Thread by @monaeltahawy

If you’re wondering why “A surprisingly mainstream movement of feminists known as TERFs oppose transgender rights as a symptom of “female erasure,” in Britain, read this:

How British Feminism Became Anti-Trans nytimes.com/2019/02/07/opi…

“But perhaps biggest factor in the rise of TERFism has been relative dearth of social movements in Britain over the past 3 decades.” Elsewhere “mass movements...around effects of globalization & police brutality have produced long overdue dialogue on race, gender & class.”

“In Britain, however, the space for this sort of dialogue has been much more limited. As a result, middle- and upper-class white feminists have not received the pummeling from black and indigenous feminists that their American counterparts have...”

In #London after one of my talks, 2 white transphobic lesbians followed me to dinner to urge me not to support trans rights. A gay #Saudi man, a bisexual Saudi woman, and I defended trans rights. In no other country have transphobes followed me to dinner after an event to argue.

I’d given a talk at a uni that was NOT about trans issues. But the transphobia knew I support trans rights. And so they followed me to dinner. My 2 Saudi friends were in attendance at the talk and joined me for dinner and the 3 of us were astounded at the transphobic vitriol.

“Significantly, many #Irish feminists have rejected Britain’s TERFism, citing their experience of colonialism explicitly as part of the reason.”

https://twitter.com/ployalties/status/1216624863663853569?s=21

White British TERFs conveniently ignore the existence of gender diversity globally. “It’s also worth noting that the obsession with supposed “biological realities” of people like Ms. Parker is part of a long tradition of British feminism interacting with colonialism and empire.