Claire Thurlow states that "what was once termed TERF... is now more often referred to as gender critical feminism/feminist... despite efforts to obscure the point, gender critical feminism continues to rely on transphobic tropes, moral panics and essentialist understandings of men and women. These factors also continue to link trans-exclusionary feminism to anti-feminist reactionary politics and other 'anti-gender' movements." Feminist Viv Smythe, who is credited with coining the term "TERF", says it was intended to be a "technically neutral description... to distinguish TERFs from other ... who were trans*-positive/neutral."
