TERF wars: the construction of identities and virtual communities Sofía de Teresa Trueba
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56294/pa202595Keywords:
TERF wars, feminism, intersectionality, group identity, virtual communitiesAbstract
TERF wars are confrontations between feminists who consider that trans women are not women and therefore cannot belong to feminism, and feminists who consider that trans women are women and can participate in this movement.
Both groups are creating virtual communities that allow them to express themselves, build bonds of support, represent their values and ideas, and create a group identity.
Something extremely interesting about the identities of both sides is that - whether in a state of confrontation or not - they combine elements of gender with issues of social class and ethnic origin. While in trans-inclusive groups communities associated with being dark-skinned and poor are created, in trans-exclusionary groups materials that identify with non-popular social classes are shared.
This coalition between issues of gender, class and ethnicity can be understood with the theory of intersectionality, which explains that people are simultaneously excluded because of various characteristics; for example, because of skin color and social class as well as gender, which allows us to understand the emergence of alliances between trans women and dark-skinned women in the context of TERF wars, an issue demonstrated by various researchers within different countries, and which I have been able to detect in Mexico within different social networks.
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