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Why are some feminists transphobic? Or - Why is J.K. Rowling cancelled?

In the first week of June 2020, J.K. Rowling received enormous backlash (and not for the first time) because she tweeted anti-trans statements which have prompted people to label her a TERF.  

“If sex isn’t real, there’s no same-sex attraction. If sex isn’t real, the lived

reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but

erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully

discuss their lives. It isn’t hate to speak the truth.”

What is a TERF?  It is an acronym that stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. To put it in simplest terms TERFs believe that transgender women are men, not women, and that by pretending to be women they contribute to “female erasure.”  

TERFs use two basic arguments to argue that trans women pose a threat to cis women. Their first argument is that trans women are biologically male so they pose a threat to privacy and safety in women’s spaces. They believe that through infiltration of women’s spaces trans women will “erase” what it means to be a woman. TERFs are certain that cis men will use the guise of being a trans woman to enter women’s bathrooms in order to commit crimes attacking women.

These ideas are problematic for several reasons:

  • TERFs don’t seem to be concerned about trans men being in women’s spaces.
  • They aren’t concerned about trans women being forced to be in men’s spaces if they had their way.
  • TERFs ignore the research which shows that there are almost no cases of sex crimes involving transgender individuals entering women’s spaces. (A 2016 study was only able to find one case in total.)
    • Law enforcement in states with anti-discrimination policies regarding gender identity have not seen increased rates of sex crimes in bathrooms, indicating that allowing trans individuals to use the bathroom of their own choosing is not a real safety issue.
The second major argument that TERFs use to defend their stance against the trans community is that they do not believe that gender has a personal component, and that an individual’s gender stems purely from their anatomy and how society defines gender roles. TERFs argue that trans women are biologically male and that gender identity is not real, so they should not be able to identify as women. They also believe that trans men are really women who have erroneously decided to identify as trans because being a woman in modern society is difficult.

These arguments are also full of holes.  

  • TERFs claim that they are using science to back up their assertions that there are only two sexes, male and female, and that those are controlled by your genes (XY and XX). But the truth is, biological sex is far more complicated, and there are many people whose sex is not defined by the sexual binary.
    • For example, TERFs completely ignore the existence of intersex people, who make up approximately 1.7% of the population. 
  • Gender identity is real, and is accepted by the scientific community as such. 
  • Rates of trans men regretting their transitions are low, and on par with normal rates of dissatisfaction with other types of medical procedures. 
  • The assertion that trans men are really women who lack the ability to make decisions about their lives is sexist. Painting them as victims of societal pressure and “trans ideology” is harmful to both men and to women, as it reinforces stereotypes of women being weak and incapable of personal autonomy.

Although the concept of TERFs is a relatively uncommon ideology in the U.S., TERFs regularly appear in British media defending their views. In fact, this ideology has been around since the 1970’s and has already made a tremendous impact on the lives of transgender individuals. In 1979 Janice Raymond, then a faculty member at University of Massachusetts, published her first book The Transsexual Empire, which laid out many of the arguments TERFs still use today. On her website, Raymond claims that transition surgery for trans men and women is “unnecessary surgery and medical mutilation,” and that she wants to “eliminate the medical and social systems that support transsexualism.”  A report she wrote for the U.S. government was used to justify the government denying trans people transition healthcare, even though gender programs had previously used government funding to support healthcare for trans people. Studies overwhelmingly show that “gender transition improves the well-being of transgender people.” Denying people care drives them to seek unsupervised hormone therapy, risky surgeries, and increases the likelihood that they will attempt suicide.   

Currently there are groups here in the United States that are actively doing harm by lobbying the government to deny services to trans people, specifically to trans women.  Groups such as Hands Across the Aisle have petitioned the Department of Housing and Urban Development to prevent trans women from accessing women’s homeless shelters. Despite being feminist groups, TERF groups are often found cooperating with conservative groups who also lobby to limit women’s reproductive rights. It is because of alliances such as these that some feminists believe that the acronym TERF is a misnomer, that people who want to take away trans and gender nonconforming individuals’ ability to define their own identities are really just anti-trans activists, or more simply put, transphobes. 

Recently, people like Sarah McBride and Elliot Page have been making headlines and the transgender rights movement has been gaining visibility. Recently, people like Sarah McBride and Elliot Page have been making headlines and the transgender rights movement has been gaining visibility. Delaware Senator-elect McBride is set to be the highest-ranking openly transgender elected official. She recently appeared in the news for her spot-on reply to internet trolls, making it clear that anti-trans behaviors are not welcome. Page, famous for his roles in films like Juno, Inception, and a few X-Men movies, is being welcomed as a much-needed icon of trans-masculine visibility for younger generations, and has sent the message to trans people that “I see you, I love you and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”

Here in Delaware there are already fairly strong protections for transgender individuals.  In 2013 the Gender Identity Non-Discrimination Act was signed into law which protects people from discrimination based on their gender identity, including in housing and employment. One area where improvement is needed is in our state drivers licenses. While the Delaware DMV process for changing one’s name or gender on a license is straightforward, the DMV does not offer a gender neutral, or “gender X” option on licenses as of yet.   


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