This book is going to be the next big thing. If it isn’t, it should be. 

Across seven chapters, Shon Faye covers enormous ground in discussing transgender rights or, as she puts it, transgender liberation. It’s no secret that trans rights have become a hot button topic and a political bargaining chip worldwide, but especially in the UK. In this book, Faye discusses the systemic ways society and the state are failing trans people, what needs to be done about it, and why transgender rights are an inherently feminist cause. 

The amount that Faye covers in 300 pages is astounding. For the first few chapters, she focuses on how and why trans people are among the most marginalised in our society. From gendered homeless shelters, to the bureaucratic nightmare of getting an NHS appointment, to violence in prisons and more. As well as giving a thorough but clear explanation as to why things are the way they are, she explains in no uncertain terms why and, more importantly, how they need to change. It becomes clearer and clearer as the book progresses that what is needed is not just a few legislative adjustments or special allowances here and there, but a radical overhaul of our perception of gender and of the relationship between the state and the individual. 

For the last section, Faye focuses on the relationship of trans people with the LGB community, and of feminist attitudes towards trans rights. For most people picking up this book the complexities of these relationships will be known but not necessarily understood. Faye has a remarkable ability to lay out clearly the history of what is now called the LGBTQ+ community in a way that not only makes perfect sense but gets you to rethink your own understanding of LGBTQ+ history. As for trans rights and feminism, you could write a whole library on the intricacies of British anti-trans ‘feminism’, but instead you could read a few paragraphs of Shon Faye. In a few pages she succinctly explains not just why trans people (and other marginalised groups such as people of colour and migrants) are often excluded from British feminism, but why the very existence of trans people should be celebrated by all feminists. 

All we hear about via the media is the ‘conversation’ or ‘debate’ of trans rights in the UK. This book is a call for the end of the conversation and the start of action. As much as it’s a book of the moment, I have no doubt that it will become one of the books of the decade if not longer in reshaping how we think about transgender rights. 

Thank you to the publisher for giving me a free copy for review. All opinions are my own.