Reviews tagging 'Sexual assault'

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye

19 reviews

bronzeageholly's review against another edition

challenging informative reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

 A stark and striking look at the facts and figures regarding the moral panic around trans people (mostly focusing on the UK, but with brief look at the USA). 

 

Shon Faye writes incredibly well, succinct and clear, with inarguable analysis and case for improving the lives of trans people. I would advise reading this book as a whole to understand the links between each social issue thoroughly. Yet, I would also suggest picking up the specific chapters that you may feel you lack a full awareness of (e.g., homelessness or incarceration or domestic violence). Each picks apart and expertly counters misinformation and shares the reality of living as a trans person in the UK. 

 

While I whole-heartedly recommend this book, it is also very very hard-hitting. It took me a long time to read due to needing to take a lot of breaks. Please be aware of any trigger warnings when you pick up this book. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Suicide, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Classism, Body shaming, Police brutality, Misogyny, Dysphoria, Outing, Lesbophobia, Hate crime, Death, Violence, Rape, Racism, Deadnaming, Transphobia, Sexism, and Physical abuse

Minor: Addiction, Mental illness, Eating disorder, and Fatphobia

alice_yali's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual harassment, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

booksjessreads's review against another edition

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

This book is absolutely incredible. There is not much that I can say in a review here that will genuinely do this justice. I think it is all incredibly well researched and written, and is genuinely one of the best nonfiction books I have ever read. 

One thing that stopped me from giving it 5 stars, was how jam-packed it is with information. At the same time, this is also what I like about it. Let me explain. I tried to read the print copy of this in 2022 but it reads almost like a text book (please don't let this put you off though its amazing!) I found it super heavy, but since I liked what I read, I decided to just give it a break and come back to it. Later down the line, I picked up the audiobook and consumed it within a matter of days. Shon Faye narrates the audio and makes it such a rich experience. However, there was so much information that I occasionally felt overwhelmed. Although, I completely didn't mind since it was genuinely just so good. I think I am going to attempt the print edition next time I read it, so that I can go over anything that I missed. There is no doubt that this book is heavy, so I recommend you take your time.

This book is essential. I recommend this to anyone and everyone. It is written convincingly and contains such a diversity of sources to enrich the content and reading experience. Please just read it and take your time to digest it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Eating disorder, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Misogyny, and Homophobia

Moderate: Infertility, Mental illness, Medical content, Deadnaming, Murder, Violence, Outing, Suicide, and Death of parent

evanorlando's review

challenging informative medium-paced

4.5

5/5 in the sense that every cisgender person should read this. It is brilliantly written and perfectly encapsulates the transgender experience in modern day. However, if you are a transgender person interested in social politics and your rights - like myself - you will find this an incredibly difficult read. If you are transgender, relatively informed and anti-capitalist in all the right ways, you probably won't gain any new insight into transgender liberation. And because of the nature of essay writing, there are tons of statistics relating to transgender suffering. It is for these very reasons I think anyone who has firsthand experience of transphobia or simply is transgender in the UKs currently political climate, should not read this book - if only for the sake of their own mental health as in short this book can appear a collation of our communities suffering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia

Moderate: Medical content

Minor: Police brutality, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Suicide, and Suicide attempt

emmalouisereads's review

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

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

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

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