FiLiA

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“”The way that FiLiA’s transphobia operates is insidious. They deliberately veil their transphobia behind ‘feminist’ rhetoric in a way that is calculated, tactical and deceitful. [...] By hiding their active trans-exclusion behind the guise of doing good feminist work, FiLiA make it more difficult for those less literate in trans rights to detect and oppose their hate. This leads to venues, organizations and individuals engaging with transphobic groups without clear understanding of the violence of their views

—Glasgow Trans Rally

FiLiA ("daughter" in Latin) is a British TERF group that hosts a conference in the United Kingdom, that it claims is the largest of its kind. It is described as one of "the most important 'gender critical' [TERF] groups" alongside Women's Declaration International (WDI), Fair Play for Women, Woman's Place UK, Re-sisters, and Sex Matters. The group says it supports "sex-based rights", a TERF dogwhistle, opposes what they refer to as "gender ideology," and claims to be radical feminist. It has been described as an organization that primarily uses feminist topics, such as violence against women, to justify them obsessing about and attacking trans people. Accusations of transphobic sentiments and protests against it follow FiLiA to every appearance.

There is a noticeable overlap between the leadership of FiLiA and another TERF group, WDI. FiLiA's precursor Resist Porn Culture was founded by Heather Brunskell-Evans, who was also the founder of WDI and the first spokesperson of FiLiA. The two groups not only promote the same kind of transphobia and the same pseudolegal arguments to support their idea about "sex-based rights," but also use remarkably similar and suspiciously slick visual aesthetics, hinting at a close relationship and possibly a common financial backer.

The Daily Dot has described FiLiA as "openly transphobic" and "opposing the idea that you can even be trans". The group has been described as characterised by "a disturbing trend of anti-trans extremism, conspiracy theory and harassment of trans and GNC people" with "much of the content on their website [indicating] a hostility to trans women [and] conspiratorial beliefs," including George Soros conspiracy theories. It has become the main anti-trans conference in the United Kingdom and thus belongs to the broader anti-gender landscape in the UK. As such it is showered with adulatory media coverage by far-right and "anti-woke" media outlets. FiLiA has campaigned against changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004, and their rhetoric has been described as aligned with the anti-gender movement. Prominent trans rights advocate Katy Montgomerie described FiLiA as "an anti trans hate group." Their conference has been nicknamed "Terfest" (a play on TERF fest and the most TERF) and attracts some of the world’s most transphobic "gender-critical" activists.

"Sex-based rights" and "gender ideology"

The pseudolegal TERF concept and dogwhistle of "sex-based rights" underpins much of FiLiA's ideology. Legal scholar and human rights expert Sandra Duffy has described the concept of "sex-based rights"—as promoted by WDI and FiLiA—as "a fiction with the pretense of legality". The Association for Women's Rights in Development said this discourse co-opts the "Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) framework to claim that ‘sex’ is an immutable category and 'gender' is not a legitimate concept", and the "‘sex-based’ rhetoric misuses concepts of sex and gender to push a deeply discriminatory agenda". The use of pseudolaw and hijacking and distortion of (seemingly) human rights-based language is characteristic of many anti-gender organizations.

FiLiA has opposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act 2004. Sociologist Madeleine Pape notes that "FiLiA argued that de-medicalizing the gender recognition process would embed “a nebulous concept of internal gender identity” in legislation. In language that bears a striking resemblance to the wider anti-gender movement, FiLiA also described being “aware of a growing concern in society about the prevalence of ‘gender ideology.’"

In 2021 FiLiA expressed support for Australian anti-trans activist Sall Grover, known for developing an anti-trans app and for obsessively promoting transphobia on Twitter.

In 2024 FiLiA extensively promoted the book The Women Who Wouldn't Wheesht that aims to celebrate transphobes, especially J.K. Rowling, who dedicated their lives to the fight against trans people. "#WomenWontWheesht" is a TERF dogwhistle and hashtag.

Role in the TERF movement

The FiLiA conference has been described as "a 'recruiting ground' for the UK’s gender-critical organisations such as Sex Matters, Women’s Rights Network, For Women Scotland, Fair Play for Women, and Woman’s Place UK. In reality, these are all the same people with invariably the same objectives—often the reduction or eradication of trans people either within society or literally. All gender-critical organisations advocate against the advancement of trans human rights." While the organization itself and many attendees are strongly transphobic, the conference sometimes invites mainstream speakers who are oblivious to the transphobic agenda of the organization.

Funding

The group's financial backing remains shrouded in secrecy, a characteristic it shares with other anti-gender organizations. Evidently, it enjoys substantial financial support, as evidenced by its size, its lawfare against opponents and its indulgent investments in impeccably crafted media productions and design aesthetics, bearing a striking resemblance to those of other entities advocating against transgender rights, such as Women's Declaration International (WDI).

Protests and reactions

The organization has often faced protests against its conferences. The Trans Safety Network noted that the FiLiA conference is characterised by "a disturbing trend of anti-trans extremism, conspiracy theory and harassment of trans and GNC people" and said that "much of the content on their website indicates a hostility to trans women [and] conspiratorial beliefs," highlighting that the group has promoted George Soros conspiracy theories, a common feature of antisemitic and far-right propaganda. FiLiA has also claimed that the organization was banned from Labour Party and Liberal Democrat conferences. FiLiA has further accused "Antifa" of being behind claims that "FiLiA are a hate group masquerading as a feminist charity." FiLiA has published a document that states that "we support Liz Truss in saying no to self ID" and "the word woman is taken."

In 2022, the National Education Union executive described FiLiA as a transphobic organisation. The 2022 FiLiA conference featured discussions of so-called "trans ideology" and prominent anti-trans speakers including Maya Forstater, Helen Joyce, Julie Bindel, Rosie Duffield and Sheila Jeffreys. The official program included a panel on being "Gender Critical in Publishing". The 2022 conference featured speeches from people who traffic in antisemitic conspiracy theories, forms of holocaust denial, have compared trans people to parasites and compared using the preferred pronouns of trans people as similar to drugs used to incapacitate women so they can be raped. Ahead of the conference, numerous organizations across Cardiff signed a statement condemning FiLiA's transphobia and the local community showed their solidarity by flying the trans flag to condemn the conference. During the 2022 conference, some FiLiA participants also tried to enter local businesses to complain about trans flags or complain about the presence of trans people, while two FiLiA participants were arrested for harassing trans people.

“”Imagine the Ku Klux Klan booking a Black arts venue, and the law forcing the venue to accept the booking despite staff objecting. Same with Terfs deliberately targeting pro-trans venues. [...] If venues keep telling you they don’t want you, but you use financial muscle from unknown sources (🤔) to threaten a legal battle that could ruin their business, then you’re not standing up for ‘free speech’. You’re a white collar purple-haired gangster.

—India Willoughby

Glasgow Trans Rally protest against FiLiA, 2023

In 2023, FiLiA had rented Platform, an events venue in Glasgow. Platform is known to be LGBT+-friendly. Less than 12 hours before the conference, Platform gave FiLiA notice that they were not welcome at Platform, due to being a transphobic group, and after staff objected. Glasgow Trans Rally campaigned against the conference and said FiLiA is "dangerously transphobic," "encourages an environment which materially endangers trans folk, especially trans women" and that "the way that FiLiA’s transphobia operates is insidious. They deliberately veil their transphobia behind ‘feminist’ rhetoric in a way that is calculated, tactical and deceitful." The venue's cancellation resulted in legal threats from FiLiA, following which the cancellation was withdrawn for purely legal reasons. Glasgow LGBT rights activists, intersectional feminists, and Scottish Greens politicians staged a public protest against FiLiA on 13 October 2023. Glasgow Scottish Green councillor Holly Bruce said "there’s various workshops and sessions that are under the guise of women’s safety, that are trans exclusionary."

The 2023 conference was basically a who's who of TERFism and featured practically every well-known TERF in the UK, with speakers and visitors such as J.K. Rowling, Helen Joyce, Julie Bindel, Joanna Cherry, Elaine Miller, Karen Ingala Smith, Jo Phoenix, Vaishnavi Sundar, Selina Todd, Maya Forstater, Alice Sullivan, Cathy Devine, Raquel Rosario Sanchez, and Jane Clare Jones. Every other well-known TERF group in the UK was also represented at the conference, from Sex Matters to Get the L Out. The official program even featured groups calling themselves TERFs — such as "The Terven Tuppence" — despite TERFs pretending it is a "slur". Several anti-trans books were prominently showcased for sale, including Helen Joyce's conspiratorial Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality, that has also been criticized for peddling antisemitic conspiracy theories. Right after leaving FiLiA, Rowling tweeted the word "no" alongside a picture of the text "trans women are women", as if her position wasn't already perfectly clear. This prompted a series of bizarre tweets in which she fantasised about being sent to prison for misgendering trans people, declaring that she'd "happily do two years" over "compelled speech and forced denial of the reality and importance of sex," and culminating with her likening trans people to rapists by bizarrely declaring trans rights advocates to be "rapists' rights activists."

The group's website used to prominently feature anti-Amnesty International imagery, in the form of a prohibition sign featuring Amnesty's logo. In 2020, cosmetics company Lush apologised for donating money to FiLiA and other anti-trans groups, after the company had faced extensive criticism, e.g. from the leader of Young Labour, Jessica Barnard, who said it was "disgusting to see Lush funding transphobia." Labour Students said FiLiA is "an anti-trans lobbying group" and said Rosie Duffield's behaviour "has gone beyond the pale and we echo LGBT+ Labour's calls that she should lose the Labour whip" after she attended the FiLiA conference, calling upon the party to "adopt a definition of transphobia [and] deal with instances of transphobia more efficiently".

In March 2024, Plaid Cymru barred FiLiA's stall from the party's Spring conference and said FiLiA's views were "potentially contrary to the party's values".

See also

• Women's Declaration International
• LGB Alliance
• Women's Liberation Front
• European Network of Migrant Women