Fair Play For Whom? A Social Imaginaries Analysis of TERF Propaganda

Louise Richardson-Self (University of Tasmania)

Fair Play For Whom? A Social Imaginaries Analysis of TERF Propaganda

Louise Richardson-Self (University of Tasmania)

Abstract: Veronica Ivy argues that TERFs are propagandists and that well-intentioned, relatively uninformed cis people are vulnerable to this propaganda. Taking Fair Play For Women as a case study, I argue that such propaganda succeeds when it triggers, via the images of ‘sex’ and ‘science’, a hermeneutical shortcut that disposes deferential trust in TERFs. This is significant because TERF logics are co-extensive with right-wing extremist logics. TERF propaganda may thus solicit more extremist attitudes among otherwise well-intentioned cis people while worsening trans oppression. A social imaginaries analysis reveals why highlighting the falsehood of such propaganda is insufficient for eliminating its risks.

Bio: Louise Richardson-Self is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy and Gender & Diversity at the University of Tasmania. She was an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow (2019-2025) researching the social imaginaries that sustain sexism and misogyny online, and was part of an Australian Research Council Discovery Project team (2020-2024) researching LGBTQ+ non-discrimination and religious freedom. In 2019 she was awarded the Australasian Association of Philosophy’s Annette Baier prize for her article ‘Offending White Men.’ Her research projects all focus on contemporary issues of social justice and are unified through the theoretical frameworks of social imaginaries, embodiment, and intersectional feminist theory.

Zoom Link: https://deakin.zoom.us/j/81187365426?pwd=N3aaK9cRYauBbrc7nvTXcQAQoXcECK.1&from=addon

Meeting ID: 811 8736 5426 // Password: 13679090

This meeting is at 2:30pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) 18 November 2026 [03:30am UTC 18 November 2026]