How to spot a Terf: campus guide seen as a ‘witch-finder’s charter’
THE women’s officer of Cambridge University’s students’ union has been condemned after issuing a guide on how to spot “Terfs” (trans-exclusionary radical feminists).
Students are advised to “keep an eye out” for those who think biological sex is binary and that only women can experience misogyny, in guidance drawn up by Milo Eyre-morgan, the elected women’s officer who goes by the pronouns he/him and they/them.
Dons and students have condemned the “witch-finder’s charter”. “Terf ” is the acronym generally used as a derogatory term for those who argue that biological sex cannot be changed and that women-only spaces should not be opened to male-born trans women.
The document, published among resources on housing and exams advice, has been drawn up by Eyre-morgan, who has pledged to represent “marginalised genders”.
The new Cambridge guide, which was promoted by the women’s officer on Monday, lists several “signs of a Terf ”. These include people who “believe in sex-based rights” and “protecting women and girls”.
The guide goes on to say “some people who experience misogyny are not women” and urges students to be “allies” by “keeping an eye out for this way of thinking” in any feminist works they study. It claims “Terf ideology is a specific form of transphobia” and gives tips for “talking to Terfs” in-person and online, including to “inform them of where they are going wrong”.
It adds: “The core characteristics of Terfs are a conservative, binary, essentialist conception of sex as the be-all-end-all, and a deep hatred for trans women, couched in the language of feminism and feminist theory.”
“How to spot a witch – that’s what this is,” said James Orr, Assistant Professor in Philosophy of Religion at Cambridge’s Faculty of Divinity.
“It’s an attempt to set out a witchfinder’s charter and it’s driven by ideology not reason.
“This is an extremely sinister development and is effectively incentivising behaviour among students that is wholly opposed to the flourishing of any serious intellectual culture.”
A third-year Cambridge philosophy student at Clare College, who wished to stay anonymous, said: “There is not enough transparency from the SU; gender identity is grounded in biological sex. Trans rights and women’s rights and both should be protected. To ensure healthy discussion, you should have a separate elected women’s officer and an elected trans officer.”
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission has made clear gendercritical viewpoints on the trans debate are lawful and deserve to be heard.
Last night, Cambridge University insisted its students’ union was simply “contributing to an active social debate” and insisted it supports free speech and condemns harassment. Cambridge SU was approached for comment.