Culture

TERFs Are Being Shut Down After Attempting To Claim Terry Pratchett As A Supporter

Author Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett's daughter even waded into the fight.

by Junkee  9 August 2021
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Terry Pratchett has been pulled into a new culture war, as self-described “gender critical” thinkers — TERFs — have attempted to argue that the author would align with their views.

This strange attempt at legitimacy is not new for TERFs. Emboldened by the non-scientific and deeply harmful views of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, TERFs have championed anyone who shares their narrow vision of the world, finding solace in those British public figures like comedian Robert Webb who speak out against the right to re-describe.

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The decision to draw strength from figures in the literary and entertainment world is perhaps unsurprising, given that the views of TERFs are not backed by science — desperately searching for an attempt to bolster their worldview, they have turned to whomsoever spouts their narrative, whether or not that person has any knowledge of gender or sex at all.

The attempts to posthumously recruit Pratchett, who passed away in March of 2015, have mostly taken place over on Twitter. There, TERFs have argued that Pratchett would support their cause, presumably still stinging from Margaret Atwood’s public refutation of their bigoted views. 

The TERFs have clung to Pratchett through a scattershot reading of his works. Referring to the character of Granny Weatherwax, a beloved Discworld icon, one TERF wrote, “Granny’s character knew full well that the sex was important and that women were discriminated against because of it. Terry loved science and I don’t believe for one hot minute that he would think that being a woman is a ‘social role’.”

Quickly, Pratchett’s close collaborators took to Twitter to argue against the TERFs. Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna called the move “horrifying”, while Donna Whitbread, a “very good friend” of the Pratchett family and a trans woman, argued that there would be “no way” Pratchett was a TERF.

Even Neil Gaiman, who collaborated with Pratchett multiple times over the course of his career, took to Twitter to explain that “people were complicated, contradictor, and always people.”

Such public refutations of a hateful ideology are welcome, but anyone with even a passing knowledge of Pratchett’s work would have known already that there is no way the author would have supported the TERF line of argument. The Discworld author was a longstanding champion for marginalised communities, and his novels are strewn with characters who flourish when they are given the opportunity to describe themselves however they would.

Look no further, for instance, from the plight of Discworld hero Cheery Littlebottom. A female dwarf with a beard, Littlebottom leads a sexual revolution, encouraging her fellow brethren to approach their gender as a fluid concept, rather than one that is stable or ahistorical.

Just look at this extract from his work, for instance:

Enough said.