The newswriting overlords have decreed that the term is "vague and politicized," which, honestly, sounds like something a TERF would say.JezebelBy Laura BassettJune 14, 2023AP Stylebook, a standard-bearer for many journalists that occasionally takes stances on things like the Oxford comma (against) and using acronyms like PB&J and BLT for sandwiches (pro), decided to weigh into the culture wars on Wednesday by coming out against using the term TERF to describe people like J.K. Rowling.“On our updated Transgender Topical Guide: trans-exclusionary radical feminist,” they tweeted. “We recommend avoiding the vague and politicized term to describe cisgender women or others who object to the inclusion of transgender women in women’s spaces.”AP’s puzzling stance and explanation—as TERF is actually a pretty clear and useful way to describe certain kind of woman with a certain kind of politics, in my opinion—immediately got ratio’d on Twitter because, frankly, it sounded like a TERF wrote it. In fact, the queen TERF did basically write it back in 2020, after she got her feelings hurt that anyone would challenge her right to use her massive platform to peddle transphobia.
Is “TERF” like “Woke” where it means different things to different people and do we use it to broadly? Do we use it at the drop of a hat or after one derogatory word?
An open letter to AP Stylebook: We appreciate your tolerance of sandwich acronyms. We humbly disagree on the Oxford comma. We will absolutely continue to use the word TERF to describe women who are masquerading as feminists and gay allies while actively oppressing trans people. And we respectfully request that you turn your attention to more pressing issues, like headlines using the passive voice to describe police shootings, the vague and politicized term “groomers,” the deliberate misgendering of LGBTQ people in news stories, and major outlets using terms “racially tinged” and “racially charged” to avoid saying a thing was racist. Thanks!
The Advocate writes,
There are some feminists who do not consider trans women to be women. J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, has often been called a TERF. However, many other feminists recognize trans women’s womanhood and support their inclusion in women’s spaces and the feminist movement in general.[...]
The AP Stylebook is generally trans-inclusive, advising respect for each person’s pronouns and avoidance of terms have come to be considered anti-trans slurs. The TERF announcement met with mixed reaction on Twitter. Some said TERF is an accurate description, and others pointed out that some women call themselves TERFs. A few said AP should advise against the usage of “cisgender,” which describes women who are not trans.
I use the word sparingly and usually against those who persecute us, like Rowling. A search of my blog found about a two dozens times that I used the term out of almost 9000 posts and most of the time it was used in the article that i was writing about.
What do you think?
[Editorial]
The Republican call themselves the “Law and Order” party. How can you be a law and order party when you tear down the FBI, police, and prosecutors for doing their job?
Just look at Trump’s indictment how many Republicans are politicizing it.
[/Editorial]
TERF I have no qualms with using it and I certainly do not give a fig what Stylebook has to say about it or anything. Outsiders do not define for me what is and what isn't. When TERFS bed down with the radical right against our people I say war has been declared and we can call them anything we want. This is just another reason I do not like this system and all the crap it has invented to keep us under their thumb and in line. I know that some of us have to work with as said, the "overlords", and gatekeepers but hopefully we can break free of their nonsense. By releasing that statement, it says to me beware they are in bed with TERFS and the radical right and let's not ruffle a TERFS feathers.
ReplyDeleteI don't generally use it, I blogged about it too, because I don't think there's anything radical about white "feminism" and, to be honest, the vast majority of vocal transphobes are misogynist men who are having a field day being that way to trans women and getting egged on by tranphobic women. I also don't think a lot of average cis people even know that term or the origin. I find bigot or transphobe is more than sufficient when it's all said and done.
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