I'm a big fan of etymological breakdowns so let's pick apart one that's real hot right right now: "Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists".
Before we get started, the big takeaway is that TERFs are not representing the interests of feminism as a whole, similarly to how the violence carried out by radical religious groups is not representative of the religions' core philosophies ('peace' for Islam, 'love' in Christianity, etc).
Feminist: someone who pursues the betterment of womens' rights by challenging patriarchal power structures.
"Radical" is a bit of a moving target, but to me, radicalization boils down to eschewing most parts of a philosophy that aren't the central goal and re-centering all actions in a way that targets that goal using a very specific set of parameters.
Here's where it gets hairy: by this definition, we can still say that TERFs are attempting to further the goal of feminism by "challenging patriarchal power structures". But this does not specify how they intend to, or even imply that the method they choose would successfully do this.
Let me explain: "trans exclusionary".
TERFs still want to challenge the patriarchy. The divergence point comes at the assertion: "trans women are the biggest threat facing the rights of women that are under attack by the patriarchy".
Wait—there's no way it all boils down to something that reductive and myopic, right? Surely anyone who calls themselves "feminist" can see the forest for the trees a little more than this childish and bigoted conclusion... right?
Nope. That is literally all it is.
How can trans women be the biggest threat to women from the patriarchy, when the whole patriarchy itself is right there?
The TERF conclusion: trans women are the patriarchy's infiltrators.
Trans exclusionary means you exclude trans women from your definition of women. If you don't believe trans women are women, you believe they are men. Men are part of the patriarchy, and if you believe men are trying to "infiltrate the ranks" of women, the radicalized approach to feminism is centering all your efforts on eradicating the infiltrator.
The problem is, there is no infiltrator.
The patriarchy is closing in, sure, but trans women are not the patriarchy.
The imagined TERF world of trans women using bathrooms as warfare is just a hollow detraction from any real effort to further the goals of feminism. Any other feminist cause gets trampled in the name of making the lives of trans women less livable.
That's why this will always be no-TERF zone.
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