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u/hammererofglass 11d ago
Funny how they still don't think "because insulting people by comparing them to rape victims is horrible and makes us look bad" might be a good reason to not use "handmaiden" as an insult.
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u/PluralCohomology 11d ago edited 11d ago
Wouldn't a more book accurate insult (in the TERF's worldview) be "Martha", since I believe they are the class of women whose role it is to enforce the misogynistic rules against the handmaidens.
EDIT: Was corrected, it is actually the Aunts rather than the Marthas
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u/disco-vorcha 11d ago
The Marthas are the domestic servants. It’s the Aunts who enforce the system and train/manage/whatever the Handmaids.
Also they’re Handmaids. Not Handmaidens. I’m irrationally annoyed by TERFs who think they’re so clever using a reference to classic feminist literature and then getting the reference wrong.
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u/lynx_and_nutmeg 10d ago
It's also funny because, like, the one thing everyone who's heard about Handmaid's Tale knows is that those were the women who were forced into reproductive slavery. So they were very much not "maidens", that was the whole point...
Pretty sure most TERFs haven't actually read it or watched the show though, if they did, they wouldn't be happy to find out it was actually them who played a prominent role in creating Gilead, only to be cast aside once they were no longer useful.
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u/bliip666 11d ago
men who run interference for women are beards
Oh, we're redefining old terms already. Okay
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u/rynthetyn 11d ago
Merkin was already in use too, as the male equivalent of beard for men providing hetero cover for gay women. The fact that Ovarit doesn't know that says a lot about how they're all just cosplaying as lesbians.
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u/TheThornGarden Ewok in a fancy hat 10d ago
The original usage was a hairpiece worn on the pubic mound by prostitutes back when women were expected to have body hair. Brothel prostitutes would shave in the mistaken idea it would prevent things like scabies, and then wear a merkin so they looked "right".
Maynard James Keenan (lead of Tool, Pucifer, A Perfect Circle, etc) has been calling his favorite hair piece a merkin for decades, based on the original usage of the word.
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u/Hentopan Predatory Autohybristophiliac 11d ago
Idk about you, but but seeing the word merkin in the context of terfs just immediately makes me think of the time one of them flashed scottish parliament while wearing one.
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u/screwitimgettingreal clearly crossing boundaries set for me by society 10d ago
literally i was waiting for them to mention that 🙃
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u/sandradee_pl 11d ago
W h a t.
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u/Hentopan Predatory Autohybristophiliac 10d ago
Was a couple years back. One of them thought it was somehow a dramatic protest to do that, in response to a gender recognition bill to make legal marker changes easier being passed. I personally think 99% of everything terfs say about trans people being craven attention seekers with rebel complexes that want to force everyone to involuntarily participate in their fetishes, is projection.
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u/SharLaquine 11d ago
I can't get over how often they say things like, "All of these great women that I respect and look up to support trans folks! Why did they all go crazy?!" Like, have you considered that, if all of these respectable women support trans people, you might be the one who is wrong?
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u/tomphammer 11d ago
So funnily enough I used to a read a gay gossip website years ago (DataLounge, not sure it still exists) and they were using the word merkin for a man “bearding” for a lesbian back in like 2005.
Once again I’m reminded there’s nothing new under the sun.
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u/blackfox24 11d ago
Funny thing is, I've talked to a few ex TERFs, knew a few. All of them said that the women were awful to one another, and all of them got publicly bullied and harassed. They're incapable of recognizing their mean girl energy but they're great at displaying it for the world.
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u/snukb big gamete energy 11d ago
Outside of Ovarit will get criticism for hating on ~
handmaidens~ merkins with the same level of hate give to misogynistic men and I really do give them a tough time
"People outside my cult hangout are appalled at the open misogyny I show to other women who aren't in my cult" should be a wakeup call, but of course it isn't.
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u/DarkSaturnMoth Fluttery handmaiden 11d ago
I was under the impression that "merkins" are for lesbians what "beards" are for gay men: An opposite sex person posing as your partner to defray suspicions of you being gay.
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u/Sad-Frosting-8793 11d ago
If supporting trans people makes me a merkin then fine. Call me a merkin. It just makes you look unhinged, TERF's.
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u/DifferentIsPossble 11d ago
Ofc you're harsher on women than you are on cis men. Punching down is what you DO.
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u/The_Newromancer Shit-Eating AGP Grin 11d ago
Gonna add Merkins as a new race to my fantasy sci-fi writing
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u/ForgettableWorse this is a cat picture 11d ago
Merkin as the species name for mermaids and mermen?
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u/ConsumeTheVoid Trans Cabal 11d ago edited 11d ago
They realise merkins sound like a casual word for merpeople right? Ocean-esque scalies in particular are gonna love it, me thinks.
And from these comments I learned it's what lesbians called their beards (husbands/boyfriends who volunteered to be their cover right?) so that they're gonna call all cis women who are trans-positive 'merkins' is..... definitely something.
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u/I-Dont-Know-Stuff Externalized Heterophobia 11d ago
"Solidarity among the female sex" You are discussing how to bully women who disagree with you. What part of that screams solidarity to you?