TERFs Aren't Radical

I don't platform TERFs. This blog is for collecting resources and receipts on their so-called "radical" feminism. The harm it causes, its ties to fascism and white feminism, etc.

[nativenews]

“When I travelled to Palestine in the summer of 2011, with a delegation of women of colour and indigenous feminists and activists, it was actually the first trip for all of us, but all of us had been involved for many years with Palestine solidarity work, we were all totally shocked by the egregious and visible nature of the oppression. The israeli military made no attempt to conceal or mitigate the violence they were inflicting on Palestinian people, gun-toting military men and women were everywhere. I was in South Africa before the downfall of apartheid, and I also had travelled to Northern Ireland at one of the most difficult periods, neither place was as bad as I witnessed in Occupied Palestine.”

— Angela Davis (via theyoungradical)

[lagtrainzzz]

i think transfems should be allowed to be good at sports.

sometimes a trans woman wins against a cis woman. sometimes a cis woman wins against another cis woman too. yet only one of them is allowed to win without facing consequences.

it's not enough to support transfems in sports if your support hinges on us being bad at them.

[salt-omen]

Betty Boop as Flapper Fanny

The original panels!

And I just liked how this full picture looked

[achimastar]

OMGGGGGG FLAPPER FANNY MIXED WITH BETTY BOOPPP!!!!! also black betty boop omg what a combo

[vileengine]

i actually did draft a bunch of abortion jokes but ultimately decided not to keep them

[noname-human-being]

I suggest getting angrier about misogyny.

[genderoutlaws]

2 Black Women Refused C-Sections. Judges Decided For Them. | BIN: Black Information Network

At least two Black women in Florida were forced into courtroom-style hearings while in labor after refusing cesarean sections, with judges b

this is fucking insane. two different cases in Florida where pregnant Black women were forced into video call court proceedings, in the middle of labor, laying in their hospital beds, because their doctors chose to go after them for refusing cesarean sections.

the first woman was able to convince them to let her continue laboring unless it became medically necessary, and ultimately chose to go through with the C-section of her own accord later.

the second woman was completely denied autonomy and the C-section was performed against her will.

the white man who prosecuted them defends the decision, stating on the record "I'm real comfortable with what we did here. I hate that she's upset about it."

[genderoutlaws]

the two women mentioned here, Cherise and Brianna, are calling on supporters to sign their petition to these two hospitals to:

"Stop forcing pregnant people to have cesarean births.

Take all necessary steps to end discriminatory policies and practices based on sex, gender, pregnancy status, and race.

Discipline the doctors and hospital staff who ignored Doyley and Bennett’s concerns and coerced them to undergo a court-ordered C-section against their will.

Publicly acknowledge and provide financial relief for the harm UF Health caused to the Doyley family and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare inflicted on the Bennett family."

Cherise Doyley was 12 hours into labor at University of Florida Health (UF Health) Jacksonville when a nurse walked in with a bedsheet and t

You can keep up with Cherise on her Instagram page here, where she is posting updates and generally about being a survivor, doula, and birth justice activist.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

said this as part of a larger point in a reblog but I'm gonna make it its own post:

humans have the right to do things that are mildly bad for us sometimes.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

you have the right to eat way too many pierogi and make yourself a little sick. you have the right to go skydiving. you have the right to pull an all-nighter building the Imperial City of Tamriel in Minecraft. you have the right to get drunk in your living room watching football.

life is not about making the safest most logically correct choice at all times. you're a blob of salty meat piloting a flesh mech and you get to act like it.

[arrows-for-pens]

[crowns-of-violets-and-roses]

Discussions of trans women in sports often focus on elite/professional sports which honestly I find it hard to care about but the more common scenario of “we’re going to legally ban a high school girl from playing sports with her friends because she’s trans” is just profoundly evil

[zzzucker]

i remember when utah's (republican) governor ended up vetoing a law banning transgender students from playing high school sports when he looked at the numbers, and there were only four trans students in the state playing sports at all. he released a clumsily worded but surprisingly compassionate statement about the decision.

I must admit, I am not an expert on transgenderism. I struggle to understand so much of it, and the science is conflicting. When in doubt, however, I always try to err on the side of kindness, mercy, and compassion. I also try to get proximate, and I am learning so much from our transgender community. They are great kids who face enormous struggles. Here are the numbers that have most impacted my decision: 75,000, 4, 1, 86 and 56. 75,000 high school kids participating in high school sports in Utah. 4 transgender kids playing high school sports in Utah. 1 transgender student playing girls sports. 86% of trans youth reporting suicidality. 56% of trans youth having attempted suicide. Four kids and only one of them playing girls sports. That’s what all of this is about. Four kids who aren’t dominating or winning trophies or taking scholarships. Four kids who are just trying to find some friends and feel like they are a part of something. Four kids trying to get through each day. Rarely has so much fear and anger been directed at so few. I don’t understand what they are going through or why they feel the way they do. But I want them to live.

of course, it didn't amount to much. they overrode his veto. it's just so cartoonishly evil. an entire state's political body so desperate to terrorize this one little trans girl.

[mxjackparker]

If you're at work in a retail or hospitality environment and you see a sex worker with a client... no you didn't.

If your boss asks you if you think that person's a sex worker, you tell them you do not believe that. You don't report their presence to anyone. You don't joke about it with a coworker. You don't eavesdrop or bother them.

We're working the same as you are. Leave us alone!

[mxjackparker]

Some examples of situations where you might need to keep your mouth shut about a potential sex worker:

You see someone you don't recognize walk past reception at your hotel to head directly for the stairs or elevator or towards the rooms without acknowledging you at the reception desk. Yes, this includes when the person is wearing revealing clothing or a nice dress and heels. This is not your business.

You notice multiple men going to the same hotel room during the same evening, each only staying for an hour or so at a time. This is not your business.

You seat two customers for dinner and work as their waiter/waitress for the night. You see one give an envelope of cash to the other. Yes, this includes when there's a huge age gap between the two and they're being affectionate. This is not your business.

You overhear one customer ask another how much they charge for a night, whilst making drinks for them. You heard nothing. This is not your business.

I do not care what kind of retail or hospitality setting you work in. If you see a sex worker, no you didn't!

[astra-the-dragon]

if the cops get involved, you know who gets punished? not any of the clients, only the sex worker. not a pimp, not the hotel manager, only the worker; and the cops are liable to sexually assault them as well.

if you have any qualms about sex work, you can start by improving workers' rights as a whole. demilitarizing police. increasing comprehensive sex ed for all ages. battling misogyny in the workplace. under the boot of capitalism, we all suffer - the most vulnerable, such as sex workers, suffer worst. leave them be.

[snuffedsuccubus]

be nicer to sex workers

[snuffedsuccubus]

u need to engage with sex workers as actual workers of the same class as u and not victims who need saving. u need to show respect for us publicly further than just reblogging our promos and posts abt giving us money. u need to publicly support full service workers. u need to not expose sex workers to ur puritanical, reactionary followers. u need to be nicer to sex workers.

[respectissexy]

"I'm no better than a man!" Men being horny for women is also morally neutral. Hope this helps.

[cheshirelipstick]

[adulthumanproblem-deactivated20]

Men being horny for women isn't inherently about power though. Like this is so odd. OP is completely correct and y'all should really acknowledge that yes, straight men being horny for women IS in fact morally neutral

[myboyrozanovv]

Mens attraction being inherently predatory and destructive and needing to be restrained is, in fact, part of evangelical ideology, and i think a number of people have unrecognised evangelical beliefs, left over from their youth or gained from societal permeation of whatever. And maybe they should recognise and critically examine those beliefs. And think a bit about where they got them from, instead of thinking up feminist justifications for them.

[hunter-rodrigez]

"Mens attraction being inherently predatory" is an excuse to pretend men are mindless beasts who aren't in control of their own actions, which by extension also means they cannot be blamed for said actions.

It's "Boys will be boys" taken to the extreme.

It's the attitude that leads to bullshit like blaming rape victims for the way they were dressed.

It's not feminism, it's the exact opposite, it's a fucking scapegoat for the people these "radical feminists" claim to hate.

[doberbutts]

"men don't need to be afraid walking around at night"

Unless they're black

"men make more than women in jobs"

Black men make less than white women on average

"men don't get followed around by people who mean them harm"

Black men are heavily policed and regularly jumped and killed for just walking down the street

"no one tells a man what he can and cannot do with his own body"

Black men are repeatedly assaulted and have their hair forcibly shaved or cut for wearing their hair natural and in culturally important styles. Black men who choose body modifications like tattoos or piercings are branded as thugs. Black men who have children and black men who don't have children are both regarded as players, hounddogs, absent fathers, and baby daddies, as if the logical answer is that no one's first choice of partner and father of their children would ever be a black man.

"no one judges a man's worth based on his clothes"/"a man isn't ever in danger no matter what he wears"

Black men are required to look presentable and professional according to eurocentric standards, push themselves into clothes not made for their bodies, and be highly uncomfortable in their daily lives or else risk 'fitting the profile' or 'matching the description' and getting detained by police AT BEST for the crime of existing in public. Black men wearing comfortable clothes are seen as sloppy, thugs, gangsters, street rats, hood and ghetto.

"no man fears rape"

The rape and sexual assault of black men ties directly to black buck stereotypes and black fetishization to the point where liking a black person or having your dating pool be open to black people is treated like a sexuality much like being gay. People are both threatened by and aroused by our bodies and that leads them to perform extreme acts of violence on us, including rape, SA, coercion, trafficking, and more. Much like how "tranny" and "lesbian" is a porn category, so is Big Black Cock. Sometimes with us featured as the rapist. Sometimes with us featured as the victim. Almost never with us featured as intimate, passionate, loving, tender. Black men are either to be feared and reviled, or to be broken and forced to submit. Direct ties to slavery with white people still getting off to our suffering.

Just say you don't care as much about black people's suffering and go, jesus.

I have privilege because I sometimes pass as a man? Try walking in my shoes for a while. Turns out being a black man vs being a black woman isn't always so different.

[doberbutts]

I do think it's really interesting that I have a lot of black butches and trans mascs on this post verifying in their tags that yes they've lived both as 'black woman' and as 'black man' and 'black man' is really not the improvement it's advertised to be and in the mean time I have also a bunch of nonblack people and especially white europeans saying this post is stupid and no one who agrees knows anything about what it's like to be a black woman and I'm just wondering out of the two options who do you think is more knowledgeable about what black people go through? 🤔

[doberbutts]

My nephew was 6 years old when his mother sat him down and explained to him very plainly what happens to black boys and black men who are out at night.

Both of my parents worked in education. My white (passing) mother was a special ed teacher in a middle school. My father was her district's administrator. She was paid more than him. Significantly. They both have Master's Degrees.

My nephew was 13 when Trayvon Martin was killed. His mother asked him to please make sure he came home before the streetlights came on, and if he couldn't make it to not wear a hoodie and certainly don't wear it up. No matter how cold.

My nephew and my father were both pinned down and had their afros shaved/ruined by teachers, people they should have been able to trust. My nephew, my cousins, and more than one of my uncles have had the same happen to their locs. When my mother became pregnant very early in my parents' marriage, no one believed that she actually *wanted* to marry my dad but that she'd accidentally become pregnant and married him to not be ashamed. When my parents adopted my sister who is much darker skinned than my other sister or myself, the assumption was that she was a child from one of dad's previous marriages (he's only ever been married to one woman: my mom) and that my sister was only there because of a custody battle. The first time my dad came to pick me up from school, the office refused to let him in the building and called the police on him for trying to abduct me, because everyone knew my mom was white and the logical conclusion of a black man picking up his black/mixed kid from school was that he was a kidnapper and not that he was my fucking father.

My father arrived home late one night after flying in from Japan and was understandably in comfortable clothes after being exclusively in suits in Japan in the middle of summer for 6 months. Our neighbor saw him pull into the driveway, let himself in the back door... and called the police saying a black man in a hoodie was breaking into our house. We'd lived there at that point for more than a decade. My nephew and I have been followed around in stores for wearing beaters and basketball shorts in the middle of summer. My cousin was harassed by cops while sitting at the bus stop because he had his hood up and was listening to music on his ipod. My uncle was cornered by airport security and ended up missing his flight because someone gave a 'tip' that he 'looked suspicious' in his jeans and a t-shirt.

Every single one of my older black relatives, male and female, have been raped. Every single one. Some of the younger ones too.

This is not a 'what if' post. This is not a 'higher discussion of systemic violence' post. This is a 'stop erasing the experiences of black men because you think there is no way on earth a black man can suffer outside of [just racism]' post.

[doberbutts]

two years ago I posted this and two years later this still rings true, but I want to draw attention to something:

This is the post that netted me my "reputation" for saying that black women have it better than black men or that black women caused these problems.

This post was made in specifically because of radfem talking points, in direct response to a radfem post I saw and was mad about. Two years later I am seeing white radfems say the same about F1nn5ter. My response is still the same. A: trans women aren't men, B: that's not even true of cis men because marginalized cis men experience all of these things on a regular basis.

No where in this post does this blame black women for anything or say that black women don't experience this- in fact I specifically mention black butches in multiple reblogs and in other posts discussing this exact topic. Black women are frequently forcibly degendered and masculinized, and God forbid a black woman actually be GNC and masculine or transgender because then her risk of violence to be enacted upon her is at an absurd height.

This is a critique of white, radical feminism and how it actively perpetuates racism. Don't get it twisted.

[doberbutts]

Anyway when I bring up these points with this post, this is the sort of attitude I'm talking about. ALL of these are from a recent post where I am talking about my specific experience as a black trans man and ALL of these are nonblack people taking it upon themselves to give lip service to acknowledging black people are oppressed and then IMMEDIATELY following up with not including black men in their idea of what counts as oppressed.

When I say white radical feminism leaves racially marginalized men out of discussions of their own oppression, this is what I'm talking about.

This was from a post where I said people talk over me frequently and tell me my voice as a black person doesn't matter and I was taught not to tolerate it as a girl and I'm certainly not going to start tolerating it as a man. That people have regarded my presence as a black person as a threat just existing in an area my entire life and I didn't think it was a good thing when I was a black girl and I still don't think it's a good thing as a black man. This was a post about antiblack racism and how it affects me, an entire ass black trans man.

And nonblack people STILL sought to completely erase my perspective off my own post.

Does it hurt, when I point out your racism? Is it uncomfortable to realize that you're not innocent in spreading and perpetuating the same racism that's caused black people to die to violence at astronomical rates? Is it a hard pill to swallow?

Good. Choke.

[doberbutts]

Since I'm getting a collection of dumbass replies on this again by nonblack people I figured I should remind everyone: THIS IS A POST ABOUT WHITE RADICAL FEMINISM AND HOW IT LEAVES OUT THE EXPERIENCE OF PEOPLE OF COLOR. If you find yourself getting mad because I pointed out that this doesn't work for anyone who isn't white, maybe think about why you're mad instead of putting some bullshit in my notes.

[gothiccharmschool]

Something something people not knowing the history something ...

[abigailnussbaum]

I am increasingly of the view that the besetting flaw of modern, internet-based, leftist-progressive culture is the tendency to take concepts that were intended as consciousness-raising, "have you noticed"/"makes you think" moments and treat them as all-encompassing rules for life. The Bechdel test is not a yardstick for feminism and/or artistic worthiness. It's not a test you were ever meant to apply to any single work. It's a thought experiment intended to illustrate how the entertainment industry as a whole discounts the interiority, desires, and relationships of women except as they relate to men. But again and again you'll see people - and perhaps especially people who define themselves as feminists - who treat it as the one and only meaningful measure of a work's value. In reality, there are feminist works that don't pass the Bechdel test, and works that pass the Bechdel test that are not feminist, and works with tremendous political value that do not foreground feminism because they're about something else.

And if the Bechdel test is a relatively old example, this is a phenomenon that keeps cropping up. "Some artifacts in museums were stolen or looted, with colonialism and racism providing a cover for acts that in other circumstances we'd easily recognize as criminal" has become "all museums are piles of loot and stealing from them is righteous even it it's to melt the artwork down and funnel the profits to organized crime." "Zoos sometimes abuse their animals and the goal should be to reintroduce specimens to the wild" has become "open all the cages and let the animals out (to spaces where they will almost certainly die/be killed to stop them killing people)". "Ethnic foods are sometimes treated as more palatable, and sold for more money, when they're marketed by white people" has become "people should only prepare and eat food from their own ethnicity". Again and again, it feels like these ideas that were meant to make us think, to pause a moment and notice the unspoken assumptions and elisions that exist in our world, have been turned into catchphrases that shut down thought. I think the reason that happens is that people enjoy the feeling of righteousness that comes from calling out institutions like museums or the film industry, but along the way you can become just as dogmatic and tunnel-visioned as the bodies you were calling out.

[elierlick]

Finally some good news: a few weeks ago, anti-transgender activists offered $35,000 to the next National Women’s Soccer League player who criticized trans athletes... except the league overwhelmingly supports trans inclusion and no one took her up on the offer. Very few trans athletes play professional sports, and there has never been a trans woman in the NWSL. Stand your ground!

[hyperlexichypatia]

The thing about the "hypocrisy" of conservatives bleating about "pedophiles" but supporting Trump is that to a lot of conservatives, the definition of "pedophilia" is "that which supports young people's autonomy or individuation from their parents/authority."

That's why a children's book that says "Be yourself! Everyone is different! You don't have to fit in!" is "pedophilia," but Trump raping a 13 year old girl isn't -- it was done to her against her will, so it didn't facilitate her dangerous autonomy. That's fine. Like child marriage -- it's perfectly fine, because the parents force it on the children. Parental authority is preserved.

A point my partner has made is that discussions of historical or cross/cultural variations in "age of majority" really underestimate the depth of patriarchy. "At what age is a girl considered a woman?" presupposes that a woman can ever meaningfully be considered an adult, which, in many forms of patriarchy, she really can't.

In the broadly liberal tradition, "children" are, broadly, defined as a class of people denied bodily autonomy and civic rights, but spared from the responsibilities of hard labor and harsh punishment; while "adults" are defined as a class granted bodily autonomy and civic rights, but subject to hard labor and harsh punishment. Which is why ageists (and ableists who infantilize disabled people throughout the lifespan, sexists who infantilize women throughout the lifespan, etc) think they have a real gotcha with "Well if you think young people (disabled people, women, etc) should have bodily autonomy and civic rights, then they have to have jobs! And go to prison! Or else you're Having It Both Ways!"

But many patriarchal authoritarians have never accepted this vague and never-actually-evenly-applied liberal construct in the first place. Everyone should be subject to hard labor and harsh punishment, and no one should have civic rights or bodily autonomy. Everyone should be subject to the authority of the patriarchal order. There is no "contradiction" between "a 14 year old should be married and a 24 year old should not be allowed to transition." They aren't saying that a 14 year old is "old enough/mature enough to decide for herself" whether to get married; and they're not really saying that a 24 year old is "too young/too immature" to transition. Marriage is an obligation and gender conformity is an obligation. Hard labor is an obligation and obedience is an obligation. The concept of being a "child entitled to protection, safety, and support" does not exist, and neither does the concept of being an "adult entitled to autonomy, self-determination, and political representation." They aren't even going to understand "If a 14 year old can be tried as an adult and go to prison, why can't they vote?" as a question. Everyone should be subject to prison and no one should vote. Life is about obligation and obedience, and age has very little to do with it.

[closet-keys]

every second on this earth our bodies are subject to change from countless potential processes both internal and external. some of these changes are unnoticed even by us and others are completely life altering. eventually we all experience bodily breakdown and death.

our bodies change no matter what we do. even if we refuse to make any decisions, our bodies will change. there is no "natural" "unaltered" state one can permanently stay within or deviate from. there is no "reversing" our bodies to a previous state. change is always forward.

to the extent that we have influence over bodily change (e.g. integration of tools that impact/supplement/replace forms of bodily functioning, introduction of external substances into the body, surgical removal or reshaping of areas of the body, etc.), we should be the final decision-makers. not parents, not spouses, not teachers, not doctors, not prison guards, not psychiatrists, not lawmakers, not insurance companies. us.

the ability to make decisions about one's own body should not be "earned" or "granted" for enduring a certain level of suffering for a certain length of time. it should not be "awarded" or "approved" for demonstrating the ability to articulate a politics, worldview, or internal self-understanding that is palatable to an authority. it should be default and irrevocable.

we all deserve access to clear and accurate information about all possible and contextually practicable options so that we can make informed decisions about our own bodies.

bodily autonomy must be for everyone with no exceptions and no restrictions.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

said this as part of a larger point in a reblog but I'm gonna make it its own post:

humans have the right to do things that are mildly bad for us sometimes.

[dragon-in-a-fez]

you have the right to eat way too many pierogi and make yourself a little sick. you have the right to go skydiving. you have the right to pull an all-nighter building the Imperial City of Tamriel in Minecraft. you have the right to get drunk in your living room watching football.

life is not about making the safest most logically correct choice at all times. you're a blob of salty meat piloting a flesh mech and you get to act like it.

[problemnyatic]

This is called dignity of risk and it's a big topic in disability rights spaces. id elaborate but im fuckin wiped

[fedorahead]

it's always funny how people will advocate for bodily autonomy when it comes to certain things but then shy away from anything they personally wouldn't do to their own body. like yeah, that's why it's your body buddy. i can do what i want with mine.