transgender

used to describe a person who identifies with a gender other than that  assigned to them at birth.

Transgender people may or may not seek gender reassignment surgery and/or take hormones to change their gender. (Stryker, 19)

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TERF

(trans exclusionary radical feminism)

radical feminists that consider transgender women as men that do not belong in women’s spaces. (What is a Woman?, Goldberg).

TERF is considered a slur by those which it is used to describe. “[Feminists] who believe that transgender activism upholds the patriarchy and who deny and disrespect trans people’s identities,”(An Open Letter to the New Yorker, Serano).

feminist transphobia

a radical feminist view starting in the early 1970’s that trans women are not actual women, but men using their male privilege to infiltrate women’s spaces.

Some feminists thought that trans women were parodying actual women and “leeching off women,” (Stryker, 101). Trans women were often not welcomed to participate in feminist conferences and organizations during this time. 

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queer

 

• Throughout historical time, “queer” has changed its meaning, yet always have referred to people, places, or things that are considered to be the opposite of the societal norm. Originally “queer” was used to describe something as “odd,” “strange,” or “quaint.” In the early 18th century, the term “queer” meant something was “bad” or worthless (Bronski, xvii).

• Later on in the 1920’s, “queer” was negatively used as an expression for homosexuals. Today, some LGBTQIAPK communities have politically reclaimed “queer” to challenge the heteronormative mainstream culture (Bronski, xvii). 

• Queer is an umbrella term that includes all sexual and gender identities within the LGBTQIAPK (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual, Kink) community (Serrano, 3).  

trans feminism

“Transgender perspectives on feminism, or feminist perspectives on transgender issues” (Serrano, 44)

• “one of many so-called “third-wave” feminisms”

 

radical feminism

View of feminism that calls for rapid, radical change, as opposed to gradual/”respectability” forms; in context of Michelle Goldberg’s What Is a Woman?, often noted to not consider trans* women as actual women; in Julia Serano’s response, noted that the dichotomy between radical feminism and trans* individuals are sensationalized. (Goldberg, What Is a Woman?; Serano, An Open Letter to the New Yorker)