circling back to this but it's concerning to me that so few ppl can spot TERF rhetoric & end up repeating it, then shutting off their brain when it's pointed out that it is TERF rhetoric & go on to mock/get angry/disbelieve that they were called TERFy for it (1/4) https://twitter.com/freetofic/status/1343584760233418752

of course it's frustrating as this is the natural conclusion of ppl uncritically spreading TERF rhetoric as if it were progressive thought (re: all the posts spread with "OP was a TERF so I took their post"), but it also causes me concern that if this continues happening & (2/4)

they continue closing their minds to critically considering where these thoughts came from & what they trace back to & getting mad abt being called a TERF over it... well. who else gets mad about being called a TERF?

ding ding ding... TERFs. (3/4)

maybe this is alarmist of me but ppl who are clearly wrapped up in repackaged TERF propaganda & get this frustrated abt being called on it might start to sympathize more w the "TERF is a slur used to silence us" shit and that's... frightening and depressing. (4/4)

tl;dr ppl learning that "terf=bad" but not WHY (outside of the obvious & most shallow reasons) + not understanding the way their reactionary & exclusionary rhetoric works is how we have ended up with so many baby radfems in fandom & other online queer-centered communities

I mean, case in point: "lesbian not queer" is a literal TERF slogan. it was coined by TERFs. it is used by TERFs. if you look at the twitter profiles of ppl spouting this "lesbian not queer" shit, they are ALL TERFS.

Trust me I spent part of my weekend going thru radfem hashtags to block accts, they all pair this anti-queer rhetoric w "gender crit" & handwringing abt "sex based rights" & have "I JKR" banners & fantasizing abt "getting the L" out aka LESBIAN SEPARATISM

literally no one has said lesbians (or anyone else) have to identify as queer, but pointing out that the rise in attacks and discourse on ppl using queer can be traced back to TERFs and radfem rhetoric is not lesbophobia oh my GOD.