Many trans people actually fit in the gender binary—excluding those who are e.g. genderqueer or non-binary. But if you consider yourself a trans woman and at the same time believe trans women aren't women, then were does the
woman in
trans woman come from? What does it indicate, if not, you know,
woman? Some other gender category that isn't
woman or
man? If TERFs truly believe all gender is a social construct, then how could transgenderism even exist?
I am against physical violence, also in response to verbal violence, but if that person saying they'd received threats had made trans-exclusionary remarks (read: transphobic, verbal violence), they can't really complain about being accused of slander and committing a hate crime, can they?
If it was an ordinary person who was making those accusations, maybe not, but in this case, it's the
police. Who is supposed to protect anyone from death threats and such if not the police?
The police.
Is it not their job to prevent such threats from being carried out?
It is.
If someone consults the police because they've been getting such threats, and the police then accuses them of a hate crime instead of doing anything about said threats, then to me, that seems like a perfectly legitimate reason to complain.
If you're being threatened, complain to the police, and the police doesn't investigate the complaints, sure, that's a perfectly legitimate reason to complain. Complain about the threats not being investigated, that is. You do not get to complain about the police doing another part of their job, however, which is investigating slander and hate speech. The police should be able to investigate both slander/hate speech and threats at the same time; if they are not, that is a different problem to do with the police, not with TERFs, what they say or threats against them. Someone else (possibly) committing a crime in retaliation to your (possibly) committing a crime does not excuse your (potential) crime, nor does it mean your (potential) crime shouldn't be investigated and possibly prosecuted, if there is enough evidence of a crime having been committed.
I'd also like to know where on earth transphobic hate crime is more likely to be investigated by the police than threats.
If they feel TERF is a slur and object to being called that, what word would they suggest to describe a Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist, which TERF is just a simple acronym of?
Ironically, while I have seen people say TERF is a slur, I have yet to see an example of anyone actually object to being called one. For instance, the lady in that video I posted earlier expresses the surprise she felt at being called a TERF and said it was "a word used to silence women," etc. but then just said, "You know what? Fine! I am a transgender TERF. There, I said it."
But that question is relevant in any interaction with any other person, isn't it?
I mean, sure, you could ask that question whenever you wanted, but in this case, like I said, some people who claim to hate TERFs say that
at least some of these claims TERFs make about being threatened and such are fake. (I've just included a few links to illustrate this with specific examples).
I went through all three links, and I couldn't find any threats directed towards the TERFs. They claim to be threatened by trans people and trans advocates, but it's really they who escalate and use threats. In the third link, the TERF says to expect threats to come her way, but worst I found was the term
radscum used by a few commenters, and several others, including the author of the piece, denounced the use of that term. In fact, considering what this commenter said, I was impressed by the levelheadedness and willingness to engage in debate many other commenters displayed.
So in this cases I'd say it's clear what's happening, and it's not TERFs being threatened; it's TERFs making false claims about being threatened.
I'm not sure what kind of answer you're hoping for.
I'm looking for any help and/or information I can get to understand what to do about this situation.
In cases as the above: denounce the transphobia/bigotry, denounce making false claims about being threatened, denounce threatening the people you're falsely claiming are threatening you. In cases where there were actual threats made against the transphobic people: denounce both transphobia/bigotry and threats.