TERFS: Somehow More Toxic Than the Trans Movement

In this video, we analyze the ideology behind the TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminist) movement. We discuss how TERFs emerged from an earlier generation of feminists who believed that gender differences were entirely socially constructed and conditioned. This "gender critical" ideology views gender as an oppressive social construct that should be abolished.

We explain why TERFs see transgender identities as offensive and threatening to their worldview. We also analyze the perspectives of lesbian TERFs. Overall, we argue that while TERFs are logically consistent within their own belief system, their ideology is contrary to scientific evidence on innate gender differences.

The TERF movement may represent the last gasp of an earlier form of feminism that did not adapt to new evidence. While influential for now in some circles, their ideology will likely not outlive the generation that spawned it.

Simone: [00:00:00] We'll just say curmudgeonly resistance to change.

Malcolm: Exactly. And who would be more curmudgeonly and resistant to change than 1970s feminists? These women were not known for their logic, everybody always knew that this early iteration of the feminist movement was like, f*****g bonkers, and completely dislocated from reality..

You went out with a white male? I was a freshman. Fresh person. Please. Please. He's coming over here. Sisters, form a wall! No,

Malcolm: their entire ideology to begin with was stupid and reactionary. And, and, honestly, I think to a large extent used for them to gain access to sexual partners.

You know, they used to do this political lesbian thing to pressure straight women to sleep with them, and now they're getting the, well, not liking girl dick makes you a bigot

so let's talk about what political lesbianism is. If you don't believe gender is a thing, then sexual orientation isn't a thing either.

And so if men are the problem in society, then you can just choose to be gay. [00:01:00] And this is a very convenient ideology for a lot of women, who want to believe any woman they have a crush on is a valid target for them to try as hard as they want on.

Would you like to know more?

Simone: all right. So we were in the UK recently, and we were reminded while being there and talking to people about various political movements and conservative movements there, just how big like the turf movement in general is there, which we're not saying it's big, but it is influential, like a very small number of women.

Who identify as TERFs have had an outsized level of influence. One could argue.

Malcolm: I go further than that. I'd say if you talk among conservative circles in the UK there is a general belief among the political class that the aspect of the conservative movement that is having the most. cultural victory, you know, moving the Overton window the most is the turf portion of the movement in the U.

S. I think we think of turfs as being this rare small group that that is just like weirdo extremists in the U. K. They are a core aspect, [00:02:00] if not the current most successful aspect of the conservative political ideology of the country. Yeah. So, this brings us to a question. Who are TERFs? What do we think of TERFs?

And yeah, we'll, we'll just go into it because it's something I spend a lot of time on. So people might know this. We have a holiday called Lemon Day in our family where we have to engage with an ideology that offends us. And I spent a lot of time because I've always found TERFism to be fairly offensive and that might surprise people.

So I'll explain why really deeply in their communities, which are called gender critical communities from their perspective.

One of the core mistakes people make when they think about who the TERFs are, what they are, what they want, is they think that this is predominantly, and I even noticed this was in the UK to an extent, is they didn't seem to understand when they were talking about TERFs, the full ideology, that This was just an anti trans movement, and it is not.

It's not a trans skeptical movement, it's not an anti trans movement, it is so much more than that. It is [00:03:00] a complete world perspective on what it is to be human, what humans are, why humans are that way. It is a logically, internally consistent perspective, but it is a perspective that... Is incongruent with measurable evidence is the way I would put it which to me is interesting because it is such a logically internally consistent perspective that is also so insane.

So let's talk about it. And why people ended up holding it, because I think this is very interesting as well. First, I'll quickly describe what TERFs and the gender critical movement actually believe. So they believe that there is no difference between men and women. That's what they mean when they say gender critical.

They are critical of the very concept of gender. They think that men and women are different because we have been socialized differently. That is the core cause of male and female differences in the world.[00:04:00] And that And this is why they're so antagonistic to trans individuals, because they see their goal, right, is to get society to accept that all of the differences between men and women are actually created by society itself.

And that if we could just accept that gender is completely irrelevant, and nothing is gender. No traits are gendered, the female strength isn't gendered, nothing is gendered. Some will accept that like females have smaller bodies on average, but not all of them do. It's actually pretty interesting how like de lulu this movement is.

Wow. But, but mostly the mainstream position of the movement is just psychologically there is absolutely no difference between males and females. Hmm. If we can... Break society's gender concepts, then we can enter a world in which there is genuine equality between what we now call genders. So from their perspective, if they're taking this view, there are two reasons they have, like, [00:05:00] the trans community is their mortal enemy.

Problem number one is trans community is coming in and saying, actually men and women definitely are two different things. So much so that you can be born the wrong one. Like you couldn't be born the wrong one if they weren't different things. Right. So they are. And, and, and then on top of that, when the trans community from the perspective of the gender critical movement defines what men and women are in their mind.

And you can see this in like, Dylan Milvaney's, like, 100 Days of the Woman or something. You, like, watch the early ones, and they're very much like, I've just been crying all day! And, like, they are very much actually negative stereotypes, or what the gender critical movement would consider negative stereotypes about women.

Right. Right? You know, like emotional instability and stuff like that.

Day one of being a girl, and I have already cried three times. I wrote a scathing email that I did not send. I ordered dresses online that I couldn't afford. And then, uh, when someone asked me how I [00:06:00] was, I said, I'm fine, when I wasn't fine. Day 3 of being a girl and I've already become a bimbo with the queen herself. We are drinking martinis at 255 on a Monday on Sunset Boulevard and then we're going makeup shopping. We love it! Cheers! Chrissy?

Yeah. The bimbos are bimbo y. It's 100%. We need it. We shopped. It's been an amazing day as a bimbo. I think it's a good fit for me. What do you think ladies? Love you day four of being a girl and I am exhausted The hair, the makeup, the clothes, the high heels, it's a lot to keep up with,

If you have trouble understanding why this would be so offensive to somebody who didn't believe that there were any