By Written by Reyn Ou and Alina Kim.
The current approach to transgender activism in mainstream spaces can largely be defined by two things: a repetition of vague platitudes such as “trans rights are human rights” or “trans women are real women” and, most notably, a genuine lack of sensitivity and understanding by well-intentioned people towards the purpose of transgender activism.
What complicates the issue is the continued normalization of TERF culture and ideology, due in part to unsuspecting allies who are untrained in identifying transmisogynistic rhetoric.
The acronym for trans-exclusionary radical feminist, “TERF,” was coined to describe transmisogynists who target transfeminine people and exclude them from womanhood—an identity they claim is immutably predetermined by biological assignment.
According to Kathryn Perkins, an assistant professor in the Department of Political Science at CSULB, TERFs interpret the presence of trans women as a perpetuation of patriarchal predation. To them, womanhood is exclusively defined by the oppression experienced by those who were assigned “biologically female” at birth.
Therefore, TERFs project the source of this oppression onto transgender women, who they perceive as men who are trying to invade female spaces in order to engage in sexual violence.
“There is virtually no evidence that this takes place. Instead, there is ample evidence that trans women are subject to sexual violence by men when forced to be in men’s spaces,” Perkins said. “This rhetoric also relies on the transmisogynistic trope that trans women are deceptive and are ‘pretending’ to gain access to sex, something that contributes to the high rate of sexual violence and murder of trans women.”
Not only is this projection misguided, but it is also actively violent in itself. By weaponizing the oppression of women to guise marginalization as self-defense, TERFs divert attention away from the violence of systemic patriarchy and instead use the oppression of women as fodder to fear-monger others into denying rights to trans women.
It is deeply beneficial to TERFs to recognize the only characteristic of their ideology as “hating trans women,” when TERF ideology is, in fact, a complex network of harmful ideas that are progressively normalized because they go undetected, or worse, supported in mainstream culture.
“[TERFs] use social justice language to make themselves sound very reasonable and like the type of person you want to agree with, but at the end of the day, they’re pushing these super harmful opinions,” said Olivia Jones, a member of the CSULB Queer Student Alliance.
“You can say ‘I want to punch TERFs’ as much as you want, but when you don’t recognize what their basic rhetoric is and how to spot it and then go around parroting their ideology because you can’t use your critical thinking skills for two seconds, you’re hurting trans people,” Jones said.
The covertness of TERF rhetoric is no mistake. Many TERFs use feminist language to promote messages that are innocuous on the surface but, in reality, are dog whistles meant to recruit those who are unfamiliar with the consequences of their argumentation.
As such, the best way allies can help is by learning how to develop a critical eye for transmisogyny.
TERFs will often describe themselves as “biological women” or as “gender critical” in order to evade any association with transmisogynistic assumptions. They will frequently invoke the ownership of biological and anatomical tokens such as menstruation, uterine systems, and “pussy hats” to intentionally alienate trans women by demonstrating what they perceive to be the only legitimate representation of femininity.
However, this deliberate oversimplification results in the normalization of a malignant concept known as bioessentialism, the idea that a human’s unique characteristics are the innate, fixed products of being born as a particular sex.
“Centering womanhood on having a uterus or regular menstruation not only excludes trans women, but it also excludes cis women who do not have these experiences,” Perkins said. “Ultimately, it is critical for all feminists and allies of trans communities to take steps to denaturalize gender. Genitals are not inherently gendered, nor are hormones or other sex-based traits.”
In order to truly support the transgender community, one must begin to deconstruct whatever bioessentialist presumptions they have developed surrounding sex and gender. However, realigning one’s fundamental understanding of society is a task often too burdensome for most allies.
“I think this comes down to a broader issue, which is that many people are still very attached to society’s accepted bigoted ideas,” Jones said. “The internet and liberal circles give them the opportunity to dress these opinions up with social justice language and then continue to adhere to them, so they never have to do the uncomfortable work of questioning their fundamental beliefs.”
When the functions of the state and its institutions are predicated on the naturalization of something as arbitrarily prescribed and societally enforced as gender, there will always be contradictions that will oppress those who do not abide by its rigid standards.
The consequences of this naturalization affect both transgender and cisgender individuals.
“The struggle to end gender-based oppression is not helped by efforts to naturalize gender and police the boundaries of womanhood,” Perkins said. “Rather, we should see gender liberation as an intersectional struggle aligned with other movements for liberation and end the scapegoating of femininity.”
