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The Truth is in the Eating
Not the pudding
TERF wars
It wasn’t so long ago that I found the label ‘TERF’ offensive. It seemed to me that some felt their feminism was under attack, that their free speech was being compromised and that some pro trans activists were forcing their dogma on vulnerable young people. My first exposure to the world of TERF’s was when I was part of the executive of a constituency political party. A person I’d not met previously descended on our exec and took up managing our social media. That person was relieved of their duties after attacking (virtually) a radical feminist as media officer. This was considered inappropriate and unnecessarily combative and suggested this person wasn’t really up to the task.
I’d heard of some of the groups defending radical feminism and found some of their arguments convincing and, at least, worth listening to. They had evidence to back up their claims and, from what I could see, were genuine in their concern. I was working it all out myself and wasn’t going to be corralled into progressive thinking simply on the basis of it being progressive. I can’t claim to be a truly independent thinker — I often find myself being convinced of an argument coming from one angle only to be persuaded when presented by a counter argument. On this issue I was swayed by what I felt was calm and logical against what I…