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Shon Faye
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The Transgender Issue: An Argument for Justice Kindle Edition

by Shon Faye (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 538 ratings
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THE INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER

'Few books are as urgent as Shon Faye's debut ... Faye has hope for the future - and maybe so should we' Independent

'Unsparing, important and weighty ... a vitally needed antidote' Observer

'A moving and impressively comprehensive overview of trans life' Vogue

Trans people in Britain today have become a culture war 'issue'. Despite making up less than one per cent of the country's population, they are the subjects of a toxic and increasingly polarized 'debate' which generates reliable controversy for newspapers and talk shows. This media frenzy conceals a simple fact: that we are having the wrong conversation, a conversation in which trans people themselves are reduced to a talking point and denied a meaningful voice.

In this powerful new book, Shon Faye reclaims the idea of the 'transgender issue' to uncover the reality of what it means to be trans in a transphobic society. In doing so, she provides a compelling, wide-ranging analysis of trans lives from youth to old age, exploring work, family, housing, healthcare, the prison system and trans participation in the LGBTQ+ and feminist communities, in contemporary Britain and beyond.

The Transgender Issue is a landmark work that signals the beginning of a new, healthier conversation about trans life. It is a manifesto for change, and a call for justice and solidarity between all marginalized people and minorities. Trans liberation, as Faye sees it, goes to the root of what our society is and what it could be; it offers the possibility of a more just, free and joyful world for all of us.

'Fundamentally not a culture-war book. It operates outside the narrow coverage of trans people in the mainstream, and lays bare the inarguable facts' New Statesman

'Monumental and utterly convincing - crystal clear in its understanding of how the world should be' Judith Butler

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  1. Print length
    300 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin
  5. Publication date
    September 2, 2021
  6. File size
    1459 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“From the very first words … it is clear the reader is in the hands of someone with absolute clarity about the world we live in, and the one we deserve. Shon refutes those who seek to turn trans people’s lives into a subject of debate. Instead, she shows us that liberation for trans people is intimately tied to the struggle for workers’ rights, an end to the violent systems of policing and prisons, and bodily autonomy through universal healthcare. Refusing to water down the radicalism and urgency of her demands, Shon’s argument for justice is both a heartfelt outcry against injustice, and an utterly convincing vision for change rooted in analysis and research.”
—Florence Welch, @BetweenTwoBooks

“Shon Faye makes a compelling case that transgender issues are inexorably linked with other social justice causes. The result is a bold and pragmatic guide for challenging societal transphobia comprehensively and intersectionally.”
—Julia Serano, author of Sexed Up

“My god, this book couldn’t be more timely here in the USA. I hope that all of my trans family come to understand from this book that no matter how hard others try to make us an issue, we are first and always people, individuals, and brave ones at that.”
—Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw

“Writing with astonishing patience, clarity, and ethical force, Shon Faye has gifted us an essential primer for our times. The Transgender Issue calls us into a much-needed solidarity, and makes the project of constructing and inhabiting a more free and just world for everyone feel urgent, possible, and exhilarating.”
—Maggie Nelson, author of On Freedom

“Faye writes with admirable clarity, and, accordingly, her book is accessible to general readers … It sheds essential light on a subject that is widely misunderstood-driven, unfortunately, by too many people’s ignorance, which, one hopes, this volume will help correct.”
—Booklist

About the Author

Shon Faye is a writer based in London. She was an editor-at-large at Dazed, and her writing has been published by the Guardian, the Independent, and Vice, among others. Faye launched an acclaimed podcast series, Call Me Mother, interviewing trailblazing LGBTQ elders. The Transgender Issue is her first book.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08VF2BMV9
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (September 2, 2021)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 2, 2021
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1459 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 300 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 538 ratings

About the author

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Shon Faye

Shon Faye

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Shon Faye was born in Bristol, and is now based in London. After training as a lawyer, she left the law to pursue writing and campaigning, working in the charity sector with Amnesty International and Stonewall. She was an editor-at-large at Dazed, and her writing has been published by the Guardian, the Independent and Vice, among others. Faye recently launched an acclaimed podcast series, Call Me Mother, interviewing trailblazing LGBTQ elders. Her first book, The Transgender Issue, will be published by Penguin Press in September 2021.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
538 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Annelise Lecavalier
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb argument for justice – and not just for trans people
Reviewed in the United States on October 31, 2023
Verified Purchase
The cover of Shon Faye's book was blurbed by no less than five writers of books about transgender topics that profoundly influenced me. When the US edition came out I put it on my shopping list and, once I had eaten into my backlog of unread new books, I ordered my copy. Politics involving trans rights have moved with such speed that in some respects the book feels dated, even with 2021 and 2022 copyright dates.

Don't let that dissuade you from buying it! Shon approaches the topic with both rigor and vigor, a keen (and well-researched) sense of history, and righteous critiques of people who stand in the way of trans justice – which as she argues, is justice for *all.* While strongest in her analysis of UK trans politics, the analysis of the situation in the EU and North America is also comprehensive and powerful.

The book would be particularly helpful for journalists and political figures unfamiliar with transgender experience and finding themselves having to weigh in on policy and politics. But anyone wanting to understand what reality looks like (distinct from the politics of the moment, which are far afield from the world we actually all live in) will come away with an improved understanding of the subject.
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Anon
5.0 out of 5 stars Not just another confessional
Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2021
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I'm halfway through, and so far it's a solid book that does what it purports to do: instead of talking about the issues other people have with trans people, it reclaims the political narrative and dives deeply into the issues trans people face. Anyone who's been looking for something informative that isn't a 101 or a memoir should absolutely take a look.

The only criticism I have at this point is of some of the praise directed towards the US healthcare system and social support system generally as it relates to trans people (okay, and the editor could've been a bit better). While I do appreciate that I didn't have to wait years for hormone help on this side of the pond, it is beyond bizarre Shon thinks our system is anything to be inspired by in addressing the UK approach!
3 people found this helpful
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Rook Campbell
5.0 out of 5 stars necessary insight for meaningful allyship and upstanding for social justice
Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2022
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A very smart and quality write. Speaks to and from the multiple and interwoven angles of cultural politics that impact justice for not just the edges of marginal communities (in this case transgender people) but for all of us.
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Zoë Chalfant
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2023
This is an accessible, detailed, and compelling critique of transphobia.
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Tim K
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2022
Superbly written and forcefully argued, this book is a one-stop shop for anyone looking to better support the trans community. More than anything, the books shows how justice for trans folks is intimately linked to all justice movements. Recommended!
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful, Accurate, Moral
Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2021
Being the focal point of a media accelerated whirlwind of hate is constantly exhausting, embarrassing, and dangerous. In this book, Shon Faye manages to cut through the most absurd arguments to get to the actual human problems being faced. In a whirlwind of sensationalist hate, some calm logical arguments for morality are greatly appreciated. The world needs this book. Update: Having read some of the other reviews, I noted an existing one Star Review claiming the book lies at every turn. I decided to check this claim. Lo, the websites linked said what was linked. The sources were direct and clear. Lying about the works factual accuracy is bluntly appalling, and I invite anyone who believes in that drivel to aquire the book, check themselves, and learn the truth.
3 people found this helpful
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Mollie
5.0 out of 5 stars Clear, Factual, A great read
Reviewed in the United States on September 22, 2021
Ordered from the UK. An import counterpoint to the multitude of gender critical texts that discuss the "transgender issue" without ever including, or often even considering the transgender perspective. An essential reframing and discussion of essential concerns. Very well done.
12 people found this helpful
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Catherine Potter
5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and Insightful Survey of Trans Politics
Reviewed in the United States on September 16, 2023
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This was a really comprehensive overview of transgender politics as they are today. I wasn't sure how much I would learn because I was already pretty well-versed in the topic, but there were several areas where I had less familiarity that were really helpful. Although this book is written from a transfeminine perspective, it helped me gain more insight about the broad range of issues effecting the wider transgender population. There was some really good historical background and critique of press coverage of transgender issues and individuals. Since the author is based in the UK, she brought a good amount of that background and perspective to bear, which is really useful since the UK is such a bastion of anti-trans sentiment. I would recommend this to everyone, whether you are personally invested in the topic, or just want to gain a solid understanding of issues effecting transgender people.
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Top reviews from other countries

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Angel
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding in the truest sense of the word. Very different. Exceeded expectations
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 12, 2021
Verified Purchase
There has been a slew of books published recently by well-known transphobes, books that have done little more than regurgitated transphobic rhetoric from the media, nothing new, nothing enlightening. They have been designed to produce ignorance.

Shon Faye's book it very different. Instead of spreading ignorance, disinformation and distrust, it enlightens the reader and reveals what it is really like to be trans. One of the main differences between Faye's book and the others is that she actually *talks to trans people*, something the recent publications by transphobes do not. How anyone can write a book about trans people without talking to trans people is beyond me.

Beyond that however Faye's writing is accessible and intelligent and really, genuinely informative, even for trans people, some of the information she explores will be new. Trans people's lives are explored in great depth and multidimensionally instead of one-dimensionally for a change. Trans people are portrayed as real people with real world lives and problems just like everyone else and she is clear about the different intersections with race, class, sexuality, age and (dis)ability. The issues she writes about are taken from trans people's point of view and consequently this book is so much more enlightening that the anything else currently published about trans people.

If you read this book you will finish by understanding a great deal more about trans people than when you started, which is the opposite of pretty much everything else published in the UK in the last couple of years, especially the stuff written by anti-trans campaigners. You will also start to understand transphobia and how insipid and fascistic it is in the UK. However beyond that she sets out to situate her argument in the context of other liberation struggles because ultimately the fight for trans liberation is also a fight for women's liberation, gay, lesbian and bisexual liberation, against racism and disability discrimination and for class liberation against the fascism of the likes of Trump and the 'Gender Criticals' and the dangers of neoliberal capitalism.

This is a truly enlightening book which will not only make you think but will actually make you considerably more knowledgeable about trans people than you were before you started reading. It is written in an accessible style but one that does not insult your intelligence as a reader and it is engaging all the way through.

Something different, something new.

Thoroughly worthwhile reading and, for a change, a book that totally justifies all the praise it has received in the media, indeed in my view it exceeded expectations by a country mile.
29 people found this helpful
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なつ
5.0 out of 5 stars これこそトランスジェンダーのリアル
Reviewed in Japan on September 5, 2022
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英国の話だが、日本の読者にも（いや、きっと世界中で）広く読まれる必要がある。性器の手術をしたかどうかや、オンライン上の差別への対抗など、トランスジェンダー当事者からしたら「くだらない」言説に足を引っ張られるのではなく、きちんと生活実態に沿った話がなされている。そう、「トランスジェンダー問題」とされる諸々は、そのシステムを構築したシスジェンダーの問題なのだ。著者の現状認識には信頼がおける。
3章の階級の話や、4章セックスワークから見てとれるように、トランス当事者といっても状況は大きく異なる。「きちんとした」「恵まれている」トランス像ばかりしか想像できない人々へ、現実はどうなのか示してくれる。イントロダクションからすでに、自殺したトランス女性のエピソードと酷すぎるメディア報道など厳しい現実が示されるのでなかなか読むのは大変だが、避けることのできない、これこそリアルだろう。
4 people found this helpful
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DR RACHEL A HEATH
5.0 out of 5 stars A heart-felt story about challenge, optimism and survival
Reviewed in Australia on October 23, 2021
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Although I live in Australia, I owe the UK so much as it was the place where I reached the pinnacle of my ambition and from that privileged position my true self was born - Shon’s wonderful book describes exactly the struggles, the challenges and the irreplaceable joy that being trans provides - I am an optimist and I know that everyone who reads this well-written and researched book will turn out to be one too - the author has made sure of that.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book I've read this year
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 25, 2023
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I loved this book, Shon is so insightful and eloquent, it's a pleasure to read. I've educated myself better on the issues faced by Trans people in the UK. Recommended it to all my friends. The only criticism I can make is a few times I felt like Shon's interpretation of some issues was a wee bit radical without an attempt to understand where the other side of the argument is coming from.
2 people found this helpful
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Hanid
5.0 out of 5 stars At last a book written by an author who is Trans.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2022
Verified Purchase
After previously reading 'another book' and being thoroughly disappointed and misled by it, it was so good to find another book that offered a much more verifiable and fairer picture.

'The Trans Gender Issue: An argument for Justice' by Shon Faye came as a breath of fresh air. Full of up-to-date facts and data in the now time of the 21st century, her book offers a clear, true and concise look into what our Trans Community faces. I've learnt so much, particularly of the political and media negativity and misleading influences, which allowed me to really question what others are wrongly promoting, along with legislation which has given me a better understanding. I would highly recommend this book, even just for the reason it is written by some one who really knows!
4 people found this helpful
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