Reviews tagging Sexual assault

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice, by Shon Faye

15 reviews

emmalouisereads's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

This is a must read for trans allies in the UK. The book is well researched and cites sources, it will be a helpful resource to have if you’re ever have to debunk a TERF’s arguments.

I don’t know if it’s a book that’ll convince the average transphobe to change their mind. People who don’t know much about the difficulties trans people face (especially in the UK) will find this book enlightening.

I’m glad this book exists

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Sexual harassment, Suicide, Rape, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Self harm, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Racism, Misogyny, and Hate crime

Content warnings are in the context of a non-fiction book

keegan_leech's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I think pretty much everyone should read this book. Its one limiting factor is a focus on the UK, but it is an informative and extremely well-written exploration of the modern political landscape and its approach to trans rights. It's also a concisely-written argument for trans liberation being a necessary component of all modern social justice movements.

Read this book. It is an antidote to simplistic, anti-intellectual discussions of the "debate" about trans rights, and a history and overview of the modern trans rights movement. It is extremely worthwhile.

Shon Faye is clearly a very good writer, and manages to interrogate her subjects with an efficiency and clarity that makes them seem immediately straightforward. I can't say how accessible the book would be to someone with no exposure to concepts like queer and feminist theory, but like I say, it is extremely approachable, and I feel that it would appeal to people with just about any degree of experience with the subject. Similarly, while Faye is clearly writing from and for the left wing, I think her arguments are clear enough that this would be a good book to someone interested in trans politics, but who doesn't consider themselves a leftist.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, Racism, and Misogyny

Moderate: Hate crime, Suicide, Sexual assault, Rape, and Police brutality

tuesday_evening's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Transphobia, Body shaming, Domestic abuse, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Hate crime, Murder, Physical abuse, Medical content, Violence, Classism, Deadnaming, Death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, Misogyny, Emotional abuse, and Forced institutionalization

lynxpardinus's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Medical content, Misogyny, Classism, Transphobia, Homophobia, Sexism, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Deportation, Medical trauma, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Suicide, Ableism, Child abuse, Abortion, Bullying, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Trafficking, Xenophobia, Suicide attempt, Colonisation, Domestic abuse, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Acephobia/Arophobia, Racial slurs, and War

hannahbailey's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

Difficult to rate so I won't for now (may return later). Definitely worth a read, especially for those not particularly clued up on the 'transgender issue'.

My main takeaway, which was a point repeated throughout the book, was "trans liberation cannot happen under capitalism". Each chapter, whilst focusing on different elements of trans experience in our society, drives home this point. Everything leads back to capitalism (and the patriarchy). With these structures in place, cis people will continue to view trans people as 'other', 'abnormal', 'non-conforming' etc. The first two chapters were the most enlightening for me as Faye explores the impact of legislation and education (or lack thereof) enforced by the UK government over the last 40 or so years. It's common knowledge that the progression of trans rights is slow and often sabotaged by those on the extreme right-wing, but the latter chapters of this book detailing the sabotaging from within the LGBTQ+ community was also enlightening to read.

My one issue was how long the chapters were. Each chapter could have been trimmed down without losing any meaning. It would be great to see these chapters split into mini manifestos or pocket penguins as I think this would make them more accessible to a wider range of people. The chapter on class could have benefitted from more research to back up Faye's observations too

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Murder, Sexual violence, Violence, Suicide attempt, Sexual assault, Rape, Racism, Police brutality, Physical abuse, Mental illness, Trafficking, Outing, Medical trauma, Hate crime, and Suicide

wormytoby's review against another edition

informative fast-paced

5.0

I was worried that this book would only depress me, given the current prevailing attitudes to trans people, but somehow it did exactly the opposite. Quality of life for the average trans person is steadily decreasing, and this book does not sugarcoat that fact. Its argument is measured and no-nonsense. This book has helped me put to bed persistent concerns that my own transness is nothing more than naval-gazing privilege. It helped me understand why I held that belief, where it came from and why this belief is being pushed as a way to undermine trans activism. This book has not made me feel hopeful that the state of things will improve any time soon, but it has at least helped me to understand why things are the way they are. I feel more capable of living as myself without guilt.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia and Transphobia

Minor: Sexual assault and Violence

catherinedsharp's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative medium-paced

4.25

This text was incredibly informative! Despite it being dense in writing, I devoured it and found that I jelled well with the writing style.

Despite being an emotionally difficult book to read, I found it very important to educate myself with it and Shin Faye discusses being transgender within a variety of contexts. 

I would highly recommend, especially to those who would like to learn more about the issues of transgender people. The style is relatively accessible to all and Shon Faye writes in a way that educates whilst also being engaging.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Biphobia, Bullying, Deadnaming, Hate crime, Homophobia, Sexual harassment, Transphobia, Lesbophobia, Outing, Police brutality, Racism, Abortion, Death, Classism, and Sexual assault

christareadswhat's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Sexism, Misogyny, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Sexual assault

questingnotcoasting's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexism, Transphobia, Homophobia, and Misogyny

Moderate: Hate crime and Sexual assault

sadiedumplingreads's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective slow-paced

4.75

The Transgender Issue by Shon Faye

My 2022 New Years resolution was to read more non-fiction, and this was such a strong start to the reading year.

It’s so important to read trans books my trans authors written in this current political climate. The writing was immaculate, being both accessible and far beyond surface level. The chapters were structured in a clear way, separating trans issues into different categories while also showing how they interlinked. The writing also lends itself well to being a good starting place to non-fiction, as it uses anecdotes to interweave story telling into the facts, and the chapters are almost chronological - it begins with the struggles of trans children and moves onto the struggles faced in later life.

It took such a uniquely intersectional approach to highlight that trans problems are everyone’s problems. It compared the oppression fo trans people to the oppressive of women and gay people, to help understand how homophobia, patriarchy, and transphobia go hand in hideous hand. The anti-capitalist approach was so refreshing, especially due to the liberal form that most activism takes. It brought so many new things to my attention, such as the fact that abortions do transphobic ales both act in favour of upholding the gender binary, and the struggles that trans people face in old age, which was particularly enlightening as trans issues are something typically associated with the younger generations.

The only fault I could find was in a few menial grammar and capitalisation issues, that are more the fault of the editor than the author. I will read anything Shon Faye writes in the future, as her work is so nuanced and well researched.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Sexual harassment, and Misogyny