Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminism; a reactionary anti-transgender political movement that claims not to believe in gender while simultaneously ascribing extraordinary social significance to differences in human reproductive anatomy; a movement organized around nostalgia for anachronistic notions of womanhood; a far-right movement formed to oppose civil rights for trans women; an online community of people who share a pathological obsession with trans women's genitals; a movement championed by a group of Internet personalities who occasionally meet face-to-face for conferences.
Sylvia: At first, I thought the speaker genuinely cared about preventing sexual violence in women's spaces, but then I realized she was just using the issue as a rhetorical device to promote old-timey conservative myths about trans women.
Wendy: That's TERFism for you.
Wendy: That's TERFism for you.
by Ivy Hell July 28, 2014
Terfism is when women take it upon themselves to gatekeep femininity. Not to be confused with actual feminism.
by SmashTheState July 20, 2023