The Lie:

The Truth:

Radical feminists have a solid analysis, and we have no need to resort to insults. But, many people are insulted by our analysis, our words, and our actions.

Sometimes people are insulted by our words when we tell the truth (e.g. that trans women are genetically male). Sometimes people are insulted when we call trans women “men” because in our framework the word “men” means “adult human male.” Sometimes people are insulted because we set boundaries around our space and ask men not to come. Sometimes people are insulted because we don’t apologize for our beliefs even if they hurt people’s feelings. And we can’t do anything about any of that, because we aren’t going to stop speaking the truth because people don’t like it. Occasionally, people are insulted because some radical feminists really do engage in personal attacks on trans or queer activists, usually in the context of responding to a direct attack the trans or queer person has made on them or their community.

So people are insulted by us, and they insult us, and the world keeps turning. But the truth is that even when radical feminists do resort to insults, they are still accompanied by radical feminist analysis, which is strong, solid, and robust. Radfems may sometimes insult others, but it’s not because of a lack of strong analysis.

The reversal:

Go read the tweets on the #radfem2013 hashtag and see for yourself who is insulting who. Count up the personal insults. Make a list of the actual words used, and by whom. Read conversations happening between radical feminists and our opponents (there aren’t many, as most of us have grown weary of being abused, but there are some there). Count up the troll accounts set up by genderists for the sole purpose of trolling the hashtag, and notice the utter absence of similar RF troll accounts on #radfem2013 or anywhere else on Twitter. See for yourself who is resorting to insults here when the reasoning dries up. Anyone who is paying attention will clearly see that radical feminists are far kinder to our opponents than the other way around, and we are the ones relying on well-reasoned argumentation. See for yourself that our analysis really is stronger.