Cosmopolitan magazine has been heavily criticised after publishing an article entitled "What you need to know about TERFs"

Cosmopolitan magazine has been heavily criticised after publishing an article entitled “What you need to know about TERFs”

Leading lifestyle magazine, Cosmopolitan has been blasted by hundreds of social media users after it published an article called, “TERFs and what everyone needs to know about ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminists”, with the subheading, “Let’s call them what they actually are: anti-trans activists”.

Terf, which is an initialism of “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists” is seen by some as a slur, with many in the community preferring the term, gender critical feminists. One user reminded Cosmopolitan, “It’s a slur against women. That’s what YOU need to know, cosmo. Outrageous.”

After the magazine tweeted about their article, which was authored by Grace Walsh, over 300 people commented, a vast increase in the usual engagement it receives on its twitter profile.

Many of the commentators said they had reported the magazine to Twitter for hate speech.

One user commented, “Bloody hell, what a nasty offensive term to use about women who have an opinion”, while another added, “cosmo, you’re embarrassing yourselves”. Others commented that they wondering how the article was approved for publication.

The article describes TERFs as a “minority group, that normally stick to online forums” and “known as someone who supposedly stands for women’s rights, while only considering people who were assigned female at birth to be women”.

AfterEllen.com co-owner, Gaye Chapman, hit out against the magazine saying, “Terf is a slur: it’s a weapon against gender critical – not anti-trans – people. Trans people should have the same rights as anyone else. They should not be accorded sex-based rights because of their Gender Identity. That will negatively impact females. You can’t change your sex”.

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