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Incomplete Masterpost on Radical Feminist Literature

This is an incomplete list of literature associated with radical feminism. Currently, it dates back to the late 1960s and goes up to the 2010s. Since this list contains historical readings, some books discussed were written by women who have done actions that ranged from questionable to the absolute immoral. In regards to the latter, I believe it would be incredibly irresponsible to pretend that radical feminism have not allowed these women a space in a community that is supposed to condemn those behaviors and actions. If you are interested in reading the literature created by any of the authors who participated, endorsed, or did unforgivable things, I urge you to find a means of accessing those works in a way that would not result in them or their foundations receiving compensation. Also, please remember to read their works with a very critical lenses. Thank you.

SCUM Manifesto (1967)

SCUM Manifesto argues that men have ruined the world, and that it is up to women to fix it. To achieve this goal, it suggests the formation of an organization dedicated to overthrowing society and eliminating the male sex. Author Valerie Solanoas, a lesbian, also urged women to "overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex." It's currently debated whether SCUM Manifesto is satire or parody, due to its parallels with Freud's theory of femininity. NOTE: Author Valerie Solanoas is known for her stalking and attempted murder of Andy Warhol. The motive for the attempt on his life was decided to be due to undiagnosed mental illness that convinced her of conspiracy between Warhol and another artist to steal her works. Warhol developed PTSD after the incidents, according to his lover(s) and friends. Personally, it is up to yourself whether or not this information sways your decision to buy a copy or access it for free.

Notes From the First Year (1968)

New York Radical Women complied a group of feminist texts and speeches from their work in 1968. The compliation included texts from Shulamith Firestone, Jennifer Gardner, Kathy Amatniek, and Anne Koedt.

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution (1970)

Described as a classic of feminist thought, Jewish author Shulamith Firestone argues that the biological division of labor in reproduction in the root cause of male domination, economic exploitation, racism, imperialism, and ecological irresponsibility. She argues that goal of the feminist revolution must be not just the elimination of male privilege but of the sex distinction itself, so that genital differences no longer have cultural significance.

Sexual Politics (1970)

Based on her PhD dissertation, Kate Millett's book is regarded as a classic of feminism and one of radical feminism's key texts. Dr. Millett argues that sex has a frequently neglected political aspect and discusses the role that patriarchy plays in sexual relations. She argues that authors such as D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, and Norman Mailer discuss sex in a patriarchal, sexist way. Meanwhile, she endorses the more nuanced gender politics of gay writer Jean Genet. Note: Kate Millet has endorsed pedophilia, excusing her endorsement by pretending it is for the liberation of children. If you have a desire to read Sexual Politics, please find a means to access it without contributing to her. Read the book with a VERY critical lenses due to what she endorses.

Sisterhood is Powerful (1970)

An anthology of feminist writings, it was edited by Robin Morgan and is one of the first widely available anthologies of second-wave feminism. The anthology calls for consciousness-raising and a call to action. The collection addresses several major issues, including "the need for radical feminism, the discrimination women experienced from men in the political left, and the blatant sexism faced in the workplace. Also, the collection most notably included Black Women's Liberation Group.

The Myth of Vaginal Orgasm (1970)

Essayist Anne Koedt responded to the sexual revolution of the 1960s by addressing both the myth of vaginal orgasms and previous thoughts about female orgasms in general. Her article played a vital role in feminist sexual revolution and draws on research done by Alfred Kinsey about human sexuality.

The Female Eunuch (1970)

This is a key text of the 1970s feminist movement, a mixture of polemic and scholarly research. An important text in the feminist movement, Germaine Greer's thesis is that the traditional nuclear family represses women sexually. She argues that men hate women, though the latter do not realize this and are taught to hate themselves. Note: Germaine Greer created and distributed a book that she claimed was "to advance women's reclamation of their capacity for and the right to visual pleasure." The cover of the book was a shirtless picture of 15-year-old boy, who discovered the use of his photo for this photobook in his early 30s. The contents of the book have been described as pedophilic. During the height of #MeToo, Germaine Greer called for women to show solidarity when other women are sexually harassed, but then went on to say: "But if you spread your legs because he said 'be nice to me and I'll give you a job in a movie' then I'm afraid that's tantamount to consent, and it's too late now to start whingeing about that." She also said that some women's disclosure of their assaults and harassment was "dishonorable" because some of the victims had been paid to sign non-disclosure agreements and only spoke out after the statute of limitations. If you have a desire to read The Female Eunuch, please find a means to access it WITHOUT contributing to her and keep in mind these events.

Off Our Backs (1970-2008)

Off Our Backs was a collective of women who practiced consensus decision-making. Consensus decision-making are group decision-making processes in which participants develop and decide on proposals with the requirement of acceptance by all. In the first issue, the editorial statement states that Off Our Back is a paper for all women who are fighting for the liberation of their lives and we hope it will grow and expand to meet the needs of women from all backgrounds and classes. They ask readers to use this paper to relate what you are doing and what you are thinking, for we are convinced that a woman speaking from the agony of her own struggle has a voice that can touch the experience of all women.

Lesbian Nation (1973)

In this book, lesbian separatist Jill Johnston outlines her vision of radical lesbian feminism, writing that women should make a total break from men and male-dominated capitalist institutions. She believes that female heterosexuality was a form of collaboration with patriarchy.

Woman Hating (1974)

Women Hating delves into the topics of misogyny and sexuality. Written by Jewish writer Andrea Dworkin, she examines the place and depiction of women in both fairy tales and pornography. She then compares and contracts between Chinese foot binding and European witch burning. The final section discusses the different cultural concepts of androgyny. Note: In Women Hating, Andrea Dworkin's use of the word erotic makes her sections on bestiality and incest upsetting and potentially triggering to read. Andrea Dworkin is using her self definition of erotic. She does defines erotic as non-sexual and similar to how intimate means close social relations, which is different to how we commonly define the word.

Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape (1974)

Jewish author Susan Brownmiller argues that rape is a conscious process of intimidation by which all men keep all women in a state of fear. She criticizes men such as Richard von Krafft-Ebing, Sigmund Freud, Karl Marx, and Friedrich Engels for their oversights on rape, especially challenging the Freudian concept of rape fantasies. Her book is credited with inflencing changes in law regarding rape.

Pornography: Men Possessing Women (1981)

Andrea Dworkin argues that pornography dehumanizes women and that the industry itself is implicated in violence against women. She analyzes the contemporary and historical pornography industry in how it abuses women, both in production and consequences from consumption by men. This leads to humiliation and abuse of women.

Ain't I A Woman? (1981)

Titled after Sojourner Truth's speech, Black writer bell hooks examines the effects of misogynoir on Black women, the civil rights movement, and the feminist movements from suffrage to 1970s. She argues that the convergence of sexism and racism during slavery contributed to Black women having the lowest status and worst conditions of any group in American society. Furthermore, she argues that the stereotypes during slavery allowed white society to justify the devaluation of Black femininity and rape of Black women. She also argues that Black nationalism was a largely misogynist movement and the feminist movement did not articulate the needs of poor and non-white women.

Against Sadomasochism (1982)

An anthology with multiple authors, they critique sadomasochism and BDSM from a feminist perspective. Sadomasochism is described as being rooted in patriarchal sexual ideology. Three pieces cites the movement as insensitive to the experiences of black woman, citing "master/slave" relationships. Susan Leigh Star cites the use of swastikas and other Nazi imagery by BDSM practitioners as inherently antisemitic. Marissa Jonel and Elizabeth Harris give personal accounts of their experiences with sadomasochism, while Paula Tiklicorect and Melissa Bay Mathis use satire in their pieces.

Sweet Freedom: The Struggle for Women's Liberation (1982)

Anna Coote, Beatrix Campbell, and Christine Roche look at the progress of women's liberation so far and examine the the reasons for its achivements and failures. As active feminists since the early days of the movement, they provide a unique historical account and strategy for the future. She critiques The Feminine Mystique (1963) as being a limited perspective on women's reality despite its usefulness about the impact of misogyny on housewives, since it did not include non-white women. She uses the term "white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy" as a lens through which to both critique American culture and to offer solutions to the problems she explores. She addresses the goals of feminism, pacifism, solidarity, and the nature of revolution.

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center (1984)

A feminist theory by bell hooks, bell hooks wrote the book as a response to the need for theory that took into account gender, race, and class.

Sisterhood Is Global (1984)

Edited by Robin Morgan, this anthology of feminist writings is the follow-up to Sisterhood is Powerful (1970). It was hailed as a historic publishing event and the definitive text on the international women's movement. It is typically a course text in women's studies, international affairs, global economics, and other disciplines. After its release, Sisterhood Is Forever was published in 2003.

The Spinster and Her Enemies (1985)

Lesbian author Professor Shelia Jeffreys examines feminist involves in the Social Purity movement at the turn of the century. Note: Shelia Jeffrey advocates for political lesbians, albeit her definition of a political lesbian is a "woman-identified woman who does not fuck men." Definitely not the worst of what I've written in "Note:" but I thought it should be mentioned as it is in many of her works as well as political lesbianism being lesbophobic.

Intercourse (1987)

Andrea Dworkin provides a radical feminist analysis of sexual intercourse in literature and society. She argued that the depicitions of intercourse in mainstream art and culture consistently emphasized penis-in-vagina intercourse as the only, most genuine form of "real sex." This kind of depiction then enforces a male-centric, coercive view of sexuality, thus making heterosexual intercourse itself become a central part of men's occupation of women. Although often read as her arguing that heterosexual sex is always rape based on the quote "violation is a synonym for intercourse", Dworkin had stated that "What I think is that sex must not put women in a subordinate position. It must be reciprocal and not an act of aggression from a man looking only to satisfy himself. That is my point."

Feminism Unmodified (1987)

Preceded by Sexual Harrassment of Working Women (1979) and followed by Pornography and Civil Rights (1989), legal scholar Catharine A. MacKinnon archives her collection of critical essays about pornography and liberal feminism. This book is one of the most widely cited books on law in the English language.

Toward a Feminist Theory of the State (1989)

Catharine A. MacKinnon argues that feminism had no account of male power as an ordered yet deranged whole. She proposes her book as an answer to this problem. She takes Marxism as the theory's point of departure. Unlike liberal theories, she states that Marxism confronts organized social dominance, analyzes it in dynamic rather than static terms,identifies social forces that systematically shape social imperatives, and seeks to explain social freedom both within and against history.

Only Words (1993)

Catharine A. MacKinnon contends that the U.S. legal system has used a First Amendment basis to protect intimidation, subordination, terrorism, and discrimination as enacted through pornography. She believes this violates the equal protection guarantee of the Fourteenth Amendment. Her book is divided into three discussions: defamation and discrimination, racial and sexual harassment, and equality and speech.

Radically Speaking: Feminism Reclaimed (1996)

This collection reveals the global reach of radical feminism and analyze the causes and solutions to patriarchal oppression. Author Diane Bell shows how radical feminist analysis cuts across class, race, sexuality, region, and religion. She makes visible how male control is exercised in every sphere of women's lives. Contributors to this book include Robin Morgan, Catherine MacKinnon, Marcia Gillespie, and Andrea Dworkin. The editors also asserted that radical feminism should always welcome and acknowledge the diversity of women while stressing commonality. Note: There is a section on therapy and how it is believed to undermine the practice of radical feminism. Do not think this means you are a "bad activist" by going to therapy. If you are interested, there is a type of therapy known as feminist therapy.

Scapegoat: The Jews, Israel, and Women's Liberation (2000)

Andrea Dworkin begins with an analysis of antisemitism and misogyny in world history, making a comparison between the persecution of Jews and the oppression of women. She discusses the sexual politics of Jewish identity and antisemitism, and called for the establishment of a women's homeland as a response to the oppression of women. Note: There is discussion of present-day Israel in this book and the book was found offensive to both Zionists and non-Zionists when it was published. Although Andrea Dworkin stated she supported the Jewish right to have their own state, she described Israel as a male-dominated, militaristic society built on a form of "near apartheid" against Palestinians and Arab Israelis. I recognized that the subtitle is controversial, so I thought fit to include this Note: here.

Sisterhood Is Forever (2003)

The final anthology to the Sisterhood Is series, it has more than 50 women contributing 60 essays. It discusses feminism's emphases and accomplishments as of 2003. Essays range in tone from scholarly to narrative and provide both conservative and liberal viewpoints. The focus is in the United States, addressing why feminism is still needed by providing alarming statistics from the United States.

Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975 (2006)

Lesbian editor Barbara J. Love created a comprehensive directory to document many of the founders and leaders of second wave feminism in America. It tells the stories of more than two thousand women who made permanent changes to customs and laws. She briefly discusses women's liberation to the earlier first wave feminism and presents a brief overview of what second wave feminism means.

The Industrial Vagina (2008)

Lesbian author Professor Shelia Jeffreys writes how prostitution has become a burgeoning and immensely profitable global market sector. She describes the globalization of sex markets, saying: "the right of men to women's bodies for sexual use has not gone, but remains an assumption at the basis of heterosexual relationship." She also draws links between marriage and prostitution, such as mail-order brides. Note: Shelia Jeffreys does advocate for political lesbianism, although she defines it as a "woman-identified-woman who does not fuck men". Very very tame in comparison to about Notes: on this list, but I thought it was important to mention as political lesbianism is lesbophobic.

The Silencing of Feminist Criticism of "Gender" (2013)

Written by thirty-seven radical feminists from five countries, the publication concerns itself with the rise of "gender theory," which avoids naming men and the system of male supremacy as the beneficiaries of women's oppression. It details how organizations tied to radical feminism have been treated by certain proponents of gender theory, such as individual Deep Green Resistance members being threatened with arson, rape, and murder. It also compares the similarities of reactions to feminism by transgender male-to-female individuals and Men's Rights Activists.

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roast-and-compost · 10 months

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Trans and gender ideology has only highlighted the shitty parts of men. Their entitlement to our spaces. Their lack of emotional regulation when they’re “misgendered”. Their violent tendencies against women with boundaries. Their sexual entitlement to lesbians.

Additionally, it highlights their shitty PHYSICAL features. Things like receding hairlines and five o’clock shadows were secondary sex characteristics that I used to often overlook in men—because they were so common and average it didn’t even register to me as abnormal.

But when they try to “be women” all those shitty features are highlighted. Their receding hairlines, their beer guts, their bulging Adams apples, their curveless profiles are all brought to the surface during their larping. All of their male features contrast so harshly to femaleness they become impossible to ignore. In an attempt to be female, their maleness jumps out.

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roast-and-compost · 1 year

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#hey that’s my pfp #also hilarious

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roast-and-compost · 1 year

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You can’t just leave this GEM in the tags

Straight men: I wouldn’t fuck a trans woman

TRAs:

Lesbians: I wouldn’t fuck a trans woman

TRAs:

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roast-and-compost · 1 year

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10 JUNE 2020

J.K. Rowling Writes about Her Reasons for Speaking out on Sex and Gender Issues

Warning: The below content is not appropriate for children. Please check with an adult before you read this page.

This isn’t an easy piece to write, for reasons that will shortly become clear, but I know it’s time to explain myself on an issue surrounded by toxicity. I write this without any desire to add to that toxicity.

For people who don’t know: last December I tweeted my support for Maya Forstater, a tax specialist who’d lost her job for what were deemed ‘transphobic’ tweets. She took her case to an employment tribunal, asking the judge to rule on whether a philosophical belief that sex is determined by biology is protected in law. Judge Tayler ruled that it wasn’t.

My interest in trans issues pre-dated Maya’s case by almost two years, during which I followed the debate around the concept of gender identity closely. I’ve met trans people, and read sundry books, blogs and articles by trans people, gender specialists, intersex people, psychologists, safeguarding experts, social workers and doctors, and followed the discourse online and in traditional media. On one level, my interest in this issue has been professional, because I’m writing a crime series, set in the present day, and my fictional female detective is of an age to be interested in, and affected by, these issues herself, but on another, it’s intensely personal, as I’m about to explain.

All the time I’ve been researching and learning, accusations and threats from trans activists have been bubbling in my Twitter timeline. This was initially triggered by a ‘like’. When I started taking an interest in gender identity and transgender matters, I began screenshotting comments that interested me, as a way of reminding myself what I might want to research later. On one occasion, I absent-mindedly ‘liked’ instead of screenshotting. That single ‘like’ was deemed evidence of wrongthink, and a persistent low level of harassment began.

Months later, I compounded my accidental ‘like’ crime by following Magdalen Berns on Twitter. Magdalen was an immensely brave young feminist and lesbian who was dying of an aggressive brain tumour. I followed her because I wanted to contact her directly, which I succeeded in doing. However, as Magdalen was a great believer in the importance of biological sex, and didn’t believe lesbians should be called bigots for not dating trans women with penises, dots were joined in the heads of twitter trans activists, and the level of social media abuse increased.

I mention all this only to explain that I knew perfectly well what was going to happen when I supported Maya. I must have been on my fourth or fifth cancellation by then. I expected the threats of violence, to be told I was literally killing trans people with my hate, to be called cunt and bitch and, of course, for my books to be burned, although one particularly abusive man told me he’d composted them.

What I didn’t expect in the aftermath of my cancellation was the avalanche of emails and letters that came showering down upon me, the overwhelming majority of which were positive, grateful and supportive. They came from a cross-section of kind, empathetic and intelligent people, some of them working in fields dealing with gender dysphoria and trans people, who’re all deeply concerned about the way a socio-political concept is influencing politics, medical practice and safeguarding. They’re worried about the dangers to young people, gay people and about the erosion of women’s and girl’s rights. Above all, they’re worried about a climate of fear that serves nobody – least of all trans youth – well.

I’d stepped back from Twitter for many months both before and after tweeting support for Maya, because I knew it was doing nothing good for my mental health. I only returned because I wanted to share a free children’s book during the pandemic. Immediately, activists who clearly believe themselves to be good, kind and progressive people swarmed back into my timeline, assuming a right to police my speech, accuse me of hatred, call me misogynistic slurs and, above all – as every woman involved in this debate will know – TERF.

If you didn’t already know – and why should you? – ‘TERF’ is an acronym coined by trans activists, which stands for Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. In practice, a huge and diverse cross-section of women are currently being called TERFs and the vast majority have never been radical feminists. Examples of so-called TERFs range from the mother of a gay child who was afraid their child wanted to transition to escape homophobic bullying, to a hitherto totally unfeminist older lady who’s vowed never to visit Marks & Spencer again because they’re allowing any man who says they identify as a woman into the women’s changing rooms. Ironically, radical feminists aren’t even trans-exclusionary – they include trans men in their feminism, because they were born women.

But accusations of TERFery have been sufficient to intimidate many people, institutions and organisations I once admired, who’re cowering before the tactics of the playground. ‘They’ll call us transphobic!’ ‘They’ll say I hate trans people!’ What next, they’ll say you’ve got fleas? Speaking as a biological woman, a lot of people in positions of power really need to grow a pair (which is doubtless literally possible, according to the kind of people who argue that clownfish prove humans aren’t a dimorphic species).

So why am I doing this? Why speak up? Why not quietly do my research and keep my head down?

Well, I’ve got five reasons for being worried about the new trans activism, and deciding I need to speak up.

Firstly, I have a charitable trust that focuses on alleviating social deprivation in Scotland, with a particular emphasis on women and children. Among other things, my trust supports projects for female prisoners and for survivors of domestic and sexual abuse. I also fund medical research into MS, a disease that behaves very differently in men and women. It’s been clear to me for a while that the new trans activism is having (or is likely to have, if all its demands are met) a significant impact on many of the causes I support, because it’s pushing to erode the legal definition of sex and replace it with gender.

The second reason is that I’m an ex-teacher and the founder of a children’s charity, which gives me an interest in both education and safeguarding. Like many others, I have deep concerns about the effect the trans rights movement is having on both.

The third is that, as a much-banned author, I’m interested in freedom of speech and have publicly defended it, even unto Donald Trump.

The fourth is where things start to get truly personal. I’m concerned about the huge explosion in young women wishing to transition and also about the increasing numbers who seem to be detransitioning (returning to their original sex), because they regret taking steps that have, in some cases, altered their bodies irrevocably, and taken away their fertility. Some say they decided to transition after realising they were same-sex attracted, and that transitioning was partly driven by homophobia, either in society or in their families.

Most people probably aren’t aware – I certainly wasn’t, until I started researching this issue properly – that ten years ago, the majority of people wanting to transition to the opposite sex were male. That ratio has now reversed. The UK has experienced a 4400% increase in girls being referred for transitioning treatment. Autistic girls are hugely overrepresented in their numbers.

The same phenomenon has been seen in the US. In 2018, American physician and researcher Lisa Littman set out to explore it. In an interview, she said:

‘Parents online were describing a very unusual pattern of transgender-identification where multiple friends and even entire friend groups became transgender-identified at the same time. I would have been remiss had I not considered social contagion and peer influences as potential factors.’

Littman mentioned Tumblr, Reddit, Instagram and YouTube as contributing factors to Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria, where she believes that in the realm of transgender identification ‘youth have created particularly insular echo chambers.’

Her paper caused a furore. She was accused of bias and of spreading misinformation about transgender people, subjected to a tsunami of abuse and a concerted campaign to discredit both her and her work. The journal took the paper offline and re-reviewed it before republishing it. However, her career took a similar hit to that suffered by Maya Forstater. Lisa Littman had dared challenge one of the central tenets of trans activism, which is that a person’s gender identity is innate, like sexual orientation. Nobody, the activists insisted, could ever be persuaded into being trans.

The argument of many current trans activists is that if you don’t let a gender dysphoric teenager transition, they will kill themselves. In an article explaining why he resigned from the Tavistock (an NHS gender clinic in England) psychiatrist Marcus Evans stated that claims that children will kill themselves if not permitted to transition do not ‘align substantially with any robust data or studies in this area. Nor do they align with the cases I have encountered over decades as a psychotherapist.’

The writings of young trans men reveal a group of notably sensitive and clever people. The more of their accounts of gender dysphoria I’ve read, with their insightful descriptions of anxiety, dissociation, eating disorders, self-harm and self-hatred, the more I’ve wondered whether, if I’d been born 30 years later, I too might have tried to transition. The allure of escaping womanhood would have been huge. I struggled with severe OCD as a teenager. If I’d found community and sympathy online that I couldn’t find in my immediate environment, I believe I could have been persuaded to turn myself into the son my father had openly said he’d have preferred.

When I read about the theory of gender identity, I remember how mentally sexless I felt in youth. I remember Colette’s description of herself as a ‘mental hermaphrodite’ and Simone de Beauvoir’s words: ‘It is perfectly natural for the future woman to feel indignant at the limitations posed upon her by her sex. The real question is not why she should reject them: the problem is rather to understand why she accepts them.’

As I didn’t have a realistic possibility of becoming a man back in the 1980s, it had to be books and music that got me through both my mental health issues and the sexualised scrutiny and judgement that sets so many girls to war against their bodies in their teens. Fortunately for me, I found my own sense of otherness, and my ambivalence about being a woman, reflected in the work of female writers and musicians who reassured me that, in spite of everything a sexist world tries to throw at the female-bodied, it’s fine not to feel pink, frilly and compliant inside your own head; it’s OK to feel confused, dark, both sexual and non-sexual, unsure of what or who you are.

I want to be very clear here: I know transition will be a solution for some gender dysphoric people, although I’m also aware through extensive research that studies have consistently shown that between 60-90% of gender dysphoric teens will grow out of their dysphoria. Again and again I’ve been told to ‘just meet some trans people.’ I have: in addition to a few younger people, who were all adorable, I happen to know a self-described transsexual woman who’s older than I am and wonderful. Although she’s open about her past as a gay man, I’ve always found it hard to think of her as anything other than a woman, and I believe (and certainly hope) she’s completely happy to have transitioned. Being older, though, she went through a long and rigorous process of evaluation, psychotherapy and staged transformation. The current explosion of trans activism is urging a removal of almost all the robust systems through which candidates for sex reassignment were once required to pass. A man who intends to have no surgery and take no hormones may now secure himself a Gender Recognition Certificate and be a woman in the sight of the law. Many people aren’t aware of this.

We’re living through the most misogynistic period I’ve experienced. Back in the 80s, I imagined that my future daughters, should I have any, would have it far better than I ever did, but between the backlash against feminism and a porn-saturated online culture, I believe things have got significantly worse for girls. Never have I seen women denigrated and dehumanised to the extent they are now. From the leader of the free world’s long history of sexual assault accusations and his proud boast of ‘grabbing them by the pussy’, to the incel (‘involuntarily celibate’) movement that rages against women who won’t give them sex, to the trans activists who declare that TERFs need punching and re-educating, men across the political spectrum seem to agree: women are asking for trouble. Everywhere, women are being told to shut up and sit down, or else.

I’ve read all the arguments about femaleness not residing in the sexed body, and the assertions that biological women don’t have common experiences, and I find them, too, deeply misogynistic and regressive. It’s also clear that one of the objectives of denying the importance of sex is to erode what some seem to see as the cruelly segregationist idea of women having their own biological realities or – just as threatening – unifying realities that make them a cohesive political class. The hundreds of emails I’ve received in the last few days prove this erosion concerns many others just as much. It isn’t enough for women to be trans allies. Women must accept and admit that there is no material difference between trans women and themselves.

But, as many women have said before me, ‘woman’ is not a costume. ‘Woman’ is not an idea in a man’s head. ‘Woman’ is not a pink brain, a liking for Jimmy Choos or any of the other sexist ideas now somehow touted as progressive. Moreover, the ‘inclusive’ language that calls female people ‘menstruators’ and ‘people with vulvas’ strikes many women as dehumanising and demeaning. I understand why trans activists consider this language to be appropriate and kind, but for those of us who’ve had degrading slurs spat at us by violent men, it’s not neutral, it’s hostile and alienating.

Which brings me to the fifth reason I’m deeply concerned about the consequences of the current trans activism.

I’ve been in the public eye now for over twenty years and have never talked publicly about being a domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor. This isn’t because I’m ashamed those things happened to me, but because they’re traumatic to revisit and remember. I also feel protective of my daughter from my first marriage. I didn’t want to claim sole ownership of a story that belongs to her, too. However, a short while ago, I asked her how she’d feel if I were publicly honest about that part of my life, and she encouraged me to go ahead.

I’m mentioning these things now not in an attempt to garner sympathy, but out of solidarity with the huge numbers of women who have histories like mine, who’ve been slurred as bigots for having concerns around single-sex spaces.

I managed to escape my first violent marriage with some difficulty, but I’m now married to a truly good and principled man, safe and secure in ways I never in a million years expected to be. However, the scars left by violence and sexual assault don’t disappear, no matter how loved you are, and no matter how much money you’ve made. My perennial jumpiness is a family joke – and even I know it’s funny – but I pray my daughters never have the same reasons I do for hating sudden loud noises, or finding people behind me when I haven’t heard them approaching.

If you could come inside my head and understand what I feel when I read about a trans woman dying at the hands of a violent man, you’d find solidarity and kinship. I have a visceral sense of the terror in which those trans women will have spent their last seconds on earth, because I too have known moments of blind fear when I realised that the only thing keeping me alive was the shaky self-restraint of my attacker.

I believe the majority of trans-identified people not only pose zero threat to others, but are vulnerable for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Trans people need and deserve protection. Like women, they’re most likely to be killed by sexual partners. Trans women who work in the sex industry, particularly trans women of colour, are at particular risk. Like every other domestic abuse and sexual assault survivor I know, I feel nothing but empathy and solidarity with trans women who’ve been abused by men.

So I want trans women to be safe. At the same time, I do not want to make natal girls and women less safe. When you throw open the doors of bathrooms and changing rooms to any man who believes or feels he’s a woman – and, as I’ve said, gender confirmation certificates may now be granted without any need for surgery or hormones – then you open the door to any and all men who wish to come inside. That is the simple truth.

On Saturday morning, I read that the Scottish government is proceeding with its controversial gender recognition plans, which will in effect mean that all a man needs to ‘become a woman’ is to say he’s one. To use a very contemporary word, I was ‘triggered’. Ground down by the relentless attacks from trans activists on social media, when I was only there to give children feedback about pictures they’d drawn for my book under lockdown, I spent much of Saturday in a very dark place inside my head, as memories of a serious sexual assault I suffered in my twenties recurred on a loop. That assault happened at a time and in a space where I was vulnerable, and a man capitalised on an opportunity. I couldn’t shut out those memories and I was finding it hard to contain my anger and disappointment about the way I believe my government is playing fast and loose with womens and girls’ safety.

Late on Saturday evening, scrolling through children’s pictures before I went to bed, I forgot the first rule of Twitter – never, ever expect a nuanced conversation – and reacted to what I felt was degrading language about women. I spoke up about the importance of sex and have been paying the price ever since. I was transphobic, I was a cunt, a bitch, a TERF, I deserved cancelling, punching and death. You are Voldemort said one person, clearly feeling this was the only language I’d understand.

It would be so much easier to tweet the approved hashtags – because of course trans rights are human rights and of course trans lives matter – scoop up the woke cookies and bask in a virtue-signalling afterglow. There’s joy, relief and safety in conformity. As Simone de Beauvoir also wrote, “… without a doubt it is more comfortable to endure blind bondage than to work for one’s liberation; the dead, too, are better suited to the earth than the living.”

Huge numbers of women are justifiably terrified by the trans activists; I know this because so many have got in touch with me to tell their stories. They’re afraid of doxxing, of losing their jobs or their livelihoods, and of violence.

But endlessly unpleasant as its constant targeting of me has been, I refuse to bow down to a movement that I believe is doing demonstrable harm in seeking to erode ‘woman’ as a political and biological class and offering cover to predators like few before it. I stand alongside the brave women and men, gay, straight and trans, who’re standing up for freedom of speech and thought, and for the rights and safety of some of the most vulnerable in our society: young gay kids, fragile teenagers, and women who’re reliant on and wish to retain their single sex spaces. Polls show those women are in the vast majority, and exclude only those privileged or lucky enough never to have come up against male violence or sexual assault, and who’ve never troubled to educate themselves on how prevalent it is.

The one thing that gives me hope is that the women who can protest and organise, are doing so, and they have some truly decent men and trans people alongside them. Political parties seeking to appease the loudest voices in this debate are ignoring women’s concerns at their peril. In the UK, women are reaching out to each other across party lines, concerned about the erosion of their hard-won rights and widespread intimidation. None of the gender critical women I’ve talked to hates trans people; on the contrary. Many of them became interested in this issue in the first place out of concern for trans youth, and they’re hugely sympathetic towards trans adults who simply want to live their lives, but who’re facing a backlash for a brand of activism they don’t endorse. The supreme irony is that the attempt to silence women with the word ‘TERF’ may have pushed more young women towards radical feminism than the movement’s seen in decades.

The last thing I want to say is this. I haven’t written this essay in the hope that anybody will get out a violin for me, not even a teeny-weeny one. I’m extraordinarily fortunate; I’m a survivor, certainly not a victim. I’ve only mentioned my past because, like every other human being on this planet, I have a complex backstory, which shapes my fears, my interests and my opinions. I never forget that inner complexity when I’m creating a fictional character and I certainly never forget it when it comes to trans people.

All I’m asking – all I want – is for similar empathy, similar understanding, to be extended to the many millions of women whose sole crime is wanting their concerns to be heard without receiving threats and abuse.

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“Transitioning” Procedures Don’t Help Mental Health, Largest Dataset Shows

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The largest dataset on sex-reassignment procedures—both hormonal and surgical—reveals that such procedures do not bring the promised mental health benefits.

People who experience a gender identity conflict should be treated with respect and compassion. And they deserve to know the truth.

We need to find better, more humane, and effective responses to those who experience dysphoria.

Archive

My two cents:

Gender dysphoria is a serious mental illness. Rates of anxiety, depression and suicidality are much higher in these individuals compared to the general population. The lack of significant decrease in mental health disorders after hormone therapy and surgery should be an enormous red flag to healthcare providers and dysphoric individuals alike. We need to find a better solution.

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roast-and-compost · 1 year

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Hi! I saw your comment about “new radfems” not reading radfem theory and I was wondering if you could list some resources or tell me where to find some? I’ve only recently started to read radfem blogs and I really want to get into it more, and not just read posts about it. Thank you so much, I appreciate your blog!

Hey! I'm really glad you want to do your research, it is heartwarming to know the newbies out there actually want to study the theory.

I think The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir is probably one of the most important and complete books in the path to understanding Radical Feminism. It is also super long and daunting, so while I do think it should be a read-in-progress for all of us, I think it's important to have more "beginner friendly" books, in order to avoid burn out. [link to pdf]

I've been into radical feminism since 2017 now, and I'm not a great reader, so for those of us who find it hard to focus for too long, I think Andrea Dworkin is also a good place to start. Her books are filled with rage – and important analysis. I find her language easier to keep up with, more approachable if you will. Woman Hating was my first [pdf]. You can find all of her other works [here] as well.

The book that made me want to really read more and get educated is honestly A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement with Bitches, Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors, and Wonder Women, by Phyllis Chesler. It's an autobiography, and gives some great insight on what it was like to be involved directly in the Second Wave, and also why sisterhood is powerful and needed, but also not easy to achieve. It gave me hope, and helped me to see radical feminism in a new refreshed light. You can get the audiobook for free as an [Audible trial].

[Radfem.org] has some other books handy as well

And [here] is a post with some other feminist books.

My current to-read list, as offered by a dear friend who's been involved with radical feminism for the past 10+ years, is as follows:

> The Second Sex - Simone de Beauvoir (a current read-in-progress for me)

> Lesbian Nation - Jill Johnston [borrow]

> For Lesbians Only: A Separatist Anthology - Sarah Lucia Hoagland, Julia Penelope [borrow]

> Sappho was a Right-on Woman: A Liberated View of Lesbianism [borrow]

> The Lesbian Revolution: Lesbian Feminism in the UK 1970-1990 - Sheila Jeffreys

> The Wanderground - Sally Miller Gearhart [borrow]

> Woman Hating - Andrea Dworkin

> Intercourse - Andrea Dworkin [pdf]

> SCUM Manifesto - Valerie Solanas [pdf]

> Lesbian origins - Susan Cavin [borrow]

> Sisterhood is Powerful - Robin Morgan [pdf]

> Like There's No Tomorrow - Carolyn Cage [pdf]

> The Lesbian Heresy: A Feminist Perspective on the Lesbian Sexual Revolution - Sheila Jeffrey [pdf]

> Gyn/Ecology - Mary Daly [pdf]

Okay so now I flooded you with reading material... What next? How do you even get started, how do you tackle this?

I think first of all it's really important to find community. There are discord servers out there for radical feminists and gender critical women, communities which are open to you, and were made for women just like you. Surround yourself with women, build yourself up with them. Don't just say your politics are woman centric, but actually make your life woman centric. And read up. Study. Trade notes, ask questions, question... Everything. Be critical. Not just of your past beliefs, but of this new information. Where is it coming from? Who wrote it? What do they gain from it? Who loses if they win?

Be aware that radical feminism is a political movement. It can be heavy. Unfortunately, we deal with the knowledge that the world is ugly, especially ugly towards women. Part of radical feminism is addressing borrow such as human trafficking, pedophilia, incest, and the likes. Have positive things to balance this out, take breaks, take your time. Work against overwhelming yourself. You can do this.

Apply the same kindness you'd offer other women to yourself, and treat yourself with respect. Reach out! To me, to others. We're here for you. We have space for you. We'll make time, we'll try our best. I just spent an hour finding these links for you. Not because you owe me anything, or vice versa. But because I care that you have a good experience of it. We are stronger together.

Anyway, take care. Good luck!

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In 1990, the high school dropout rate for Dolly Parton's hometown of Sevierville Tennessee was at 34% (Research shows that most kids make up their minds in fifth/sixth grade not to graduate). That year, all fifth and sixth graders from Sevierville were invited by Parton to attend an assembly at Dollywood. They were asked to pick a buddy, and if both students completed high school, Dolly Parton would personally hand them each a $500 check on their graduation day. As a result, the dropout rate for those classes fell to 6%, and has generally retained that average to this day.

Shortly after the success of The Buddy Program, Parton learned in dealing with teachers from the school district that problems in education often begin during first grade when kids are at different developmental levels. That year The Dollywood Foundation paid the salaries for additional teachers assistants in every first grade class for the next 2 years, under the agreement that if the program worked, the school system would effectively adopt and fund the program after the trial period.

During the same period, Parton founded the Imagination Library in 1995: The idea being that children from her rural hometown and low-income families often start school at a disadvantage and as a result, will be unfairly compared to their peers for the rest of their lives, effectively encouraging them not to pursue higher education. The objective of the Imagination library was that every child in Sevier County would receive one book, every month, mailed and addressed to the child, from the day they were born until the day they started kindergarten, 100% free of charge. What began as a hometown initiative now serves children in all 50 states, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, mailing thousands of free books to children around the world monthly.

On March 1, 2018 Parton donated her 100 millionth book at the Library of Congress: a copy of "Coat of Many Colors" dedicated to her father, who never learned to read or write.

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roast-and-compost · 1 year

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Essential Feminist Texts Booklist

The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir

A Vindication of The Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft

Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center by Bell Hooks

Feminism is For Everybody: Passionate Politics by Bell Hooks

The Dialectic of Sex: The Case for Feminist Revolution by Shulamith Firestone

Sexual Politics by Kate Millett

Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti

Women Who Run With the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

The Creation of Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner

Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape by Jessica Valenti

Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez

Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Men Explain Things To Me by Rebecca Solnit

The Female Gaze: Essential Movies Made by Women by Alicia Malone

Girlhood by Melissa Febos

The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel

Is This Normal?: Judgment-Free Straight Talk about Your Body by Dr. Jolene Brighten

Come As You Are: Revised and Updated: The Surprising New Science That Will Transform Your Sex Life by Emily Nagoski, Ph.D

The Menopause Manifesto: Own Your Health with Facts and Feminism by Dr. Jennifer Gunter

The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kill Women by Anushay Hossain

Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World by Elinor Cleghorn

The Turnaway Study: The Cost of Denying Women Access to Abortion by Diana Greene Foster, Ph.D

Regretting Motherhood: A Study by Orna Donath

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With roughly 90% of her caseload identifying as transgender, adolescent therapist Adeola Baker* is raising red flags about the “social contagion” of gender ideology. According to Baker, many medical professionals are leaving the field entirely because they’re encouraged to unequivocally affirm identities rather than find the root cause of their patient’s mental health issues.

Just five years ago, adolescent therapist Adeola Baker* recalls the majority of her caseload was children struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, bullying, or family issues. Today, she says the field has “radically changed” before her eyes and now roughly 90% of her cases are children identifying as transgender.

In the past, before a minor could be prescribed hormones such as testosterone, Baker says the child was required to see a therapist—like herself—and go through multiple therapy sessions. Today, she says very few gender clinics even require these formal letters from therapists.

“Essentially what they want is for us to see them one time, write them a letter saying it’s fine, and just put them on their way,” says Baker. “I have a problem with that.”

Baker feels that adults “should be able to live their lives in peace” if they identify as transgender, but likened the current climate surrounding the normalization of gender ideology among children to a social contagion.

“These kids have friends who are on testosterone and they want to be cool and be on testosterone too”

Baker says, noting that she had had cases in the past with children who were diagnosed with gender dysphoria. However, Baker attributes this current explosion in her gender-related caseload to overarching behavioral patterns being spread through social influences.

“A lot of these kids don’t have gender dysphoria,” she begins, explaining that there’s a difference between diagnosable gender dysphoria and her new patients who identify with neogenders and neopronouns.

“This isn’t a joke; they’ve self-identified as trees, dolphins, dogs, bugs, paintbrushes, vampires, zombies, wolves, puppies, and clouds. I had a piano and a saxophone once too.”

In her professional work, Baker has noticed that this increase in “kids who have caught onto the social contagion” and treat their gender identity as a personality quirk are actually making it more difficult for people with diagnosable gender dysphoria to receive the therapy they need.

“Gender clinics are shutting down left and right because you can’t tell anybody ‘no’ anymore”

she says, noting that because pediatricians, children’s psychiatrists, and therapists are being discouraged from finding the root cause of their patient’s mental health issues, many are leaving the field entirely. As a result, Baker says the decline in medical professionals willing to work in affirmation-focused clinics is what’s causing clinics to shut down, not transgender-exclusionary legislation.

“You have to say yes. The official standpoint from all the pediatrician networks is affirm, affirm, affirm,” Baker says.

Baker, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism spectrum disorder, understands firsthand the identity issues that many young people with developmental disorders face. Data suggest that people who identify as transgender or nonbinary are up to six times more likely to also be on the autism spectrum. Baker also points out that there are more concurrent issues at hand, such as sexual assault trauma.

“A lot of these kids on the spectrum have identity issues. Then they say to themselves, ‘Oh, it’s because my brain is wrong. I’m actually a boy.’ I can say this as a person on the spectrum that had those same identity issues as a teenager”

she explains, sharing that many therapists are essentially being told to go along with children’s self-diagnoses. Baker continues:

“We are being told, ‘Don’t investigate what’s going on. Don’t find out if they have a comorbid personality disorder or if they have a comorbid issue like being on the spectrum.’ Affirm, affirm, affirm. Anything other than affirmation is just ‘transphobia.’”

Between her own practice, her husband’s work as a pediatric nurse, and the many colleagues she has in the medical industry, Baker says there’s a staggering number of medical practitioners who are critical of gender ideology but don’t speak out due to fears of being “doxxed” or receiving rape and death threats. For instance, one of Baker’s colleagues, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker from California, was allegedly reported to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and almost lost her license after facing complaints for not affirming kids.

Through the “affirming” medical professionals, however, Baker says that many transgender-identifying children sign informed consent without reading into the details about the medications they’re then placed on. Then, they get prescribed high doses of testosterone. According to Baker, patients are supposed to start off at 50 milligrams of testosterone but routinely get prescribed 400 milligrams without fully understanding the implications of such high doses.

Baker points out that some young adults who took hormone replacements for many years are now infertile.

In the case of “gender-affirming surgeries,” young males who underwent penile inversions or young females who got hysterectomies don’t have the necessary genitalia anymore to consider having children of their own in the future. Baker says that in most places, it’s illegal for a girl under 18 to undergo a hysterectomy, but once these patients turn 18, she has observed medical professionals permitting the procedures despite the girls still being in high school.

In April 2022, Baker met with an “affirming therapist” who writes notes for transgender-identifying youth to be cleared for testosterone prescriptions, double mastectomies, and other surgical procedures. When Baker asked the therapist what would happen to these patients if they ever wanted to have kids, she says the therapist insisted her patients know they don’t want children.

“But how is that? I didn’t decide I wanted kids until I was 26 when I met my now-husband,” Baker says. “I had trauma, which is why I work with kids with trauma. Up until the age of 26, if you asked me, ‘Do you want to have kids?’ I would’ve said no. How does a 14-year-old know they never want to have kids?”

(...)

Since her specialty is trauma in youth, Baker’s caseload includes a lot of young people with unique gender identities. But, as a therapist, Baker doesn’t feel that it’s her place to unequivocally affirm “delusions” and wishes more medical professionals would try to address the root issues going on with their patients’ mental health.

“Ultimately, it comes down to the fact that we are the adults,” she says. “It’s our job to make the difficult decisions for children whose brains aren’t fully developed until they’re 24 or 25.”

*Name has been changed to protect anonymity.

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