Posted on June 4th, 2025.
Trans-exclusive and gender-critical radical feminists (TERFs) often claim that radical feminism doesn't fight for transgender women while perpetuating transphobic narratives and invalidating transgender people's experiences and identities. In addition to their exclusive ideology, the large frequency of these "feminists" in online spaces, probably driven by some well-known figures like J.K. Rowling, have worsened the reputation of radical feminism overall. Nevertheless, one could theorize that TERFs are a small minority of "radical feminists" considering the explicit mention of the "trans-exclusive" label.
Radical feminism aims to dismantle the patriarchy, the deeply rooted system of dominance and control over those who are deemed inferior, including cisgender women and other marginalized communities. Gender essentialism, the basis for the patriarchy, normalizes the suffering women go through by asserting that their biological features are what defines their roles in society and makes them submit to men's rule. Radical feminism must inherently be supportive of the gender and sex dichotomy against essentialism, as it clearly identifies the distinction between the social and cultural expectations, norms, and traits (gender) that are placed on women's bodies (sex) to keep them in control and serve men's desires and the fact that there is no natural link between the two concepts. Here I share my interpretation of radical feminism that includes transgender people by different concepts.
Gender identity, where a person sees themselves aligned within gender, is developed by gendered socialization during childhood, meaning that we internalize the gender norms that our parents, peers, and teachers perpetuate. As a result of this deep internalization, we are inclined not to break the norms associated with our gender identity, and gender identity becomes an intensely felt aspect of society.
For example, a woman feels like a woman because she has been raised by gender norms relating to femininity and internalized them. It's obvious that transgender women's socializations greatly differ from those of cisgender men (and likewise for transgender men), as no cisgender men would sincerely claim that they feel like a woman. I feel like this is the point that many TERFs tend to miss. It's not all about the attitudes of parents or others that perpetuate gender norms toward children (Some transgender women have even been directly told to avoid behaving in a feminine manner.) but also about how the child internalizes those norms creating their gender identity. Thus, transgender women don't experience "male socialization," or transgender men "female socialization."
To sum it up, the patriarchy's tool of oppression, gender as we name it separately from sex, is perpetuated in a very real way as a result of gendered socialization, and transgender people socialize in a way similarly to their opposite sex-assigned-at-birth does. Transgender women are indeed women, transgender men are indeed men, both by socialization like in how cisgender women and men are, and the terms "women" and "men" are socially constructed.
TERFs often point out that transgender people reinforce gender roles, but actually, everyone does. Everyone feels an inclination to submit to gender norms, as gender plays an intense role in society. Our likes, tastes, and choices have simply been influenced by the patriarchy, as we are living under it. Transgender people comply with gender norms as much as cisgender people do. Transgender women can also have internalized misogyny, just like cisgender women can. In addition, transgender women and men are not women and men because of gender norms, but rather, because of their gender identity.
The medical transition transgender people go through has often been hinted at. Transgender people feel like they have the wrong body, and that feeling stems from their neurobiology. Even in a genderless society, transgender people will exist and will have to medically transition. No matter how one modifies their body under what circumstances, sex reassignment disrupts the patriarchy by challenging the categorization and control of people based on their anatomy, and non-conformity to the norms associated with one's sex-assigned-at-birth still challenges the gender norms, which intersect with radical feminist goals.
The patriarchy is built on the idea of gender in how we analyze it, so most radical feminists are supportive of gender abolition, which means that everyone will be freed from oppression on the basis of different norms and roles that are assigned based on our biological aspects. Surely, the exploitation of women's reproduction, more reliant on sex-assigned-at-birth, cannot be ignored, and it is another focus of radical feminism while identifying the areas of oppression. In a genderless society, everyone will be able to freely express themselves, perform whatever roles they want to without coercion, and women and other marginalized communities will no longer be oppressed.
Women's oppression is strongly tied to the oppression of other marginalized communities. The LGBTQ+ community faces oppression as it challenges the patriarchy by promoting the gender and sex dichotomy. Gay men are discriminated against because romantic and sexual attraction to men is related to femininity, and being a woman is seen as the worst, an inferior thing to be under the patriarchy, while lesbians are blamed for not being "feminine" enough, so the patriarchy is tackled in oppressing them. Transgender and non-binary people directly challenge gender roles by not conforming to those of their sex-assigned-at-birth and the patriarchy's gender essentialist ideas. For this reason, radical feminism is intersectional as the patriarchy oppresses other marginalized communities in a similar way to cisgender heterosexual women, and it's necessary that we include transgender people, who are actively resisting the patriarchy.