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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   32403 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 23, 2023

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she is a traditional third wave feminist

This might be nitpicking, but I've always understood TERFs as being perceived as a second-wave holdout that survived the post-90s intersectionalization of the movement (that being the third wave).

Yes and no. It's a good rule of thumb, but there's no hard and fast distinction between third and second wave feminism. Third wave intersectional feminism is most directly a descendant of second wave black feminism (mixed with queer theory etc). The issue with describing contemporary TERFs as second wave radical feminst holdouts is that often TERFs subscribe to other parts of temporary woke/intersectional ideology (e.g. CRT). It is only specifically trans ideology they oppose.

If one has spent time browsing Ovarit.com or a similar forum, one notes there's a fair few of TERFs/"TERFs" that have come to doubt some other left-associated policies, like immigration from Muslim countries. See e.g. this thread. I've also seen threads where the forum participants discuss whether it's ok to vote for Republicans (and list further points of personal agreement) or whether the GOP is still a bridge too far due to views on abortion, LGB-not-the-T issues, religion etc.

Of course, TERFs of all varieties will oppose as a matter of course pornograpy, prostitution, surrogacy and various other similar things that latter waves of feminism are more positive towards, at least in certain contexts.

Indeed, there was even an attempt from the TERF Julie Bindel to stop the TERF Meghan Murphy from getting too buddy-buddy with the right.

That’s definitely the imposed perception, especially given the “R”, in TERF, but I think it’s a strategic move to paint any non-conservative trans-skeptic woman as merely sex negative, extreme, or reacting to trauma from cis-males.

merely sex negative, extreme, or reacting to trauma from cis-males.

Although, to be fair, don't those apply pretty well to Rowling? In the essay in which she clarified her position, it was clear that most of her "transmisogyny" was really "misandry" applied with a wider brush.

I've certainly compared her views with sex-negative second wave feminists in the past.

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