On Saturday, September 16, a protest was held in Dublin, Ireland against the appearance of noted TERF activist Posie Parker. Ironically, “Posie Parker” is a preferred name as Parker was born Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull but is more widely recognized under her stage name. The protest took place at Merrion Square during Parker’s Let Women Speak event, an event held by Parker that touts itself as a “’free speech’ event where anyone is allowed to turn up and speak,” according to the Irish Independent. Parker previously attempted to host a Let Women Speak tour in New Zealand, but it was discarded due to successful protests against her anti-trans, TERF rhetoric.
Also in attendance at Parker’s Let Women Speak event was writer and noted transphobe Graham Linehan, who was banned from X, formerly Twitter, in 2020 for hateful conduct and platform manipulation relating to his posts about transgender individuals. The Irish Independent reports that as Parker and her cohorts participated in their event, pro-trans protestors chanted “trans rights are human rights” and “get Posie Parker off our streets” while encouraging others to drown out Parker’s hateful rhetoric.
For those unfamiliar, TERF is an acronym for Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist. As the name suggests, the term and the movement have their roots in radical feminism. Radical feminism—or radfem—is described as feminism with a militant and uncompromising approach to dismantling systems of patriarchy.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a TERF as:
“A person and especially a cisgender woman who rejects the social and legal recognition of transgender women as women and who opposes their inclusion in or access to places, activities, protections, etc. that are reserved exclusively for women.”
Thus, TERFS vehemently believe that allowing trans women to have social and legal protections, as well as justified access to women’s spaces such as bathrooms and changing rooms, is an act against radical feminism, as TERFS hold the transphobic view that transgender women are men invading women’s spaces and upholding systems of patriarchy. This viewpoint is incredibly dangerous to the lives and wellbeing of transgender women, especially as TERF-ism has become more mainstream in recent years.
It is for these reasons that pro-trans activists and protestors have mobilized across the world as transphobes like Posie Parker are allowed access to public platforms to spread hate under the guise of free speech. While transgender women fight for their basic human rights, TERFs like Parker betray the sisterhood they so strongly claim to champion in favor of upholding the violent, conservative viewpoints about women that they so frequently claim to fight against.
Photo courtesy of social media
