There were furrowed brows last week, in response to a column by author Juno Dawson in Glamour magazine. Dawson identifies as a transgender woman. In a column entitled, “Call yourself a feminist?”, she refers to feminist academic Germaine Greer as a “TERF” explaining that the acronym means, “trans-exclusionary radical feminist.”

Dawson tells readers that TERFs are: “A subgroup of feminists who steadfastly believe me – and other trans women – are not women.” Explaining how this is an issue, Dawson says: “The key battle ground between TERFs and trans women is the issue of toilets. Yes, my right to do a little wee or poo is, apparently, major political battleground.”

In saying this, Dawson makes light of some women’s concerns, while at the same time suggesting that such concerns are only held by an extremist minority. In fact, many women are uneasy about the presence of people who were born in male bodies appearing in spaces previously reserved for biological females, for a variety of reasons. The majority of these women would not identify as radical feminists, and not one would label themselves a “TERF.”

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The term is actually an exonym – a term used to describe a third party that the third party neither recognises, nor uses itself. It’s generally seen as a slur, and since the publication of Dawson’s column, women have objected to the label via social media, and in personal blogs. The controversy should be no surprise to Dawson or Glamour, as the term has been contentious since it was coined.

Deborah Cameron, a sociolinguistics professor, explains that we can reasonably decide if a word is a slur by asking certain questions such as, “Is the word commonly understood to convey hatred or contempt?” and, “What other words does the word tend to co-occur with?”

Cameron looked at a collection of tweets in which the term TERF is used and noted, that it, “quite often shows up in the same tweet as other words whose status as slurs is not disputed, like ‘b*tch’ and ‘c**t’. Other words that occur more than once or twice in these tweets include ‘disgusting’, ‘ugly’, ‘scum’ and a cluster of words implying uncleanness (‘smell’, ‘stink’, ‘garbage’, ‘filth’)—which is also a well-worn theme in racist and anti-Semitic discourse.”

It’s unsurprising then, that women object to the term. The negative connotations mean that those with similar views and concerns to those labelled “TERF” will be reluctant to speak up, for fear of being similarly tarnished. Women who are maligned by this label are also then isolated by it.

Dawson’s description of TERFs as a “subgroup” of feminists compounds the idea that these are the views of a few hardline zealots, and therefore unrepresentative of women generally. In reality, many women are afraid of men following them into women’s toilets. There’s no way of knowing if the man identifies as a woman, and just needs a wee – or if he’s about to sexually assault them.

This fear stems from the numerous times women have been assaulted. In May this year, a man was sentenced to two years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in the female changing rooms of a leisure centre in Cork. In November last year, an 18-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in a nightclub toilet in Watford, and in March last year, a woman was sexually assaulted by two men in public toilets in Staffordshire. In September this year, a man was given a suspended prison sentence for filming a nine-year-old girl on the toilet, in a McDonald’s in Birmingham. Of course, these were men, rather than transgender women – but the source of some so-called "TERF"'s fear has to be acknowledged if it is to be assuaged.

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But it’s not just about toilets. Expanding the entry criteria so those who identify as women can access women’s rape crisis centres, domestic abuse shelters, and other spaces where women may be vulnerable, means an increased risk of assault, because men – not just transgender women – will have easier access, being able to walk into these spaces unchallenged.

Getting too aggressive with the term "TERF" can inhibit personal conversations between women about subjects such as periods, pregnancy, childbirth, the menopause, miscarriages and stillbirth. Already, women are finding themselves censored and corrected when recounting their own experiences. Breastfeeding becomes “chest feeding,” vaginas become “front holes,” and there are no pregnant women, but, “pregnant people.” Instead of talking freely among themselves, women’s language can sometimes end up policed, even though the source of women's oppression often has everything to do with their bodies and their reproductive systems. It's easy to see why many women kick back when they're told to relabel their own bodies, especially if they have been victims of vaginal rape, traumatic birth or other oppressions which rely on that person having been born in a female body.

Suggesting that such concerns are exclusive to a subgroup of feminist fanatics is disingenuous and shuts down the potential for open conversation and understanding. Dawson’s assertion that women are simply upset about “my right to do a little wee or poo” deliberately undermines the validity of women’s concerns, mocking their genuine fears.