‘TERF’ sticker targeting trans women and gay British journalist found in New York
The sticker linked to a website dedicated to a Posie Parker campaign. (Twitter)
A New York City local has found a bizarre TERF sticker linking to a Posie Parker website and targeting British journalist Owen Jones in the US city.
A Twitter user named Amy posted on Wednesday (15 March) saying that a friend of hers had found the small sticker, which featured the acronym TERF in a similar style to the Coca-Cola logo and the phrase “we know what a woman is”.
The sticker also had a QR code leading to Posie Parker’s “Standing For Women” site, and targeting trans activist and left-wing journalist Owen Jones.
The acronym TERF refers to the phrase “trans-exclusionary radical feminist”, used to describe a person who is part of the so-called “gender critical” movement which aims to appropriate feminist rhetoric to exclude trans people.
Amy told PinkNews that her friend found the label on a pole near her place of work in Manhattan while travelling home.
Aside from the anti-trans rhetoric on the sticker, the pair were dumbfounded by the inclusion of Owen Jones, who primarily operates in the UK.
“She was messaging me about it and her initial reaction was ‘this isn’t England for f**k sake’,” she said.
“We’ve spoken a lot about the difference between the rise of transphobia in the US vs UK, and we’ve noticed that the type of transphobic buzzwords and phrases used on the webpage linked are very typical of UK TERFs.”
Posie Parker is notorious for sharing the baseless claim that cisgender women are somehow being silenced by trans people’s mere existence.
She has been supported by far-right groups and misinformation campaigns on a number of occasions.
The QR code specifically links to an 1,800-word essay on the site, arguing that the UK 2010 Equality Act is being used to silence cisgender women because it protects trans women.
Sticker targets Owen Jones despite being found in America
At the bottom of the essay are two options – one titled “I would like to know more” which, if pressed, will send you to a contact form.
The other – spuriously entitled “I hate women and girls” – will, if clicked, send you to a webpage with a picture of Owen Jones, with the question: “Are you this man?”
“Why on earth do TERFs in NYC think that the average New Yorker walking on the street will know who Owen Jones is?” Amy said.
Speaking to PinkNews, Amy’s friend – who wished to remain anonymous – said she lives in a “fairly liberal” area of Brooklyn and was shocked to find the sticker on their way home.
“I assumed it would be something hateful, but I was curious to see if it was something maybe talking about transphobia and how to combat it.
“As someone who works with LGBTQ+ youth and trans youth in particular, I think it’s important to stay abreast with the discourse around trans rights.”
After scanning the QR code and clicking on the link leading to Owen Jones, she said she did not recognise him at all.
“I took the sticker off the pole because I don’t think hateful rhetoric has a place anywhere, so I threw it out.
“This is such a strange thing to find in such a left-leaning area of Brooklyn.
“This whole thing is very bizarre to me because – no offence to Owen Jones, who seems like a cool guy now I’ve heard more about time – I had no idea who he is.”
In response to the original Twitter post, Jones pondered the sensibilities of those who put the sticker on the street pole in the first place.
Posie Parker previously attempted a failed speaking event in NYC, which was audibly shut down by pro-trans activists in 2022.
As part of the ‘Standing For Women’ campaign, which the website promotes, several ‘gender-critical’ activists clashed with counter-protesters outside City Hall in Manhattan.
Several people were arrested during the tense November protests, in which trans rights activists and anti-gender critics signalled their opposition to one another through chants and signs.
Since then, Parker has attempted to host a similar event in Australia which was also interrupted by counter-protestors.
Amy’s friend noted that, despite it being shocking to find the sticker, the recent movies by New York politicians should make it unsurprising.
“There’s this idea as a New Yorker that we live in a bubble and the rest of the country is terrible but we’re doing better,” she said.
“But New York was very close to electing a governor named Lee Zeldin in the last election, who is aligned with Donald Trump on a lot of issues. So, even in New York, there is a reactionary shift.
“With more visibility comes more hate which is distressing, depressing, but emboldening to see because it means that we have to do more.”
