what the hell is a TERF?
Depending on who you ask, it's either a ridiculous leftist flailing or a legitimate painting of a behavior as a kind of uncle-tom-ism. I tend towards the latter, myself.
ETA: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncle_Tom_syndrome
Is this what you meant?
> In a broader context, the term may refer to a minority's strategy of coping with oppression from socially, culturally, or economically dominant groups involving suppression of aggressive feelings and even identification with the oppressor, leading to forced assimilation/acculturation of the cultural minority.[3]
> I don’t get it. Who is 1. The minority 2. Dominant group 3. Oppressor?
...because we have reached peak nesting.
2 + 3 are the same thing - in this context, as we are talking about feminism, cis white males. Why cis and white? Because that is the demographic that has held the strongest monopoly on cultural and political power - from priests to politicians.
1. The minority (defined, in this case, as the class(es) with inferior cultural and political power) - is sort of the sticking point between a TERF and not-a-TERF.
If you are a TERF, you define the boundaries of this class as "assigned at birth biological women" - these are your compatriots for whom you march to get rights for. In your opinion, there is no Uncle Tomming happening, because you are engaging in the fight with all good faith that the oppressed (women by your definition) are being represented against the entrenched desires of the opressors (men).
However, if you are of the opinion that the circle of individuals deserving of representation includes both assigned-at-birth and Trans women, then by your standard, any woman who engages in the same oppressive behavior that men do (in targeting or singling out Trans individuals for derision / marginalization) is an Uncle Tom. They are more closely identifying themselves with the oppressor than the oppressed.
Mind you, this is not to say that a) all cis white males are actively engaged in being oppressive or b) women, whether they are labeled as a Terf or not, are part of the oppressing class
...it is merely a distinction useful to those who are of the belief that as go one, go all, and that Trans women have just as much a right to be recognized as such.
edit: apologies, I suppose I just missed the appropriate 'reply' button, but I swear it wasn't showing up before.
Strictly speaking, this isn't correct since their advocacy includes trans men, since they view them as female.