TERF Intimate Publics

Anti-gender Images and Feelings

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.12025.5

Keywords:

Trans-exclusionary Radical Feminism, TERF, Intimate Publics, Anti-gender Feelings, Images, Cis-heteronormativity, Whiteness

Abstract

This article asks: how does trans-exclusionary radical feminism (TERFism) function to create an intimate public that generates a sense of belonging along gendered and racialized lines? Drawing from Judith Butler, I use “fascism” as a conceptual frame while analyzing online images and sentiments of a trans-exclusionary radical feminist (TERF) who belongs to an Australian anti-gender Facebook group. I argue that TERF intimate publics are constituted by feelings of loss and resentment which become alleviated through claiming legitimacy along a “natural” gendered and racialized hierarchy of human worth, through demanding a return of one’s “sex-based rights,” and through a commitment to victimhood. Generating pride in a perceived endangered identity, this article finds that TERF intimate publics uphold the regulatory norms of cis-heteronormativity and whiteness. This analysis reveals that they offer a space for racist nationalism rooted in cis-hetero-misogyny, a crucial finding as TERFism gains traction in the current political moment.

Author Biography

Jo Church, The University of Melbourne

Jo Church is a PhD Candidate at The University of Melbourne in the School of Social and Political Sciences. She is studying anti-gender politics in Australia and on social media.

References

Berlant, Lauren. 2008. The Female Complaint: The Unfinished Business of Sentimentality in American Culture. Duke University Press.

Binary Australia. 2023. “Watch “Why Can’t Women Talk About Sex”. Binary Australia. Published June 23, 2023. https://www.binary.org.au/watch_why_can_t_women_talk_about_sex.

Blee, Kathleen. 2020. “Where Do We Go from Here? Positioning Gender in Studies of the Far Right.” Politics, Religion & Ideology, 21 (4): 416-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/21567689.2020.1851870

Butler, Judith. 2024. Who's Afraid of Gender?. Allen Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books.

Carson, Andrea., Strating, Rebecca., Jackman, Simon. 2024. “Why did the Voice referendum fail? We crunched the data and found 6 reasons.” The Conversation. Published May 21, 2024. https://theconversation.com/why-did-the-voice-referendum-fail-we-crunched-the-data-and-found-6-reasons-228383

Cathey, Libby. 2021. “'Progress' flag to fly at State Department for 1st time to mark Pride Month.” ABC News. Published June 26, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/progress-flag-fly-state-department-1st-time-mark/story?id=78473193.

Duffy, Nick. 2018. “Australia’s anti-gay Marriage Alliance rebrands as anti-trans group.” Pink News. Published November 29, 2018. https://www.thepinknews.com/2018/11/29/marriage-alliance-binary-australia/

Edelman, Lee. 1998. “The Future Is Kid Stuff: Queer Theory, Disidentification, and the Death Drive.” Narrative, 6 (1): 18–30. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=49be4d5a-1d89-3c6e-9598-9a199a663a0d.

Elkin, Sam. 2023. “TERF wars and neo-Nazis.” The Saturday Paper. March 25, 2023. https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/2023/03/25/terf-wars-and-neo-nazis#hrd.

Giles, Geoffrey J. 2011. “THE PERSECUTION OF GAY MEN AND LESBIANS DURING THE THIRD REICH.” In The Routledge History of the Holocaust, edited by Jonathan C. Friedman. Taylor & Francis Group: Oxford.

Grosz, Elizabeth. 2012. "Conclusion: A note on essentialism and difference." In Feminist Knowledge (RLE Feminist Theory), edited by Sneja Gunew. Routledge.

Karvelas, Patricia. 2023. “Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull's anti-trans rights campaign has become a headache for the Liberal Party. But the issue runs deeper than one MP.” ABC News. March 26, 2023. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-26/kellie-jay-keen-minshullanti-trans-rights-liberal-party-debate/102142130.

Kelly, Cait. 2023. “‘Our lives are under attack’: one in two trans Australians have experienced hate, report reveals.” The Guardian. Published 29 August, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/aug/29/our-lives-are-under-attack-one-in-two-trans-australians-have-experienced-hate-report-reveals.

LeMaster, Benny, Danny Shultz, Jayvien McNeill, Graham (Gray) Bowers, and Rusty Rust. 2019. “Unlearning Cisheteronormativity at the Intersections of Difference: Performing Queer Worldmaking through Collaged Relational Autoethnography.” Text & Performance Quarterly, 39 (4): 341–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/10462937.2019.1672885.

MacKinnon, Catherine A. 2023. “Exploring Transgender Law and Politics.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society. https://signsjournal.org/exploring-transgender-law-and-politics/.

Markowitz, Sally. 2024. The Gender Binary and the Invention of Race. Routledge. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=3def5156-c207-3591-8405-44a1d9f456eb.

Mayer, Stefanie and Sauer, Birgit. 2017. “Gender ideology” in Austria: Coalitions around an empty signifier. In Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe: Mobilizing Against Equality, edited by Roman Kuhar and David Paternotte, 23–40. London: Rowman and Littlefield.

Patil, Vrushali. 2018. “The Heterosexual Matrix as Imperial Effect.” Sociological Theory, 36 (1): 1–26. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26427670.

Paxton, Robert O. 1998. “The Five Stages of Fascism.” The Journal of Modern History, 70 (1): 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1086/235001.

Printcev, Svetlana. 2024. “'A national issue': What we know about the neo-Nazis NSW wants to 'name and shame'.” SBS News. January 31, 2024. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/what-we-know-about-the-neo-nazis-nsw-wants-to-to-name-and-shame/ibkwri6vr.

Schuller, Kyla. 2018. The Biopolitics of Feeling: Race, Sex, and Science in the Nineteenth Century. Duke University Press. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=ca0ca58a-9123-389b-9305-ccdf104766bb.

Schuller, Kyla. 2023. UNFUCKOLOGY: Affectability, Temporality, and Unleashing the Sex/Gender Binary. In The Affect Theory Reader 2: Worldings, Tensions, Futures, edited by Gregory J. Seigworth and Carolyn Pedwell, 141–158. Durham: Duke University Press Books.

Schuller, Kyla and Gill-Peterson, Jules. 2020. “Introduction: Race, the State, and the Malleable Body.” Social Text, vol. 38 (2): 1–17, https://doi.org/10.1215/01642472-8164716.

Seidman, Irving. 2019. Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Researchers in Education and the Social Sciences. Teachers College Press. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=8d2c41e6-de96-3427-a040-8c467179d252.

Serano, Julia. 2007. Whipping Girl : A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Seal Press. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=0daefef8-cade-3130-be51-47c1de816bde.

Smith, Kirralie. 2023. “Penalised women heading to Canberra’s Parliament House”. Binary Australia. Published August 10, 2023. https://www.binary.org.au/penalised_women_heading_to_canberra_s_parliament_house.

Stanley, Jason. 2018. How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them. Random House. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=90d9a4b3-fe2a-3fb5-851d-1414f6b87f52.

Stryker, Susan. 2014. Biopolitics. In Postposttranssexual: Key Concepts for a Twenty-

First-Century Transgender Studies, edited by TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 38–42. Duke University Press.

The Guardian. 2024. “Australian voice referendum live results.” https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/ng-interactive/2023/oct/17/live-voice-referendum-results-aec-2023-poll-tracker-by-electorate-state-australia-yes-no-vote-polls-percentage-the-australian-indigenous-voice-to-parliament-who-won-result-winner-map-counts.

The National Indigenous Australians Agency. 2024. https://www.niaa.gov.au/our-work/culture-and-empowering-communities.

Uluru Statement From The Heart. 2024. “What is the Voice?” https://ulurustatement.org/the-voice/what-is-the-voice/.

Vagle, Mark. D. 2018. Crafting Phenomenological Research. New York: Routledge.

Van Manen, Max. 2016. Phenomenology of Practice: Meaning-Giving Methods in Phenomenological Research and Writing. Routledge. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=b0dbc5da-a946-33d8-94e0-8938d87d1b0f.

Weinbaum, Alys Eve. 2004. Wayward Reproductions Genealogies of Race and Nation in Transatlantic Modern Thought. Duke University Press. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=faec16ad-2ee3-341f-9a40-e5ce96cd5630.

Whelan, Chloe. 2023. “‘Unsurprised’: Dark truth behind ugly neo-Nazi protest.” Nationwide News. March 21, 2023. https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/unsurprised-dark-truth-behind-ugly-neonazi-protest/news-story/17c02253f17d29600f51f76eb3ef0b45.

Wilson, Cam. 2023. “Anti-trans rally speakers are falsely claiming neo-Nazi supporters were undercover police, trans activists”. Crikey. March 20, 2023. https://www.crikey.com.au/2023/03/20/kellie-jay-keen-anti-trans-neo-nazis-protest-melbourne/.

Wodak, Ruth. 2024. “CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS/ STUDIES”. In Routledge Companion to English Studies, edited by Constant Leung and Jo Lewkowicz. London: Routledge. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=ccf0c312-00de-3d5d-98f2-a1c0a36aaaae.

Wodak, Ruth. 2021. “From Post-Truth to Post-Shame: Analyzing Far-Right Populist Rhetoric”. In Approaches to Discourse Analysis, edited by Cynthia Gordon. Georgetown University Press. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=ef7b6313-b83c-31c2-8a61-ec16b0df340c.

Downloads

Published

2025-01-29

How to Cite

Church, Jo. 2025. “TERF Intimate Publics: Anti-Gender Images and Feelings”. Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science 59 (1). Online:115-33. https://doi.org/10.22151/politikon.12025.5.