the attacks is a clear intent: to push trans youth out of public life by making their basic participation controversial.

Major feminist, civil rights, and public health organizations reject the scapegoating of trans athletes. Trans women and girls are not and have never been a threat to women's sports. An overwhelming number of gender justice organizations — including the National Organization for Women and the Women's Sports Foundation — have stated clearly that policing gender in sport harms all women and girls, not just trans athletes. They affirm that inclusive sports policies reflect feminist values such as fairness, participation, and access. Trans girls, like all girls, deserve the benefits of playing sports: improved mental health, academic success, and a sense of belonging.<ref>{{cite web |last= |first= |date=2021 |title=A statement from Athlete Ally on the future of women's sport |url=https://www.athleteally.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/The-Future-of-Womens-Sport-includes-Transgender-Women-and-Girls-Statement_11.15.21.pdf |website= |location= |publisher= Athlete Ally}}</ref>

=== Bathroom panic ===
Anti-trans activists, including TERFs and far-right groups, have spent years fueling fear about trans women using public restrooms and locker rooms. The narrative is almost always the same: that trans women are "men in disguise" seeking to harm cis women and girls. It is a baseless claim rooted in misogyny, transmisogyny, and age-old tropes that portray marginalized groups as predators. For example, the [[Ku Klux Klan]] often justified their racism by claiming that they needed to protect white women from the [[Black brute]].

There is no evidence to support this panic. Study after study shows that trans people are not a threat in public facilities. In fact, trans people, especially trans women, are far more likely to be harassed, assaulted, or denied access when using bathrooms and locker rooms than to pose any danger to others.<ref>{{cite journal
 |last1=Hasenbush
 |first1=A.
 |last2=Flores
 |first2=A. R.
 |last3=Herman
 |first3=J. L.
 |title=Gender Identity Nondiscrimination Laws in Public Accommodations: a Review of Evidence Regarding Safety and Privacy in Public Restrooms, Locker Rooms, and Changing Rooms
 |journal=Sexuality Research and Social Policy
 |volume=16
 |issue=1
 |pages=70–83
 |year=2019
 |doi=10.1007/s13178-018-0335-z
 |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/s13178-018-0335-z
}}</ref>

Despite this, TERFs and their allies relentlessly invoke worst-case scenarios and [[urban legend|urban legends]] to justify this anti-trans panic. They portray basic access to public restrooms as a battleground for "women's safety," knowing that this rhetoric plays on deeply emotional fears. But these scare tactics do not protect women, they harm them.

Here's how:
*They fuel violence against trans women, who are often harassed or physically attacked for using facilities that align with their identity.
*They lead to policies that criminalize bathroom use, forcing trans people to "hold it," avoid public life, or risk arrest.
*They create a chilling effect where anyone who doesn't conform to narrow gender norms, including masculine-presenting women, butch lesbians, and nonbinary people, is subjected to suspicion or harassment.

In this way, "bathroom panic" becomes a tool of broader gender policing. It reinforces the idea that only certain bodies are allowed to exist safely in public. It punishes trans people for being visible and makes everyday acts, like using the toilet or changing at the gym, a flashpoint for hate.

Feminist analysis shows how bathroom panic recycles harmful old myths. For generations, women have been told to fear public space and accept surveillance and restriction in the name of "safety." TERF rhetoric taps into those same fears — but redirects them at trans women, who are not threats, but among the people most at risk of violence.

Legal scholar Ntina Tzouvala notes that this rhetoric also revives the long-discredited "stranger danger" myth of sexual violence, one that feminist theorists, including radical feminists, spent decades dismantling. She argues that this panic erases the reality that most gender-based violence occurs in private, not public, and warns that so-called "vigilant" approaches to bathroom policing result in increased harassment of gender-nonconforming cis women, especially butch lesbians, who are wrongly targeted based on their failure to conform to stereotypical femininity.<ref name=Tzouvala/>

When TERFs claim to defend women by excluding trans women, what they're really defending is a narrow and exclusionary idea of who gets counted as a woman. In doing so, they make all women less safe. Surveillance, suspicion, and bathroom bans don't stop harm, but amplify it, especially for those already marginalized.

Access to safe, inclusive facilities is not a special right. It's a matter of dignity, health, and public participation. Denying it to trans people under the false banner of "protection" betrays both feminist values and basic human decency.

=== Cultural and political distortion ===
TERF ideology doesn't just cause harm through laws or online abuse. It also damages how people understand feminism, gender, and trans rights. By presenting anti-trans ideology as "fairness" and "protection," TERFs try to make their bigotry sound reasonable to people who might not know the full picture. This creates confusion, especially for those who want to support women's rights but aren't familiar with trans issues. It blurs the line between advocacy and discrimination in a way that misleads the public and distorts the meaning of feminism.

This kind of cultural harm has wide effects. It makes teachers, journalists, and politicians more hesitant to speak out for trans rights, fearing backlash. It spreads suspicion, encouraging people to treat trans lives as controversial instead of simply human. For trans people, especially youth, it sends a harmful message: that who they are is up for debate, and that they don't truly belong.

But this damage doesn't stop at individuals. It also weakens the foundations of democratic society. TERF rhetoric fuels distrust in public institutions, undermines respect for expertise and research, and attacks the values of pluralism, the idea that society should make space for many voices and experiences. It encourages people to reject knowledge they find uncomfortable, and to treat inclusion as a threat rather than a strength. In doing so, it plays into broader patterns of democratic backsliding, where fear and control take the place of reason and dialogue.

At its heart, this is not just a fight about policy or language. It's about what kind of world we want to build. A society rooted in fear, exclusion, and rigid control, or one that values compassion, curiosity, and care. Pluralism and democracy depend on our ability to live with difference and to protect one another's dignity. A society that fails to do that doesn't just harm trans people. It loses part of its humanity.

== How feminists resist TERFs ==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;">
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>Feminism stands with trans people — clearly and loudly.</b> Major feminist voices call TERF ideology a threat to the rights, dignity, and safety feminism exists to defend.</li>
  <li><b>There's no "trans debate" — just transphobia.</b> Treating trans people as a controversy is a political tactic to deny their dignity, safety, and voice.</li>
</ul>
</div>

=== Real feminist movements stand with trans people ===
{{cquote|Don't Be a TERF|||National Women's Law Center<ref name=nwlc2023/>}}
[[File:Marsz Równości 2021 w Krakowie, 20210814 1924 3552.jpg|thumb|Feminism means fighting for equality for all]]

Mainstream feminist organizations have made it clear: transphobia has no place in feminism. Sociologist Kelsy Burke observed that "TERFs aren't aligned with most feminists" and that "most American feminists are far from trans-exclusionary and have long been among the most supportive groups of LGBTQ equality".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Burke |first1=Kelsy |title=Feminists have long supported trans rights |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/made-by-history/2023/07/27/trans-rights-feminism-conservative-women/ |date=2023-07-27 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> Groups like Women's March, the National Organization for Women, and the National Women's Law Center have all affirmed that the fight for gender justice must include trans people.

That clarity comes from feminism's core purpose: defending freedom, equality, and self-determination. Feminism opposes the forces that try to control people's bodies, limit their identities, or deny their autonomy. Transphobia does exactly that. It targets trans people — especially trans women — with exclusion and discrimination, and hits hardest those already marginalized by racism, poverty, or ableism. Denying trans people basic dignity and protection undermines the shared values that feminism is built on.

Feminist organizations reject TERF ideology because it contradicts both the history and future of the movement. From the struggle for reproductive justice to the fight for equal pay, feminist progress has always depended on standing together across difference. Supporting trans people is not a side issue: it is part of the work. TERFs try to speak for feminism, but the feminist movement has already spoken. It stands with trans people.

;What real feminist movements say
*In 2020 28 feminist groups in France denounced TERF ideology, and said that "questions disguised as 'legitimate concerns' quickly give way to more violent attacks" and that "it is a confusionist and conspiratorial ideological movement using the cover of feminism to disrupt real feminist fights."<ref name=liberation>{{cite web | url=https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2020/02/26/le-debat-sur-la-place-des-femmes-trans-n-a-pas-lieu-d-etre_1779708/ | title=Le débat sur la place des femmes trans n'a pas lieu d'être |date=2020 | archive-date=17 May 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210517001126/https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2020/02/26/le-debat-sur-la-place-des-femmes-trans-n-a-pas-lieu-d-etre_1779708/ | url-status=live }}</ref> The declaration has since also been signed by over 100 additional feminist, LGBT, and progressive groups.
*In 2021, over 110 feminist organisations in Canada signed a statement stating that they "vehemently reject the dangerous and bigoted rhetoric and ideology espoused by Trans Exclusionary Radical 'Feminists' (TERFs)", and saying that "trans people are a driving force in our feminist movements and make incredible contributions across all facets of our society".<ref name="Canada 110">{{Cite web|url=https://www.actioncanadashr.org/news/2021-05-04-our-feminism-trans-inclusive|title=Our Feminism is Trans Inclusive|date=2021|archive-date=12 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210612151421/https://www.actioncanadashr.org/news/2021-05-04-our-feminism-trans-inclusive|url-status=live}}</ref>
*{{wpl|UN Women}} has described the anti-gender and "gender-critical" movements as extreme anti-rights movements that employ hate propaganda and disinformation.<ref name=unwomen>{{cite web |title=LGBTIQ+ communities and the anti-rights pushback: 5 things to know |date=28 May 2024 |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/lgbtiq-communities-and-the-anti-rights-pushback-5-things-to-know |publisher=UN Women |archive-date=4 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250604215634/https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/lgbtiq-communities-and-the-anti-rights-pushback-5-things-to-know }}</ref>

=== Intersectional and queer feminist critiques ===

Feminist scholars such as [[Judith Butler]], Julia Serano, and Susan Stryker have critically examined the pseudo-feminist framing of TERF ideology. They highlight how trans-exclusionary politics rely on outdated, biologically reductionist concepts of sex and gender that contradict decades of feminist research. Lesbian feminists Leslie Feinberg and Sandi Toksvig have supported trans women, relating this to their experiences as lesbian women both in the feminist movement and in the gay liberation movement.<ref>Remarks printed in ''TransSisters: The Journal of Transsexual Feminism'', p. 24–26; volume 1 (issue 7); Winter 1995. See: [https://archive.org/details/transsistersjour1995unse/page/24/mode/2up "Excerpts from 'Sisterhood: Make It Real!"]. [https://www.digitaltransgenderarchive.net/files/m039k4946 (Transgender Digital Archive entry)].</ref><ref>Louis Staples (November 23, 2023). [https://inews.co.uk/culture/comedy/sandi-toksvig-distressed-anti-trans-radical-feminists-2768064 "Sandi Toksvig: ‘I’m so distressed by anti-trans ‘radical feminists’ I could weep’"]. ''iNews''.</ref>

Intersectional and queer feminists reject the notion that womanhood can be narrowly defined by reproductive anatomy or by sex assigned at birth. Instead, they demonstrate that gender is shaped by complex social, cultural, and historical forces, and that genuine feminism must address intersecting systems of oppression, including transphobia. From this view, now central to contemporary feminist thought, TERF ideology is not just exclusionary but actively undermines feminist goals by reinforcing systems of gender regulation and anti-queer hostility.

By centering lived experience, challenging biological determinism, and resisting binary thinking, intersectional and queer feminists make clear that trans liberation is inseparable from broader feminist struggles for justice and equality.

===Radical feminist critiques===
{{cquote|Radical feminism has been co-opted by a few powerful transphobes who do not represent radical feminist ideology. As a result, many of the students I taught at Cambridge were anti-radical feminists. They believed radical feminism was inherently transphobic. But it isn't.|||Charlotte Proudman<ref>{{cite news
 |last1=Proudman
 |first1=Charlotte
 |date=28 July 2022
 |title=Being a radical feminist means being a trans ally at the same time
 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/terf-trans-feminism-gender-b2131456.html
 |work=The Independent
}}</ref>}}

Legal scholar Ntina Tzouvala argues that TERF ideology represents a betrayal, not a continuation, of radical feminist thought. In her 2021 article "Salvaging the 'RF'," she shows how trans-exclusionary politics contradict the core commitments of early radical feminism, which focused on structural oppression and the power of social systems, not biology. Tzouvala stresses that foundational thinkers like [[Andrea Dworkin]] and {{wpl|Catharine A. MacKinnon}} saw gender as a social force that shapes lives through subordination, not something fixed at birth. From this view, trans women, who also suffer gender-based harm, belong within feminist struggle.<ref name=Tzouvala>{{cite web |last=Tzouvala |first=Ntina |title=Salvaging the 'RF': Radical Feminism and Trans Exclusion |url=https://criticallegalthinking.com/2021/02/03/salvaging-the-rf-radical-feminism-and-trans-exclusion/ |website=Critical Legal Thinking |date=3 February 2021 |access-date=5 June 2025}}</ref>

Tzouvala also critiques the way TERF discourse revives dangerous myths under a feminist mask. Fears about "predators in bathrooms" and the policing of identity echo long-standing patriarchal tropes about male violence as random and external, rather than structural and often domestic. She argues that true radical feminism targets the systems that allow violence and inequality to flourish, not vulnerable individuals. By turning feminist energy against trans women, TERFs misdirect the fight and weaken feminist goals.<ref name=Tzouvala/>

Catharine A. MacKinnon, one of the most influential feminist legal theorists of the 20th century, has also strongly rejected trans-exclusionary ideology. Writing in ''Signs'' in 2023, she warns that defining womanhood by biology is a dangerous return to the essentialism feminists have long fought. She argues that the oppression of women is not caused by chromosomes or body parts, but by power structures that impose dominance and submission through gender roles. In her words, "women are not oppressed by our bodies," and feminism should not fall into the trap of defending the very ideas patriarchy has used to control women.<ref name=MacKinnon>{{cite journal
 | last1 = MacKinnon
 | first1 = Catharine A.
 | last2 = Mackay
 | first2 = Finn
 | last3 = Shuman
 | first3 = Mischa
 | last4 = Fredman
 | first4 = Sandra
 | title = Exploring Transgender Law and Politics
 | journal = Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society
 | volume = 50
 | issue = 1
 | pages = 279–318
 | date = 2024
 | doi = 10.1086/731625
 | url = https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/731625
}}</ref>

MacKinnon is clear that trans women are not a threat to feminism, they are part of it. She sees anti-trans panic as a distraction from real violence, often used by the right to push regressive laws. By siding with conservatives, trans-exclusionary feminists end up reinforcing male dominance and rigid gender roles. She calls instead for a broader, more inclusive feminism: one that stands with all people harmed by patriarchy, including trans people. For both Tzouvala and MacKinnon, feminism's power lies in resisting hierarchy and domination, not replicating it.<ref name=MacKinnon/>

===Trans people are not a debate===
{{cquote|It's not "the Jewish question", it's "the anti-semitism question". Likewise it's not "the transgender question", it's "the transphobia question".|||Sophie-Grace Chappell<ref name=Chappell/>}}

One of the most insidious tactics used by trans-exclusionary movements is to [[Framing|frame]] trans people, particularly trans women, not as individuals with rights, lives, and dignity, but as a "debate." This framing is not neutral. It is a political weapon designed to deny justice, legitimize harm, and elevate bad-faith arguments to the level of public discourse.

TERF ideology thrives in the language of "[[just asking questions]]." But when those questions concern the legitimacy of someone's identity, the safety of their healthcare, or their right to exist in public life, it's not a debate, it's a denial of personhood.

The philosopher Sophie-Grace Chappell draws a chilling historical parallel: there is no such thing as "the transgender question," no more than there was any such thing as "the Jewish question" in 19th- or 20th-century Germany. These so-called "questions" were never about curiosity. They were tools of dehumanization. As Chappell puts it, the real question is not about transgender people, but about transphobia itself.<ref name=Chappell>{{cite web
 |last1=Chappell
 |first1=Sophie-Grace
 |date=2 November 2020
 |title=Getting the question right: reflections on transgender and "the transgender question"
 |url=https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/openfordebate/getting-the-question-right-reflections-on-transgender-and-the-transgender-question/
 |website=Open for Debate
 |publisher=Cardiff University
}}</ref>

Framing trans existence as controversial is not harmless. It creates real, measurable harm. In schools, it justifies excluding trans students from recognition and support. In [[#Attacks on healthcare access|healthcare]], it fuels misinformation campaigns that block access to life-saving care. In media and law, it lends undue credibility to hate groups and bigotry by treating them as merely one "side" of an issue. And on social media, it gives cover to harassment campaigns that target trans people for simply living their lives.

This manufactured "debate" also distorts feminism. Feminism did not succeed by treating sexism, racism, or reproductive rights as abstract topics to be argued over. It succeeded by asserting that those affected should be heard, believed, and empowered. The same must hold true for trans people.

What's at stake is whether we allow ourselves to be pulled into a rhetorical trap where bigotry masquerades as "free speech," and structural violence is treated as reasonable disagreement. The consequences of that trap are not theoretical: They are visible in rising hate crimes, suicidality among trans youth, and the rollback of rights across education, healthcare, and law.

From a feminist standpoint, the humanity of trans people is not up for discussion. Their inclusion is not negotiable. Feminism that abandons trans people is not feminism.

==Terminology==
<div style="background:#e6f2ff; border-left: 5px solid #3399cc; padding: 15px; margin: 10px 0; font-size: 95%; box-shadow: 2px 2px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); line-height: 1.6;">
<span style="font-weight:bold; font-size:110%;">🔍 Key takeaways</span>
<ul style="list-style-type: square; padding-left: 20px; margin: 10px 0;">
  <li><b>"TERF" is not a slur – it's a factual description.</b> Claims that it's a slur are a distraction tactic meant to paint TERFs as victims while they continue to attack trans people.</li>
  <li><b>"Gender critical" is just anti-trans politics in disguise.</b> The label is a rebranding effort to make transphobia sound respectable and gain broader support.</li>
</ul>
</div>

===Why "TERF" is not a slur===
The term "trans-exclusionary radical feminist" or "TERF" was first coined and popularized in 2008 by trans-inclusive radical feminist blogger Viv Smythe (known online as TigTog). Smythe introduced "TERF" as a deliberately neutral, descriptive shorthand for distinguishing radical feminists who actively opposed the inclusion of trans people, particularly trans women, from those who were either supportive or neutral regarding trans rights. Smythe explained her intention clearly in a 2014 interview:

{{cquote|It was meant to be a deliberately technically neutral description of an activist grouping. We wanted a way to distinguish TERFs from other radfems with whom we engaged who were trans-positive/neutral, because we had several years of history of engaging productively and substantively with non-TERF radfems...}}

Despite its straightforward origins, some individuals labeled TERFs publicly reject the term, claiming it to be a slur. In practice, however, many openly embrace the term without hesitation, underscoring the inconsistency and tactical nature of these objections. For example, Kara Dansky of the leading TERF organization, [[Women's Declaration International|WDI]], publishes a blog called ''The TERF Report''; the head of [[Women's Liberation Front|WoLF]], when meeting the head of Swedish TERF group [[Women's Platform for Action International]]/[[Swedish Women's Lobby]], talks about how she "[[Women's Platform for Action International#Opposing the "queer agenda"|loves meeting TERFs in the wild]]." In 2025 WDI is organizing its first conference in London under the slogan "Building International TERF Sisterhood"<ref>[https://womensdeclarationinternational.telltix.com/events/womensdeclarationinternational/1472870 "Building International Terf Sisterhood" conference], [[Women's Declaration International]]</ref> (clearly inspired by the slogan of the conferences of their close partner, [[FiLiA]], "Building Sisterhood," simply adding the word "TERF").

The claim that "TERF" is a slur is widely viewed as a rhetorical maneuver designed to frame TERFs as victims while continuing to propagate transphobia. Gender studies scholars Serena Bassi and Greta LaFleur note that "the argument by trans-exclusionary radical feminists that the term TERF (an acronym for "trans-exclusionary radical feminist") is a "slur"—rather than a description of a particular approach to politics—leans on a "politics of injury" that distances itself from the real and very harmful work trans-exclusionary radical feminism is doing in the world."<ref name=Bassi>{{cite journal |last1=Bassi |first1=Serena |last2=LaFleur |first2=Greta |title=Introduction: TERFs, Gender-Critical Movements, and Postfascist Feminisms |journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly |date=2022 |volume=9 |issue=3 |pages=311–333 |doi=10.1215/23289252-9836008 |s2cid=253052875}}</ref>

In ''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies'' Cristan Williams notes that
{{cquote|The term has been rhetorically helpful in distinguishing TERF activism from the long-term radical feminist community members who are inclusive of trans women and in recognizing that early radical feminist opinion leaders like Andrea Dworkin, Catharine MacKinnon, and Dana Densmore and pioneering radical feminist groups like the Lesbian Tide, the Olivia Collective, and Sisters were trans supportive. However, TERF activists characterize the acronym as offensive, which spawned the "TERF is a slur" campaign to discourage its use. Many TERFs see no distinction between their politics and radical feminist analysis, but if such a distinction is to be made, they encourage opinion leaders to use the term ''gender critical'' instead of ''TERF''. Therefore, the rhetorical utility of ''TERF'' brings a not always welcomed linguistic nuance to feminist discourse, especially online discourse, wherein communication is frequently condensed through abbreviations, symbols, and acronyms. While ''TERF'', as a lexical unit, can carry unflattering overtones in the same way that ''bigot'', ''misogynist'', or ''racist'' might, it nonetheless constructs a much-needed way to disentangle the sometimes subjugative, violent, and even murderous anti-trans behavior and rhetoric of TERF activism from radical feminism itself, even as TERFs work tirelessly to represent their activism as "radical feminism" on popular, social, and academic media platforms.|||Cristan Williams<ref>Williams, Cristan (2021). "[https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-trans-studies/chpt/terfs TERFs]". ''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies''. London, Los Angeles: SAGE Reference. pp. 822–825. ISBN 978-1-5443-9381-0.</ref>}}

Feminist philosopher [[Judith Butler]] argued that the label "TERF" accurately reflects the beliefs and actions of those it describes:

{{cquote|I am not aware that terf is used as a slur. I wonder what name self-declared feminists who wish to exclude trans women from women's spaces would be called? If they do favour exclusion, why not call them exclusionary? If they understand themselves as belonging to that strain of radical feminism that opposes gender reassignment, why not call them radical feminists?|||[[Judith Butler]]<ref>[https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2020/09/judith-butler-culture-wars-jk-rowling-and-living-anti-intellectual-times Judith Butler on the culture wars, JK Rowling and living in "anti-intellectual times"], Alona Ferber, The New Statesman, September 2020</ref>}}

Philosopher Jennifer Saul agrees that TERF is not a slur, but argues that the term can be misleading—not because it's too harsh, but because it lends feminist legitimacy to people actively working against the rights of trans women. Feminism, she writes, should not be used to justify harming some of the most marginalized women. Instead of calling such individuals feminists of any kind, Saul proposes a more accurate label: anti-trans activists. Clearer language, she argues, helps focus attention where it belongs: on the fight for trans rights and dignity, not on semantic distractions.<ref>Saul, Jennifer (2020). "[https://theconversation.com/why-the-words-we-use-matter-when-describing-anti-trans-activists-130990 Why the words we use matter when describing anti-trans activists]". ''The Conversation'', March 5, 2020.</ref>

===Rebranding as "gender critical"===
Since the 2010s, TERFs have increasingly attempted to rebrand their ideology under the term "gender-critical feminism" (abbreviated GC). Scholars and feminist critics have characterized this rebranding effort as a calculated rhetorical strategy and a form of [[dogwhistling]] intended to obscure overt transphobia. Researcher Claire Thurlow highlights how this shift from "TERF" to "gender critical" serves as a [[euphemism]] designed to mask anti-trans activism as legitimate feminist critique.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thurlow |first1=Claire |title=From TERF to gender critical: A telling genealogy? |journal=Sexualities |date=2022 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=962–978 |doi=10.1177/13634607221107827 }}</ref> Similarly, Aleardo Zanghellini has argued that "gender-critical feminism" fundamentally seeks to exclude trans individuals. Further scholarly critiques by Mauro Cabral Grinspan, Ilana Eloit, David Paternotte, and Mieke Verloo identify "gender-critical feminism" as problematic precisely because it is intended to sanitize and normalize anti-trans sentiments. They emphasize that the phrase functions primarily as a rebranding tactic.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Grinspan |first1=Mauro Cabral |last2=Eloit |first2=Ilana |last3=Paternotte |first3=David |last4=Verloo |first4=Mieke |title=Exploring TERFnesses |journal=Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies |date=2023 |volume=10 |issue=2 |doi=10.21825/digest.90008|doi-access=free }}</ref>

==See also==
{{collist|3|
*[[Cathy Brennan]]
*[[Germaine Greer]]
*[[Sheila Jeffreys]]
*[[Mumsnet]]
*[[The Guardian]]
*[[Abolition of gender]]
*[[J.K. Rowling]]
*[[LGB Alliance]]
*[[Ophelia Benson]]
*[[Julie Burchill]]
*[[Graham Linehan]]
*[[Meghan Murphy]]
*[[Janice Raymond]]
*[[TERF glossary]]
*[[White feminism]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

==Further reading==
;Explainers and introductions
*{{cite web
 |title=How to Spot TERF Ideology 2.0
 |url=https://www.cambridgesu.co.uk/pageassets/resources/guides/spottingterfideology/How-to-Spot-TERF-Ideology-2.0-2.pdf
 |publisher=Cambridge SU Women's Campaign (Cambridge Students' Union)
 |date=2021–2022
 |format=PDF
}}
*{{cite news |last1=Crimaldi |first1=Elena |title=The fracturing of European feminism: How TERF ideology threatens decades of progress |url=https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/ |date=2 December 2025 |work=Feministeerium|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20251203093202/https://feministeerium.ee/en/the-fracturing-of-european-feminism-how-terf-ideology-threatens-decades-of-progress/|archivedate=2025-12-03}}
*{{cite web
 |title=Happy Pride! Don't Be a TERF
 |url=https://nwlc.org/happy-pride-dont-be-a-terf/
 |publisher=National Women's Law Center
 |date=2023-06-21
}}
*{{cite web |title=LGBTIQ+ communities and the anti-rights pushback: 5 things to know |date=28 May 2024 |url=https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/lgbtiq-communities-and-the-anti-rights-pushback-5-things-to-know |publisher=UN Women |archive-date=4 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250604215634/https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/explainer/2024/05/lgbtiq-communities-and-the-anti-rights-pushback-5-things-to-know }}
*{{cite web
 |title=The rise of anti‑trans "radical" feminists, explained
 |url=https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/9/5/20840101/terfs-radical-feminists-gender-critical
 |website=Vox
 |date=2019-09-05
}}
*{{cite web
 |title=How the far-right is turning feminists into fascists
 |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/far-right-feminist-fascist-220810
 |website=Xtra
 |date=2022-04-01
}}
*{{cite web
 |title=How to tell if that 'feminist' election group is actually anti-trans
 |url=https://xtramagazine.com/power/terf-canada-election-explainer-206866
 |website=Xtra
 |date=2021-08-17
}}
*{{cite book 
 |last1=Gutzwa 
 |first1=J. A. 
 |chapter=Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists (TERFs) 
 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1163/2949-7299_ECUE_COM_04137 
 |chapter-url-access=subscription 
 |title=Brill's Encyclopedia of Critical Understanding in Education 
 |publisher=Brill 
 |year=2022 
 |doi=10.1163/2949-7299_ECUE_COM_04137 
}}
*Williams, Cristan (2021). "[https://sk.sagepub.com/ency/edvol/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-trans-studies/chpt/terfs TERFs]". ''The SAGE Encyclopedia of Trans Studies''. London, Los Angeles: SAGE Reference. pp. 822–825. ISBN 978-1-5443-9381-0.
*{{cite web
 |last=Ellis
 |first=Rowan
 |title=What are TERFs?
 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFhFt7ecVjg
 |website=YouTube
 |date=2017
 |format=Video
}}
*{{cite web
 |last=Clarke
 |first=Alice
 |title=Feminism hijacked: TERFs and the abuse of sisterhood
 |url=https://twssmagazine.com/2020/08/31/feminism-hijacked-terfs-and-the-abuse-of-sisterhood/
 |website=That’s What She Said
 |date=2020
}}
*{{cite web
 |last=Alexandre
 |first=Lily
 |title=The Feminist to Far-Right Pipeline
 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CxiPdXuwgc
 |website=YouTube
 |date=2024
 |format=Video
}}

;Books and academic volumes
*{{cite journal
 |editor-last1=Vincent
 |editor-first1=Ben
 |editor-last2=Erikainen
 |editor-first2=Sonja
 |editor-last3=Pearce
 |editor-first3=Ruth
 |title=TERF Wars: Feminism and the Fight for Transgender Futures
 |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/sor/68/4
 |journal=The Sociological Review
 |volume=68
 |issue=4
 |date=2020
 |type=Special issue
}}
*{{cite journal
 |editor-last1=Bassi
 |editor-first1=Serena
 |editor-last2=LaFleur
 |editor-first2=Greta
 |title=Trans-Exclusionary Feminisms and the Global New Right
 |journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly
 |volume=9
 |issue=3
 |date=2022
 |type=Special issue
 |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tsq/issue/9/3
}}
*{{cite journal
 |editor-last1=Cabral Grinspan
 |editor-first1=Mauro
 |editor-last2=Eloit
 |editor-first2=Ilana
 |editor-last3=Paternotte
 |editor-first3=David
 |editor-last4=Verloo
 |editor-first4=Mieke
 |title=Varieties of TERFness
 |journal=Journal of Diversity and Gender Studies
 |volume=10
 |issue=2
 |date=2023
 |type=Special issue
 |url=https://www.digest.ugent.be/issue/25700/info/
}}
*Butler, Judith (2024). ''Who's Afraid of Gender?''. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-60823-1.
*Lewis, Sophie (2025). ''Enemy Feminisms: TERFs, Policewomen, and Girlbosses Against Liberation''. Haymarket Books. ISBN 9798888902493.

;Selected academic papers
*{{cite journal |last1=Rogers |first1=Baker A. |date=2023 |title=TERFs aren't feminists: lesbians stand against trans exclusion |journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies |volume=28 |issue=1 |pages=24–43 |doi=10.1080/10894160.2023.2252286 |pmid=37679960 |s2cid=261608725 |quote=many lesbians despise TERF ideology}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Williams |first1=Cristan |title=Radical Inclusion: Recounting the Trans Inclusive History of Radical Feminism |journal=Transgender Studies Quarterly |date=2016 |volume=3 |issue=1–2 |pages=254–258 |doi=10.1215/23289252-3334463|doi-access=free }}
*{{cite journal |last1=MacKinnon |first1=Catharine A. |date=2023 |title=A Feminist Defense of Transgender Sex Equality Rights |url=https://openyls.law.yale.edu/handle/20.500.13051/18252 |journal=Yale Journal of Law and Feminism |volume=34}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Fradella |first1=Henry F. |title=The Imperative of Rejecting 'Gender-Critical' Feminism in the Law |journal=William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, & Social Justice |date=2023 |volume=30 |issue=2 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.4419750 }}
*{{cite journal |last1=Thurlow |first1=Claire |title=From TERF to gender critical: A telling genealogy? |journal=Sexualities |date=2022 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=962–978 |doi=10.1177/13634607221107827 }}
*{{Cite journal |last=Billard |first=Thomas J |date=2023 |title="Gender-Critical" Discourse as Disinformation: Unpacking TERF Strategies of Political Communication |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07491409.2023.2193545 |journal=Women's Studies in Communication |volume=46 |issue=2 |pages=235–243 |doi=10.1080/07491409.2023.2193545}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Ploch |first1=N. |title=A systematic review of TERF behaviour online in relation to sociopsychological group dynamics |journal=Journal of Gender Studies |date=2025 |volume=34 |issue=4 |pages=526–539 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2024.2431569}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Hines |first1=Sally |title=The feminist frontier: on trans and feminism |journal=Journal of Gender Studies |date=2017 |volume=28 |issue=2 |pages=145–157 |doi=10.1080/09589236.2017.1411791}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Hotine |first1=E. |title=Biology, Society and Sex: Deconstructing anti-trans rhetoric and trans-exclusionary radical feminism |journal=Journal of the Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences|date=2021 |volume=2 |issue=3 |url=https://journal.nds.ox.ac.uk/index.php/JNDS/article/view/176}}
*Da Costa, Jade Crimson Rose (2021). "The "new" white feminism: trans-exclusionary radical feminism and the problem of biological determinism in western feminist theory". In Carter, Kristi (ed.). ''TransNarratives: Scholarly and Creative Works on Transgender Experience''. Canadian Scholars' Press. pp. 317–331.
*{{cite journal|last1=Worthen|first1=M. G. F.|date=2022|title=This is my TERF! Lesbian feminists and the stigmatization of trans women|journal=Sexuality & Culture: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly|volume=26|issue=5|pages=1782–1803|doi=10.1007/s12119-022-09970-w}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Bishop |first1=Ben |title=TERF by Any Other Name: The Constitutive Rhetoric of Gender-Critical Feminism |journal=Women's Studies in Communication |date=2025 |volume=48 |issue=2 |pages=229–248 |doi=10.1080/07491409.2025.2483692}}
*{{cite journal|last1=Morgenroth|first1=Thekla|last2=Kirby|first2=Teri A.|last3=Zehnter|first3=Miriam K.|last4=Ryan|first4=Michelle K.|title=Sex Wars and TERF Wars: The Divisiveness of Who is Included in Feminism|journal=Sex Roles|volume=90|pages=676–705|date=2024|doi=10.1007/s11199-024-01473-2|url=https://pure.rug.nl/ws/portalfiles/portal/1049104329/s11199-024-01473-2.pdf}}

[[Category:TERFs| ]]
[[Category:Anti-intellectualism]]
[[Category:Antifeminism]]
[[Category:Conspiracy theorists]]
[[Category:Cults]]
[[Category:Denialism]]
[[Category:Feminism]]
[[Category:Homophobia]]
[[Category:Identity politics]]
[[Category:Internet kooks]]
[[Category:Leftists who turned right with age]]
[[Category:Misnomers]]
[[Category:Political movements]]
[[Category:Political terms]]
[[Category:Pseudoscience]]
[[Category:Purity culture]]
[[Category:Sexism]]
[[Category:Transphobia]]
[[Category:United Kingdom]]

Categories: TERFs, Anti-intellectualism, Antifeminism, Conspiracy theorists, Cults, Denialism, Feminism, Homophobia, Identity politics, Internet kooks, Leftists who turned right with age, Misnomers, Political movements, Political terms, Pseudoscience, Purity culture, Sexism, Transphobia, United Kingdom