Gender-critical feminism

Gender-critical feminism, also known as trans-exclusionary radical feminism or TERFism,^[1][2][3][4] is an ideology or movement that opposes what it refers to as "gender ideology":^[5] the concept of gender identity and transgender rights, especially gender self-identification. Gender-critical feminists believe that sex is biological and immutable,^[6] while believing gender, including both gender identity and gender roles, to be inherently oppressive. They reject the concept of transgender identities.^[7]

Originating as a fringe movement within radical feminism mainly in the United States,^[4][8][9] trans-exclusionary radical feminism has achieved a degree of prominence in the United Kingdom^[10] and South Korea,^[11][12] where it has been at the centre of a number of high-profile controversies. It has been linked to promotion of disinformation^[13][14][15] and to the anti-gender movement.^[16] Anti-gender rhetoric has seen increasing circulation in gender-critical feminist discourse since 2016, including use of the term "gender ideology".^[5] In several countries, gender-critical feminist groups have formed alliances with right-wing, far-right, and anti-feminist organisations.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Gender-critical feminism has been described as transphobic by feminist and scholarly critics,^[1][4] and is opposed by many feminist, LGBT rights, and human rights organizations.^[21][22] The Council of Europe has condemned gender-critical ideology, among other ideologies, and linked it to "virulent attacks on the rights of LGBTI people" in Hungary, Poland, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and other countries.^[23] UN Women has described the gender-critical, anti-gender, and men’s rights movements as extreme anti-rights movements that employ hate propaganda and disinformation.^[24][25]