Article source: “«Terf» contre transactivistes : escalade des tensions au sein des mouvements féministes [paywall]”, Christine Mateus, Le Parisien, 13/11/2021. Extract.
Throughout its history, feminism has always been a broad church. It has changed as each generation has brought in new thoughts and new ideas, but this has frequently led to disputes, and even schisms. In spite of this, all feminists share common ground: the fight against inequalities and the violence faced by women, the struggle for public and private freedoms, and the ambition to gain power in order to build a fairer society.
Nowadays, there are three main subjects on which French feminists are divided: the wearing of the hijab, sex work, and transidentity. The last of these raises an underlying question, “do transgender women belong in feminist movements?” It is this bone of contention that leads to the most vehement arguments on social media, and sometimes also during demonstrations.
Grassroots Battlegrounds
“It happens at internal meetings as well,” says Chloé, 22, a feminist who lives in Lyon and recently left an activist group in protest. “On paper, trans women are welcome to join the fight. But only on paper. The fact that they don’t identify with the gender they were assigned at birth, the discrimination and the violence they face… All of that is acknowledged. However, when I was part of the group, I was working alongside women who refused to let these people attend women-only meetings if they hadn’t gone through surgery. I walked out,” she reveals. “Fighting for our rights while encouraging gender stereotypes that impose a certain idea of what a woman should be? No thanks!” says the “cisgender” (non-transgender) student..
Chloé finds herself at odds with the beliefs of some feminists who refer to themselves as “gender critical” and whom opponents call “TERF” for “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists.” Trans activists argue that focusing on biological differences between men and women is exclusionary, whereas “gender critical” feminists firmly believe that the trans movement tends to make women invisible. “It gets so absurd that trans activists even oppose pro-choice demonstrations because not all women have a uterus… It’s completely insane,” explains a woman who describes herself as “a veteran women’s rights activist” and wants to remain anonymous.
A Dangerous Debate
Her words resonate with those of J.K Rowling. The author of the Harry Potter series suggested that we shouldn’t say “people who menstruate,” we should just say “women”. Marguerite Stern, an ex-Femen member who initiated a movement of billposting messages decrying femicides, explained on her Twitter account: “The issue is that their agenda is taking up more and more space in the feminist movement, even though they’re only a tiny minority.” In her opinion, it is a case of “men once again trying to take power and infiltrate feminist movements.” On the Internet, "criticising trans activists is even harder than criticising religions,” she says. “It’s getting dangerous to bring the topic up, because you immediately get harassed.” […]
Contemporary queer theory opposes the idea, propounded by certain radical feminists, that women are a homogeneous group. On 26 June 2021 in Paris, during the Pride march, several trans women were attacked and insulted by TERFs who held up transphobic signs with slogans like: “We need feminism, not transmutilation.”
Translated by Gauthier Sénécal and Sophie Garnier
Editing by Sam Trainor
