Her Culture Bi-Monthy Magazine August/September 2015 | Page 18

F

eminism preaches equality— equality for

everyone. Don’t they? All women: AfricanAmerican, Asian, Hispanic, tomboys and more.
But it is not equality if a whole group is
excluded. Yes, that’s right. Let me introduce
you to something called Trans-exclusive
feminism.
Trans-exclusive feminism is subgroup of
feminism that consists of people (known as
TERFs) who believe real women are born with
XX chromosomes.
Within the feminist community TERFs are
attempting to deny transwomen basic access
to health care and
other benefits
feminists advocate
for to help women.
They believe that
transwomen pose a
threat and often
characterize women
by the genitalia that
they are born with,
instead of accepting
the fact that gender
is but a mere social construct.

doxed in which one’s personal information is
revealed to the entirety of the web. One
instance of this is when the group Gender
Identity Watch was working with an anti-gay
group to prevent a teen from Colorado from
using the women’s restroom. Their leader,
Cathy Brennan “outed” the teen on social media
and, on top of this, the teen was already
dealing with bullying.
The TERFs bring a negative voice to the
feminist community, a place that should be filled
with respect and equality. Transgender people
already face a great deal of oppression from
mainstream society, may it be their parents,
school, teachers or
friends. It is unfair to
put on top of this, the
danger and negativity
TERFs bring in a
space dedicated to
fighting for respect
and equality for
everyone.

“If your feminism doesn't
include transpeople, you
aren’t quite doing it right.”

TERFs demonstrate the belief that transwomen
are just a “self-loathing gay man,” minimizing
them to men dressing in drag as opposed to
recognizing they identify as female. And even in
regard to transmen, TERFs claim that they are
trying to ‘hide’ behind their gender. I wish the
only impact the TERFs could make stopped
with the cruel words they offer to the feminist
community; however, they pose more of a
threat than just contributing to rude background
noise.
Those who try to speak out against the TERF
movement may become targets to be ‘outed’,
which I suppose is similar to when people are

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So I beg of you to
consider that if your
feminism doesn’t include transpeople you aren’t
quite doing it right. Feminism is a movement
that preaches equality for all people.
Transgender people are human too, their
gender does not define who they are. You may
be born with your genitalia but that doesn’t
mean you have to live your in life in accordance
with what you are born with it.
Let’s advocate for transwomen and men rights
because the issues they face are just as
important as the issues that lie on the feminist
agenda. Let’s make the feminist community a
welcoming and wa