In 2017, British feminist author Claire Heuchan argued that the word was often used alongside 'violent rhetoric', and that this violent language was used to 'dehumanise women who are critical of gender as part of a political system', often lesbians. British clinical psychologist and medical sociologist David Pilgrim argued that phrases like 'Kill a TERF!' or 'Punch a TERF!' are also posted by trolls online, and that there had been other depictions of violence aimed at women labeled as TERFs.
