Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice by Shon Faye

12 reviews

neena12483939459's review

informative reflective slow-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Dysphoria, Medical content, Hate crime, Sexual violence, and Transphobia

tangleroot_eli's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense slow-paced

 This isn’t a happy book. Seven chapters detailing the ways trans folks in the UK are hard done by the government, the medical establishment, the media, and the feminist movement make hard reading for those of us who stand, and/or love those who stand, under the trans umbrella. Nor did I find it the straightforward, super-obvious roadmap to trans liberation that many of the blurb-writers claimed it to be. Still, Faye’s bold voice and unflinching critiques of both the forces that try to crush trans folks and the tactics that (mostly white, middle class, cishet) moderate liberals think will save us make this book a balm for what ails us. (Spoiler alert: it’s capitalism. Capitalism is what ails us.) 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Deadnaming, Forced institutionalization, Transphobia, and Medical content

Moderate: Hate crime, Drug use, Medical trauma, Racism, Xenophobia, Classism, Death, and Murder

ramreadsagain's review

challenging informative inspiring medium-paced

4.5

" It is therefore regrettable that some feminists happily align themselves with Conservative politicians, who have repeatedly supported austerity policies that disproportionately harm working-class and disabled women, all because trans women fall outside of their personal definition of womanhood, and that this is the hill on which they have chosen to die. "

This is a book that I will definitely keep coming back to as a source of knowledge, hope, and references for further reading. It expertly covers important aspects of the trans experience, from childhood and medical barriers, to sex work, classism, and solidarity (and lack thereof). 

The final two chapters in particular are incredibly well-writen and if you don't want to tackle the entire book I'd at least suggest you read those two. They are an excellent takedown on transphobia within the LGBT+ community and within feminism (namely, why TERFs are dragging all women down), proving again and again that no socialist movement can gain traction by leaving trans people behind.

My only main criticism of the book is due to a slight miss-selling of the content done by Shon herself. I acquried my copy of the book at a talk she gave, in which she described the book as explaining how trans liberation would be to the benefit of everyone in society. While this was certainly present in the final two chapters I would have liked more discussion of this within earlier chapters particularly when it comes to class struggles and healthcare. 

I would also like more paragraph breaks lol

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Transphobia and Misogyny

Moderate: Medical content and Medical trauma

Minor: Abortion and Addiction

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

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

nialiversuch's review

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad medium-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Dysphoria, Homophobia, Emotional abuse, Classism, Suicide, Lesbophobia, Body shaming, Hate crime, Misogyny, and Transphobia

Moderate: Body horror, Religious bigotry, Child abuse, Police brutality, Pregnancy, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Abortion, Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Sexism, Biphobia, Grief, Mental illness, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Slavery

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

bectothebooks's review

challenging informative reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Hate crime, Homophobia, Transphobia, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexism

Minor: Fatphobia, Abortion, Mental illness, Outing, Police brutality, Rape, and Suicide

sadiedumplingreads's review

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