in the transgender issue, shon faye looks at the realities of the trans experience in the uk, the ugliness of ‘the debate’, and what trans liberation actually looks like. i really appreciated that the book was framed around the argument that trans liberation is part of liberation for us all - not an optional extra, but also not achievable under current social and economic circumstances. this isn’t just about acceptance, but radically reimagining what is possible for our societies

i thought the book was strongest in the chapter called “trans life now”, but more broadly whenever faye was dealing with current social issues and the stories of trans people. i was a bit disappointed by the final chapter on feminism - i thought the argument about why exactly the UK is so gd terf-y wasn’t super convincing, and the philosophical engagement with some of the issues around binary understandings of gender, for example, weren’t as deep as i was hoping for. this meant the book ended on a bit of a disappointing note for me, but the rest was compelling, clear and well thought out. i really hope it’s part of a changing tide
in the discourse

This is a very well-researched book on what hopefully one day won't be seen as an 'issue'. It is quite heavy reading and I probably could have done with the book being shorter, but the issues the author raises are important and hopefully a step along the way to making us a more tolerant, flexible and understanding society.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin for sending me an ARC of this fabulous book. The Transgender Issue is a powerful manifesto that tackles the toxic myths that make up much of the frenzy and ‘debate’ around the rights of transgender people to live their lives free from harassment and discrimination. So often this debate doesn’t actually include any actual trans people so Shon Faye adding her voice and expertise to the conversation is a hugely refreshing change. In her meticulously researched book, Faye examines what it really means to be transgender in Britain today, looking at everything from healthcare to employment to prisons to the relationships between the transgender community and the LGBTQ+ and feminist communities. If you’re a person who’s trying to get your head around the trans experience, get to the truth behind all of the culture war bluster and understand what you can do to be an ally to the trans community, this book is a fantastic starting point.

The transgender issue is wonderfully written and compassionate, exploring the idea that trans liberation cannot be achieved in a capitalist society.
Shon Faye’s research and first hand experiences is beautifully written exploring our government and the media,s portrayal of a harmful image of the trans population in Britain. This book gives a comprehensive explanation why to end discrimination of trans individuals.
Lots of historical and present day facts and statistics regarding how trans people are viewed and treated in a way that is easy to read, understand and relate to.
I recommend reading this book.

This book feels important and groundbreaking.

I don't know how to begin this review. I will say that this book is extremely well-written and well argued. It is a deep analysis of what it means to be trans in a transphobic society in Britain. Some of the chapters were very uncomfortable to read, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be read.

As an ally, I am generally aware of the main issues faced by the trans community, but I had no idea how deep they actually go. And they're everywhere. From medical care to housing to sex work to feminism to prison. Each chapter touches on a different issue and the statistics are horrifying.

Shon Faye makes an excellent argument for trans liberation. Most or all questions that cis allies have about transgender issues are answered here. 5/5, you need to read this book.

A really interesting and thought provoking read for anyone interested in learning more about the trans community. The book is very well researched and explains issues clearly. Recommended.

Source of book: NetGalley (thank you!)
Relevant disclaimers: none

“The liberation of trans people would improve the lives of everyone in our society.”

This is a vital book: a clear-eyed look at the realities of trans life in the UK, that deliberately eschews the ‘recognised’ media talking points of bathrooms and the Olympics in favour examining in the real injustices faced by trans people on an almost daily basis. From media coverage to prisons to sex work to access to medical care, each chapter explores the way manufactured moral panic around the existence of trans people has been used to justify their systematic oppression.

There’s so much I found powerful and admirable here, but I think, to me, what was most valuable was the analytical approach (Faye points out that trans media skews heavily towards demanding confessional or autobiographical works from trans writers) and the razor-sharp deconstruction of the hows and whys the UK is—not to put too fine a point on it—just so fucking transphobic. I’ve been increasingly aware of a kind of … mental helplessness, looking around me what feels like the utterly unnecessary culture we are currently waging on trans people, wondering where on earth this is coming from.

Well. Now I know.

And it’s honestly horrifying, the way the social and political conflicts around the rights and bodily autonomy of trans people have been framed as natural and necessary. When they are, of course, utterly constructed: built on years of fear-mongering and manipulation by the media and the government, right down to the fact that whenever there’s any sort of discussion of “trans issues” these tend to involve a trans person and someone oppositional to trans people, as if there is a neutral middle ground between these two positions.

This is a meticulously researched and incisively written book that feels ground-breaking precisely because its shape, form and approach serves as an act of resistance against the prevailing narrative of how trans people should write, and what they should write about. Most significantly, it consistently rejects the idea of a single “trans experience” and speaks compassionately and coherently about the way issues of race, social class and economic privilege inform trans identity (Faye makes it very clear that she white, educated, and speaks with an RP accent—factors that made her own transition comparatively smooth).

For all, however, that this is a work of polemic (and I sincerely hope it does something to re-frame the debates my country is having, and has long been having, about trans rights) it is as much a manifesto of hope as it is a battlecry: it envisions a world where trans liberty broadens the scope of possibility for all.

A necessary and brilliant book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This is an important book on a complicated issue. Faye has a great way of writing, of presenting the evidence, but also of staying true to the emotion of this story. A must read.

In a time where Trans rights are being questioned and debated daily Faye presents intelligent and accessible arguments for Trans liberation and why it benefits us all - a must read to make the world a better place!

This is a great book for people within activist and gender studies circles. The language is not entirely accessible for those outside these spaces as it is not always in plain English or further explained. There are some moments that made me wince with regards to wording that would have benefitted omitting.
But I hope this book will be great reading and possibly course material, and give GCs something to think about with all the well expressed and laid out statistics and personal stories. I pray 2021 will be the beginning of something better to come for all marginalised people and I really appreciated the acknowledgment of disabled trans people within this book as I often feel unseen and unthought about.

Too political and too centred on the issues of transwomen. I had hoped to learn more about the lives of transpeople including transmen.

Shon Faye’s The Transgender Issue is a painfully necessary tour de force about the perception of the trans community in British media and wider society, which are both engaging in toxic discourses rooted in stereotypes and social fears, ignoring the struggles of real people. Accompanying each statement with astoundingly precise and accurate research, Faye exposes the systemic injustices affecting trans and non-binary people, covering topics such as the difficulties in accessing healthcare, the poor conditions of sex-workers, the harsh realities of incarceration, and the attacks and hatred coming from the LGB front within the LGBTQ+ and feminist communities. By laying bare the prejudice and intolerance of a capitalist system which aims at annihilating anything that threatens its colonialist and patriarchal structure, Faye re-humanizes an abused community which has cruelly been turned into a mere conceptual problem.

I also particularly appreciated the extension of her analysis to include trans men and non-binary people specifically, identifying a set of common problematics faced by these groups which are not often discussed.

Trans people in Britain today have become a culture war 'issue'. Despite making up less than 1% of the country's population, they are the subjects of a toxic and increasingly polarised 'debate', which generates reliable controversy for newspapers and talk shows. This media frenzy conceals a simple fact: that we are having the wrong conversation, a conversation in which trans people themselves are reduced to a talking point and denied a meaningful voice.

The book is brilliantly organised and researched, clearly detailing the historical contexts that have not only led us to the paradox of transphobic arguments and trans rights achievements in Britain, but that also shape how we see future struggles for equity and justice.

This is a first for me by the author and one I enjoyed and would read more of their work. The book cover is eye-catching and appealing and would spark my interest if in a bookshop. Thank you very much to the author, publisher and Netgalley for this ARC.

Firstly, thank you to publishers Allen Lane for providing me with a copy of this ebook via NetGalley.

Let’s get this out of the way first, shall we? The UK media, right now, is very hostile towards trans people. This hostility is fuelled by too many ‘high profile’ people pretending concern over what the inclusion of trans women means for ‘women’s issues/spaces’. A lot of this is a load of, well, rubbish. (I would use stronger words, but I am currently trying not to swear too much on the internet.) Personally, I don’t think a lot of these people should even be given airtime – there is no debate when it comes to human rights, the vast majority of ‘anti-trans’ accounts on platforms like Twitter are sock puppets and bots, and we cannot have equality without equality for all, okay? (And yes I could rant about this all day, especially with the way white cis women – and yes I am a white cis woman – tend to focus on issues that effect them without consideration for the variety of other people experiencing discrimination and hostility and, honestly, fellow cis white women? We have to do better. But anyway!)

Shon Faye has, in this brilliant book, outlined what it means to be trans in a transphobic society. If you are cis, I highly suggest you read this book. That goes even more if you think of yourself as an ally to the trans community. We need to be more aware of what people are going through. We have to understand the type of people standing against the trans community would see all of our rights stripped away, and even with that taken out of the equation, there is absolutely no reason trans men and women should have to deal with the kind of hate they get shown on a daily basis.

Faye puts the UK and especially the UK media under a microscope, demonstrating the idea that the current anti-trans rhetoric is a moral panic. Faye doesn’t only discuss how the treatment of trans people effects all people, but she discusses each issue put into the context of other issues in our society. She ties in the facts and figures with similar numbers among other marginalized groups, as well as highlighting various experiences of both trans men and women throughout the book. The arguments for justice put forth by Shon Faye are intersectional, and truly demonstrate the need for people to work together, to keep trans rights at the forefront when discussing other issues, as well.

Faye also, to put it bluntly, absolutely rips apart the arguments many anti-trans people use, in a way that is factual and elegant. Her writing skill is absolutely fantastic, and it’s hard not to see or understand the pain and anger she must have felt while compiling the information in this book. Importantly, too, Faye acknowledges her own privilege, all too aware she is in a more fortunate situation than others.

Again, this is a must-read book. There’s a strong power here, highlighted by the experiences of people Faye spoke to, from parents of a young trans child to a woman who transitioned as an OAP, to younger trans men seeking support and who need space to talk about their own issues, too. She never discounts the fact there are a many different experiences under the ‘trans’ umbrella, and she never fails to emphasise this point. She talks about education, representation in the media, healthcare, employment, sex work and other areas, while maintaining the argument “there can be no trans liberation under capitalism.”

Faye has put together a strong, well-written, powerful book, that, as the title suggests, carries an argument for justice, one we should all pay attention to.

Shon Faye’s The Transgender Issue: An Argument for justice is not a memoir like many books by transgender authors are but instead a book that aims to reclaim to the term ‘transgender issue’ to reveal what it is like being a trans person in a transphobic British society, and delving into the changes that need to happen not just for equality but for trans liberation.

The book is broken up into seven sections that explore the various aspects of life and society including; Trans life in modern Britain (Trans Life Now), healthcare (Right and Wrong Bodies), issues of class (Class Struggle), Sex work (Sex Sells), crime, hate crimes, prisons and the criminal justice system (The State), Trans rights, history and liberation within the LGBTQIA+ community (Kissing Cousins), feminism and transfeminism (The Ugly Cousin).

The narrative in this book includes case studies, stories, and conversations with young trans people and their families which create a connection with the reader, showcasing examples of real lives impacted by transphobia.

Since this is not a memoir, Shon Faye admits that much of what she discusses in her book exists outside of her lived experiences, however, the use of stories, statistics, quotes, etc. allow her to amplify other trans voices who have experienced issues (or worked for charities supporting issues) such as homelessness and domestic violence, laying bare the inarguable facts and evidence in this thoroughly convincing narrative.

While the book does include a lot of information in the form of statistics, facts, and quotes from other writers and researchers to hammer home particular points the author is making, The Transgender Issue does not feel like a heavy read with lots of numbers to read. Shon Faye’s writing is easy to read and follow, and successfully weaves a small amount of prose through the information which adds a level of warmth to the book.

Shon Faye’s revolutionary and powerful début, The Transgender Issue, is not a book that will spark a culture-war but rather one that aims to bring people from minority backgrounds (Black, POC, immigrant, working-class, women, sex workers, etc.) together. Shon Faye highlights societal changes throughout her book that would benefit trans people, women, POC, disabled, LGBT+, and working-class people alike. In doing so, Shon Faye does something that the British media fail to do, unite minority groups to advocate for rights and liberation for all.

{AD|GIFTED} Intelligent and thought-provoking, this book is well-argued and incisively dissects the "transgender issue". A must-read for cis allies and sure to be a future classic.

I expected this to be a sort of “Invisible Women” and in a way it is: it details, clinically and scientifically, the injustices dealt out to trans people, divided into sections on health, the state, etc. And it made me cross and tearful, so snap there. But it goes deeper into the ways in which trans people have to live their lives, and how they have been set against both the cis population and then, more damagingly, people representing the rest of the letters in the LGBTQIA+ population and cis and lesbian feminists.

The clearly and dispassionately put descriptions of the awful situations trans people are put through can be pretty harrowing. Much has been made in talk about this book about the section on trans-exclusionary radical feminists, but in fact this is an ending to a narrative of the divide-and-conquer going on from the Establishment, and an awful lot more of the book sets out the humiliations and abuse that trans people endure. So many young homeless people are trans; so many homeless people are trans (one in four trans people have experienced homelessness); even though there is protective legislation in place for work, etc., it doesn’t protect when the majority narrative is against a person who just wishes to work, have their correct pronouns used and get on with their life.

My full blog review here https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2021/09/24/book-review-shon-faye-the-transgender-issue/

A review in Shiny New Books will appear in due course and I'll link to it here.

I had never heard of the writer before picking this book up. I thought I knew a fair amount about issues that transgender people face, thanks to discussions with a close relative, some TV shows and articles I read over the years.

... I was wrong. I learnt SO MUCH by reading this book. Everyone should read it. It really is so educational and it pulls no punches.

I'll give you some examples of topics addressed, some of which were on my radar, but most weren't:

❓Were do transgender people go if they are victims of domestic violence? Most womens' shelters are reluctant to accept trans women, and mens' shelters can have some homophobic/violent cis men. This is particularly worrying as transgender people are more likely to be abused by a partner.

❓Where do transgender people go if they are incarcerated? There is a lot of transphobia in prisons. Shon does not stop at this - she denounces the inefficacy of prisons and looks at more humane alternatives.

❓ Why does the media / the average cost person think of transgender people as white and middle-class, when the statistics show that most are working class, and from a range of backgrounds and ethnicities?

❓ Why do trans women get criticised for overdoing the makeup/feminine clothes/shoes, sometimes seen as parodies of women, showing too much skin or being too sexual, but on the other hand, get criticised by doctors if they don't look feminine enough, and can even be refused treatment or operations if they don't live fully in the gender they identify as? Damned if you do, damned if you don't, hey?

❓ Why do trans women always are the butt of the joke in popular culture? As if the mockery and implications that trans strippers/dates are the worst thing that could happen to a straight man, did not have dire consequences on their safety and day to day lives?

❓ Why do a lot of feminists (in the UK much more than in the US) either outrightly reject trans women, or think they would be a welcome addition to the movement? Why do some cis women think that trans men are a danger to young lesbians, when actually, the input of people breaking the gender binary would be crucial to break down patriarchy and violence against women?

❓ Why do so many trans people get vilified for turning to sex work, whilst also being refused job interviews/jobs because of their identity/appearance? Why do so many trans people hide their sex assigned at birth from coworkers or bosses?

❓ What is the place of trans people in the LGBTQ+ movement and why do straight people assume everyone gets on and has the same goals just because of their sexual orientation?

❓ Why is capitalism incompatible with trans liberation?

Etc. I could go on for hours about this book. Read it!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't get it. I just don't. Where does all this anti-trans angst come from? I have trans friends. It doesn't cause me any distress. When a friend told me that they were trans, I... Well, look, I can't say I didn't care - I wanted them to be happy and safe - but it didn't bother me. Is it a bit cumbersome remembering a different name and pronouns? Sure. But it's no harder than remembering Miss Smith is now Mrs Jones. Is it a bit discomforting to hear about some of the medical issues they face? Yup. But I'd be just as green-gilled if they were talking about a burst appendix.

Should trans-folk use the same toilets as cis-folk? I genuinely don't care as long as they don't piss all over the floor. The only thing that bothers me is that there just aren't enough toilets. When I'm king, every toilet will be an accessible, unisex stall, with a sanitary bin for those that need it. We shouldn't be restricting who gets to use "our" loo - we should be building more loos!

The existence of trans folk has zero negative impact on my life It's like the argument against equal marriage. If you don't want gay people to get married - don't marry someone who is gay. So why do other people get so wound up by the "Transgender Issue"?

This book presents some of the flimsy arguments that people wield against the trans community - and demolishes them with ease. But, if you're so far down the rabbit hole that you think trans-folk are an existential threat to your way of life, then I'm not sure if this book will change your mind.

Shon Faye presents her case with plenty of data and anecdotes to cut through the blustering rage from the media. It has a strong UK focus - with occasionally dips into USA and EU issues. Again, it's good to remember that the UK has its own unique set of issues - even if we are in the orbit of two outsized cultural influences.

The book covers history, common myths, and contemporary issues. You can feel the righteous indignation behind each paragraph, and it would be easy for the author to lapse into a howl of rage, but she stays remarkably calm.

She handles the delicate subject of how to help trans kids with sensitivity and rationality. Far away from the usual moral panics, the book sets out why it is necessary to support kids in a hostile world and how to do it safely.

There are a few parts which I think make poor arguments. Much like the book "No Bath But Plenty Of Bubbles: An Oral History of the Gay Liberation Front " there's an assumption that LBGTQ+ acceptance means the necessary reconfiguration of society into a socialist paradise. It's an argument I have sympathy with - but I don't think it is particularly convincing. There are plenty of gay investors, lesbian landlords, and trans CEOs - do they all want the abolition of capitalism?

Similarly, should we reform prisons? Absolutely. Does it have much to do with the Transgender Issue? I don't think so. As the book points out, trans-people are a minority and only have the tiniest impact on the prison system - they cannot simultaneously be insignificant and be a compelling reason for abolishing prisons.

In the end, this is an excellent book. It distresses me that some people spend so much of their time, effort, and money to demonise a minority. Undoubtedly there are some difficult questions to be asked about how we alter society to accommodate people who don't feel that they fit. But that doesn't necessitate witch-hunts and pearl-clutching.

Here's the thing. The only slight bit of gender non-conformity I exhibit is long hair. Very rarely, someone makes a snarky comment. Even rarer, someone misgenders me. Also, I'd kinda like to wear a utility-kilt, but don't really want yobs beating me up because I'm "in a skirt". Total liberation for my trans friends also liberates me. There's no downside here.

I thoroughly recommend this book - and will be buying a copy for a few friends.

Thanks to NetGalley for the review copy. The book is available now.

A really interesting read for anyone who wants to better understand the expereinces and barriers faced by the trans community. The book is well reserached and I felt like it offered a balance view by acknowledging concerns raised but also debunking some of the myths around these concerns.