MRW I got in an argument today with a guy who said he believes in equal rights but is absolutely not a feminist

As a trans woman I want as little to do with TERFs as possible, I side more with egalitarian than feminism, while TERFs are a small minority but even though they are a small minority they have had a very negative effect on trans people, especially those in the USA due to Janice Raymond, from wikipedia: Ethical opposition was also expressed by several writers identifying as feminist, most famously Janice Raymond. Her paper was allegedly instrumental in removing Medicaid and Medicare support for sex reassignment therapy in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_reassignment_therapy#cite_note-24

A feminist or at least someone who identify's as a feminist got surgery removed from medicare/medicaid, and the ban has only partially been lifted in 2014 where they do it on a case by case basis. I find it too hard to support a cause that either supports it or who is against it but sits idly by and does nothing other than be "supportive", supportive words are meaningless without supporting actions, the fact feminism did nothing to try and undo the damage caused by Janice Raymond and other TERFs. TERFs may be a minority but they have a lot of political clout and without the support of feminism or even fellow LGBT organisations like the Human Rights Campaign who are happy to through trans issues under the bus as long as it helps LGB rights.

I want to be a feminist, do fully support womens rights and want to do what I can to help the goal of equality but feminism is still a toxic word to me, TERFs and the lack of actions from the rest of the feminist movement to undo the damage caused by TERFs means as much as I want to I can't identify fully with feminist/the feminist movement, while I will always have feminist ideology's and personal identify as an egalitarian feminist it won't go beyond that until things change.

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