Gender-critical feminism

Trans-exclusionary radical feminism Trans-inclusive radical feminist blogger Viv Smythe has been credited with popularizing the term "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" in 2008 as an online shorthand. It was used to describe a minority of feminists who espouse sentiments that other feminists consider transphobic, including the rejection of the mainstream feminist view that trans women are women, opposition to transgender rights, Smythe has also been credited with having coined the acronym "TERF", due to a blog post she wrote reacting to the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival's policy of denying admittance to trans women. Though it was created as a deliberately neutral descriptor, "TERF" is now often considered derogatory or dismissive, but may also be used as a self-description. Serena Bassi and Greta LaFleur write that "the argument by trans-exclusionary radical feminists that the term TERF (an acronym for 'trans-exclusionary radical feminist') is a 'slur'— rather than a description of a particular approach to politics—leans on a 'politics of injury' that distances itself from the real and very harmful work trans-exclusionary radical feminism is doing in the world." some academics have argued that this shift in language constitutes a problematic rebranding. This change in self-description was accompanied by other shifts in rhetoric, such as "anti-trans" becoming "pro-women" and "trans-exclusion" becoming the protection of "sex-based rights", == Views ==

Sex and gender Gender-critical feminists equate "women" with what they consider to be a "female sex class", and view historical and contemporary oppression of women as being rooted in their being female, while "gender" is a system of social norms which functions to oppress women on the basis of their sex. They believe sex is biological and cannot be changed, and that equity legislation protecting against discrimination based on sex should be interpreted as solely referring to biological sex. Furthermore, gender-critical beliefs emphasise the view that sex is binary, as opposed to a continuous spectrum, and that the two sexes have an objective, material basis as opposed to being socially constructed. Gender-critical feminists promote the idea that sex is important. In Material Girls, Kathleen Stock discusses four areas in which she expresses the view that sex-associated differences are important, regardless of gender: medicine, sport, sexual orientation, and the social effects of heterosexuality (such as gender pay gaps and sexual assault). Holly Lawford-Smith states: "Gender critical feminism is not 'about' trans. It is about sex." Lawford-Smith said of gender-critical feminism: "It is about being critical of gender, and this has implications for a wide range of feminist issues, not just gender identity." Writing of her view of a "gender-critical feminist utopia", she said: "While there will still be the same people who think of themselves as 'transmen', 'transwomen' or 'non-binary' today, they will not use those labels, because 'feminine' will be a way that males can be, 'masculine' will be a way that women can be, and 'androgynous' will be a way that anyone can be." In gender-critical discourse, the terms man and woman are used as sex-terms, assigned no more meaning than adult human male and adult human female respectively, in contrast to feminist theorists who argue these terms embody a social category distinct from matters of biology (usually referred to as gender). The phrase adult human female has become a slogan in gender-critical politics, and has been described as transphobic. "Sex-based rights" Gender critical feminists advocate what they call "sex-based rights", arguing that "women's human rights are based upon sex" and that "these rights are being eroded by the promotion of 'gender identity. They commonly position "sex-based rights" as under attack and something that needs defense, arguing that allowing trans women to use women's spaces is a threat to cisgender women. Human rights scholar Sandra Duffy described the concept of "sex-based rights" as "a fiction with the pretense of legality", noting that the word "sex" in international human rights law does not share the implications of the word "sex" in gender-critical discourse and is widely agreed to also refer to gender. Catharine A. MacKinnon noted that "the recognition [that discrimination against trans people is discrimination on the basis of sex, that is gender, the social meaning of sex] does not, contrary to allegations of anti-trans self-identified feminists, endanger women or feminism". Both Duffy and MacKinnon argue that there are no positive or affirmative "sex-based rights" that women possess, but rather negative rights against discrimination. The term has been adopted by Donald Trump and was used in an executive order titled "Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government", which seeks to erase official recognition of transgender people and roll back their protections. Inclusive language Scholars Lucy Jones and Rodrigo Borba have published work stating that gender-critical actors often resist the adoption of inclusive and nonbinary language, particularly in relation to pronouns and the recognition of transgender and nonbinary identities. In her 2023 review of literature on language, gender, and sexuality, Jones says that gender-critical feminists frequently reject linguistic practices that affirm trans and nonbinary identities, often citing the preservation of "sex-based rights" as justification. She says that this resistance is typically framed by a binary and essentialist ideology that defines "woman" exclusively as someone assigned female at birth. Drawing on this scholarship, Jones characterizes gender-critical resistance to inclusive language as part of a broader "cisnormative preoccupation with trans people's bodies" and a form of linguistic policing aimed at denying the legitimacy of trans and nonbinary identities. Some gender-critical feminists such as Holly Lawford-Smith defend misgendering, arguing that rather than being harmful, it is "accurately referring to sex". Socialisation and gender nonconformity Gender critical feminists generally see gender as a system in which women are oppressed for reasons intrinsically related to their sex, and emphasize male violence against women, particularly involving institutions such as the sex industry, as central to women's oppression. Holders of such views often contend that trans women cannot fully be women because they were assigned male at birth and have experienced some degree of male privilege. Germaine Greer has said that it "wasn't fair" that "a man who has lived for 40 years as a man and had children with a woman and enjoyed the services—the unpaid services of a wife, which most women will never know…then decides that the whole time he's been a woman". These ideas have been met with criticism from believers in other branches of feminism. Sociologist Patricia Elliot argues that the view that one's socialization as a girl or woman defines "women's experience" assumes that cis women's experiences are homogeneous and discounts the possibility that trans and cis women may share the experience of being disparaged for their perceived femininity. Others argue that expectations of one's assigned sex are something enforced upon them, beginning at early socialization, and transgender youth, especially gender-nonconforming children, often experience different, worse treatment involving reprisals for their deviation therefrom. Transfeminist Julia Serano has referred to implying that trans women may experience some degree of male privilege pre-transition as "denying [them] the closet", and has compared it to saying that a cisgender gay person experienced straight privilege before coming out. She has also compared it to if a cisgender girl was raised as a boy against her will, and how the two scenarios tend to be viewed differently by a cisgender audience, despite being ostensibly similar experiences from a transfeminine perspective. Gender transition In The Transsexual Empire (1979), feminist Janice Raymond denounces the act of transition as "rape", by virtue of "reducing the real female form to an artifact, appropriating this body for themselves". She stated "the problem of transsexualism would best be served by morally mandating it out of existence" and when later feminist criticism compared her writing to genocidal rhetoric, argued in 2014 that she didn't call for physical eradication but eradication of "the medical and social systems that support transsexualism and the reasons why in a gender-defined society, persons find it necessary to change their bodies". In her own book Gyn/Ecology (1979), originally published one year earlier, Mary Daly, who had served as Raymond's thesis supervisor, insisted that as sex reassignment surgery could not reproduce female chromosomes, the clitoris, the ability to give birth, the ability to menstruate, or a female life history, it could "not produce women". Sheila Jeffreys and Germaine Greer have made similar remarks. Daly presented gender transition as the result of a grotesque patriarchal urge to violate natural boundaries and imitate motherhood, assimilating it to a broader concept of "male motherhood" that also included the Catholic priesthood, and claimed that it represented a male technological attempt to replace women altogether. Helen Joyce has called for "reducing or keeping down the number of people who transition" because every one who does, happy or not, is a person who's "damaged" and "a huge problem to a sane world". Transgender youth Trans-exclusionary feminists raise concerns about or oppose gender-affirming care like puberty blockers or hormone replacement therapy for transgender youth, often citing controversial theories like rapid-onset gender dysphoria. equating pediatric gender care with bodily mutilation. Feminists like Holly Lawford-Smith and Kathleen Stock cite statistics showing that the number of children referred to gender clinics have increased in the late 2010s, advancing a social contagion argument that authors Fran Amery and Shon Faye describe as a moral panic. They argue that puberty blockers should not be prescribed on the basis that there is little benefit and substantial harm to puberty blockers. Ethicist Rach Cosker-Rowland argues these claims are not supported by an evaluation of the literature on puberty blockers. Greer admitted in 2016 that defining men and women solely using chromosomes was wrong. with Lawford-Smith saying that the term "assigned female at birth" has been "appropriated from people with differences of sexual development", and "used by trans activists for everyone, even though in more than 99% of cases, as we have seen, sex is accurately observed, not 'assigned'". Intersex women who display a mixed sexual phenotype often face attacks similar to trans people. Sexual orientation Gender critical feminists believe that transgender rights are a threat to the rights of gay people. Gender critical lesbians and feminists are a minority in the UK: polls show that cisgender lesbians and bisexual women are among the most trans-inclusive groups in Britain. Kathleen Stock, for instance, has said that allowing trans women to call themselves women "threatens a secure understanding of the concept 'lesbian. Julie Bindel has said that transgender women cannot be lesbians, instead qualifying them as straight men trying to "join the club", and has compared transgender activism to men sexually assaulting lesbian women for rejecting their advances. Many other gender critical groups and pundits have spoken of the transgender rights movement as a men's sexual rights movement, designed to pressure lesbians into having sex with trans women. Ray Blanchard's theory of autogynephilia is a recurrent talking point in TERF discourse, where it is usually presented as established science. It characterises trans women's gender identities as caused by sexual orientation or sexual deviance. Conversion therapy Kathleen Stock has argued that definitions of conversion therapy and bans against it should not include gender identity conversion therapy on the basis that it risks criminalising "proper therapeutic exploration", and that she believes it comes into conflict with bans against sexual orientation conversion therapy. This latter argument has been criticized on the basis that doctors affirming transgender youth do not attempt to alter sexual orientation, which is understood to define who they are attracted to, and respect the person's expressed gender identity and sexual orientation. Trans-exclusionary radical feminists in France campaigned against a ban on conversion therapy arguing that most transgender teenagers assigned female at birth aren't really trans. In March 2022, gender-critical groups campaigned to have the UK government remove gender identity change efforts from a proposed ban on conversion therapy. The Trevor Project and International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association have stated "gender critical therapy" is another name for conversion therapy. Heron Greenesmith has reported on gender critical boards sharing lists of therapists whose end goal is the rejection of trans identity for parents of trans youth. The gender-critical group Genspect promotes "gender exploratory therapy", which is also considered to be a form of conversion therapy. They argue that transgender identities stem from unprocessed trauma, childhood abuse, internalized homophobia or misogyny, sexual fetishism, and autism. == History ==

Early history (before 2000) Although trans people were active in feminist movements in the 1960s and earlier, the 1970s saw conflict among some early radical feminists over the inclusion of trans women in feminism. In 1973, trans-exclusionary radical feminist activists from the Daughters of Bilitis voted to expel Beth Elliott, an out trans woman, from the organization. The same year, Elliott was scheduled to perform at the West Coast Lesbian Conference, which she had helped organize; a group of trans-exclusionary radical feminist activists calling themselves the Gutter Dykes leafletted the conference protesting her inclusion and keynote speaker Robin Morgan updated her speech to describe Elliott as "an opportunist, an infiltrator, and a destroyer – with the mentality of a rapist". Trans-exclusionary radical feminist activists protested Sandy Stone's position at Olivia Records, a trans-inclusive lesbian separatist music collective. In 1977 The Gorgons, a trans-exclusionary lesbian separatist paramilitary group, issued a death threat to Stone and came to the event armed though were intercepted by security. Escalating threats against the collective motivated Stone to leave the group. Raymond maintained that this was based in the "patriarchal myths" of "male mothering", and "making of woman according to man's image", and that transgender identity aimed "to colonize feminist identification, culture, politics and sexuality". Several authors have since characterized this work as transphobic and constituting hate speech, as well as lacking any serious intellectual basis. In 1991 Nancy Burkholder, a trans woman, was ejected from the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival (MWMF), after refusing to answer when another woman asked her whether or not she was transgender. This removal was justified by the retroactive instatement of a womyn-born womyn policy by the MWMF organisers. During the 1993 MWMF event, Walworth was told by event security that she and any trans women in their group would be required to leave the event "for their own safety". Although an offer of bodyguard protection was provided by a group of leather lesbians attending the festival, Walworth's group decided instead to set up an outreach camp outside the festival gates. This camp, later known as Camp Trans, continued to provide education and outreach attempts while protesting the festival's trans exclusionary practices until the festival's final event in 2015. == By country ==

Europe France In France, the gender-critical or TERF strain of feminism was long understood as less significant or dangerous to trans rights than non-feminist, conservative or religious groups. Journalist Yacha Hajzler described the strain as an extremist minority supported by the political far-right, while Constance Lefebvre dismissed TERFs as a small uninfluential minority of French feminists. However, in the years leading up to 2022, TERFs gained increasing prominence in public discourse. The French gender-critical feminist movement is closely linked with conservative and far-right movements. Trans-exclusionary feminists Marguerite Stern and amplify and support anti-trans lobby groups and . Germany Since 2021, a TERF or gender-critical feminist discourse has developed as an alternative to mainstream feminism in response to the coalition government introducing self-ID legislation. This minority of feminists invokes language of 'biological sex', social contagion and misinformation about transgender violence, citing experiences in the United Kingdom. Asia China China's development of a radical feminist movement has emerged in the context of the South Korean radical feminist movement, particularly the 6B4T principles. Chinese radical feminism has largely grown as an online phenomenon, in the context of decreasing freedom of speech and increased repression of feminist activism via NGOs. Developing into a movement on social media, Chinese radical feminists (CRFs) use platforms like Douban and Weibo to 'spread feminism' and bring gender inequality and violence against women into public consciousness. This movement, first focused on promoting women's rights, eventually evolved in opposition to LGBT activism in China. Japan Concordant with global and Japanese national rises in anti-gender and anti-LGBTQ discourse, there has been an increase in anti-transgender discourses in Japanese online media, which since the 2010s has entered Japanese feminist discourses. The pinnacle of the intensification of transphobia came with the 2018 Ochanomizu University's announcement that it would admit transgender students. Both Anglo-European and Korean TERF contexts have influenced Japanese feminist transphobia, but result from a specific Japanese feminist context. Both feminist and trans rights movements have their roots in activism that began after the 1980 military coup. Lara Özlen argues that, rather than a direct import of anti-trans feminisms from the UK, Turkish TERF has to be understood in the context of Turkish feminist history and recent right-wing provocations. == Analysis ==

Scholarly analysis In 2025, philosopher Suzy Killmister published "What’s Wrong with Gender-Critical Feminism?" in Hypatia, arguing that the metaphysical and political assumptions of gender-critical feminism make it both philosophically flawed and, if enacted, it would bring about a world of two sex classes that shape roles and access in the world. Killmister contends that by reinforcing biological essentialism and opposing trans inclusion, gender-critical feminism contributes to the same social hierarchies and exclusionary politics promoted by neo-Nazi actors. Clair Thurlow notes that the more explicitly hateful language used by early trans-exclusionary radical feminists failed to gain support, forcing them to pivot towards euphemisms and dog-whistles such as using "pro-woman" to mean "anti-trans", "protecting sex-based rights" meant excluding trans people, and "trans-exclusionary radical feminism" became "gender-critical feminism". This allowed trans-exclusionary feminism to appear reasonable to the average person while maintaining their anti-trans meanings to other anti-trans activists. Mauro Cabral Grinspan, Ilana Eloit, David Paternotte and Mieke Verloo criticize the expression "gender-critical feminism" and argue that the term is problematic because it serves to rebrand anti-trans activism. Abbie E. Goldberg argues that "trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERF) has contained similar cisnormative arguments to those of social conservatives, promoting vilification of people with a trans lived experience in the guise of so-called gender-critical feminism" and that "this TERF approach has been used to promote exclusionary and discriminatory legislation, such as prohibiting equal access to public toilets and the right to be treated in accordance with one's gender in workplaces, accommodations, and public venues". In a systematic review of TERF behaviour online, Nina Ploch found that TERFs exhibit similar group dynamics to conservative and authoritarian groups. These include a strong emphasis on group cohesion, rigid gender binaries, and the portrayal of trans individuals as an external threat, aligning with psychological traits such as ethnocentrism and social dominance. Ploch noted that TERFs "show little openness to change, seek structure and order, and justify inequalities to cope with uncertainty and threat," further demonstrating "features of authoritarianism." According to her analysis, TERFs also tend to "operate within narrow circles of like-minded individuals" and are often "convinced of their moral superiority." James Pickles and Ben Colliver argue that self-styled "gender critical" actors contribute to a wider social environment in which transphobic prejudice is normalised, shaping public attitudes and enabling increased hate-crime perpetration and structural harms against trans communities. Relationship with feminism Gender studies scholars Serena Bassi and Greta LaFleur have noted that TERFism started out as a fringe group among English speaking cultural feminists in the 1970s that grew rapidly due to media exposure. Henry F. Fradella said that most contemporary feminists are supportive of trans people, and that gender-critical feminists are a small but vocal group who believe that trans rights threaten the rights of cis women. Most gender-critical arguments for this belief, he says, are false, and "misconstrue or ignore empirical data from both the natural and social sciences". Gender-critical feminism risks legal equality and contributes to criminalization of trans people. Briar Dickey writes that the "TERF movement [is] largely understood as taking influence from fringe segments of second-wave radical feminist thought, to which such sex essentialism is inherent, as well as the attachment of violence to male bodies." Relationship with the anti-gender movement Bassi and LaFleur write that "the trans-exclusionary feminist (TERF) movement and the so-called anti-gender movement are only rarely distinguished as movements with distinct constitutions and aims". Claire Thurlow writes that "despite efforts to obscure the point, gender critical feminism continues to rely on transphobic tropes, moral panics and essentialist understandings of men and women. These factors also continue to link trans-exclusionary feminism to anti-feminist reactionary politics and other 'anti-gender' movements". UN Women has described the gender-critical, anti-gender and men's rights movements as anti-rights movements that overlap in opposition to what they describe as "gender ideology", which the agency described as "a term used to oppose the concept of gender, women's rights, and the rights of LGBTIQ+ people broadly." They argued these groups have attempted to "frame equality for women and LGBTIQ+ people as a threat to so-called 'traditional' family values" and linked them to "hateful propaganda and disinformation to target and attempt to delegitimize people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, gender expressions, and sex characteristics." Political alliances with conservatives and the far right Some trans-exclusionary radical feminists have allied with conservative or far-right groups and politicians who oppose legislation that would expand transgender rights in the United States. According to der Freitag: "TERF positions are now mostly heard from conservatives and right-wing extremists." Sophia Siddiqui, the deputy editor of Race & Class, has argued that "'gender critical' feminists play into the hands of far-right street forces and extreme-right electoral parties which would like to abolish anti-discrimination protections altogether" and that it "could have a damaging effect on global feminist and LGBT movements by reinforcing conservative ideas about gender and sexuality". The Canadian Anti-Hate Network said that despite labelling themselves as feminists, TERF groups often collaborate with conservative and far-right groups. According to Korolczuk et al., most scholars seem to agree that gender-critical feminism "is also implicated in right-wing or even fascist trends". Gender studies scholar C. Libby has pointed to "burgeoning connections between trans-exclusionary radical feminism, "gender critical" writing, and transphobic evangelical Christian rhetoric". In January 2019, The Heritage Foundation, an American conservative think tank, hosted a panel of self-described radical feminists opposed to the US Equality Act. In a 2020 article in Lambda Nordica, Erika Alm of the University of Gothenburg and Elisabeth L. Engebretsen of the University of Stavanger, said that there was "growing convergence, and sometimes conscious alliances, between "gender-critical" feminists (sometimes known as TERFs – Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminists), religious and social conservatives, as well as right-wing politics and even neo-Nazi and fascist movements" and that the convergence was linked to "their reliance on an essentialised and binary understanding of sex and/or gender, often termed 'bio-essentialism'". Another 2020 article, in The Sociological Review, said that "the language of 'gender ideology' originates in anti-feminist and anti-trans discourses among right-wing Christians, with the Catholic Church acting as a major nucleating agent", and said that the term "saw increasing circulation in trans-exclusionary radical feminist discourse" from around 2016. It further said that "a growing number of anti-trans campaigners associated with radical feminist movements have openly aligned themselves with anti-feminist organisations". Another 2021 paper, in Law and Social Inquiry, said that "a coalition of Christian conservative legal organizations, conservative foundations, Trump administration officials, Republican party lawmakers, and trans-exclusionary radical feminists has assembled to redefine the right to privacy in service of anti-transgender politics" and that "social conservatives have cast the issue as one of balancing two competing rights claims rather than one of outright animus against a gender minority population". Misinformation and disinformation Political communication scholar TJ Billard has argued that "misinformation—or, more specifically, disinformation—about trans topics has become the defining feature of public discourse on transgender rights." Cilia Williams et al. noted in an article on gender critical feminist discourse in Spain that "anti-trans narratives online [...] use attacks, misinformation, and self-defence as a communication strategy, rather than debate or dialogue." Gender theorist Alyosxa Tudor has written that "strategic disinformation as [an] accelerator" has been used to push forward "hateful and anti-democratic agendas." == Controversies ==

Academic freedom Conflict between gender-critical feminists and other feminists and transgender rights activists has resulted in controversies in which the principles of academic freedom have been invoked. Conflicts have erupted at university campuses. In July 2025, Alice Sullivan, a gender-critical feminist and professor of sociology, published a report commissioned by the previous Conservative government, accusing UK universities of failing to protect gender-critical academics from bullying and research restrictions. Multiple cases were cited in the report and have been described in the media in which academics engaged in gender critical research have claimed unfair treatment. For example, in September 2022, Laura Favaro, a research fellow at City, University of London’s Gender and Sexualities Research Centre, published an article in Times Higher Education discussing her research into the climate of the debate among academics. Noting that she had interviewed 50 feminist academics in gender studies with a range of views on the subject, Favaro stated "my discussions left me in no doubt that a culture of discrimination, silencing and fear has taken hold across universities in England, and many countries beyond". Favaro later began discrimination proceedings against City University, stating she had been "ostracised at her workplace and denied access to her research data" after the publication of her article. City University responded with a statement that it had a "legal obligation to protect freedom of expression that we take very seriously". It also took its "obligations with respect to ethics and integrity very seriously" and made clear that "any personal data processed in the course of any research [should be] processed in compliance with data protection legislation". Conflicts with other feminist and pro-equality groups In February 2020, 28 feminist and LGBT groups in France co-signed a declaration titled Toutes des femmes denouncing trans-exclusionary feminism, saying that "questions disguised as 'legitimate concerns' quickly give way to more violent attacks" and that "it is a confusionist and conspiratorial ideological movement using the cover of feminism to disrupt real feminist fights". The declaration has since also been signed by over 100 additional feminist, LGBT, and progressive groups. In May 2021, over 110 women's and human rights organisations in Canada signed a statement stating that they "vehemently reject the dangerous and bigoted rhetoric and ideology espoused by Trans Exclusionary Radical 'Feminists' (TERFs)", and saying that "trans people are a driving force in our feminist movements and make incredible contributions across all facets of our society". Judith Butler said in 2020 that trans-exclusionary radical feminism is "a fringe movement that is seeking to speak in the name of the mainstream, and that our responsibility is to refuse to let that happen". In 2021, the Council of Europe Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination published a report titled Combating rising hate against LGBTI people in Europe, which condemned "the highly prejudicial anti-gender, gender-critical and anti-trans narratives which reduce the fight for the equality of LGBTI people to what these movements deliberately mischaracterise as 'gender ideology' or 'LGBTI ideology'" and which said there was "a direct link between heteronormativity and heterosexism, on the one hand, and the growing anti-gender and gender-critical movements". The report formed the basis of Resolution 2417, adopted in January 2022. The letter stated that "[t]rans people and particularly trans women are an inextricable part of our feminist community" and accused the British group of colonialism. Sociologist Kelsy Burke argued that "TERFs aren't aligned with most feminists" and wrote that "most American feminists are far from trans-exclusionary and have long been among the most supportive groups of LGBTQ equality". Social media The controversial Reddit community r/GenderCritical gathered a reputation as an anti-trans space. In June 2020, it was abruptly banned for violating new rules against "promoting hate". Members set up a similar community called Ovarit. ==Symbolism and iconography==

The colors purple, green, and white, originally associated with the British women's suffrage movement, have been adopted by many gender-critical feminist groups. Sarah Pedersen writes that "use of suffragette pen names and WSPU colours allows gender-critical posters to identify each other both on and offline." These colors are frequently used in logos, promotional material, and online bios, often evoking a sense of historical feminist legitimacy. However, this color scheme has increasingly been criticized as a visual marker for trans-exclusionary ideologies. == See also ==