Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism
‘Bravo to Sheila Jeffreys who, with exceptional courage, clarity and scholarship interrogates the dogma of transgenderism – that men can become women and women men via hormones, surgery and/or subjectivity.Gender Hurtschallenges us to consider how transgender ideology and practices accommodate gender hierarchy and create harmful consequences for transgendered persons themselves, but also for women and children. Anyone inclined to dismiss these views as transphobic needs to read this lucid and compelling book.’Janice Raymond is Professor Emerita of Women’s Studies and Medical Ethics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst (USA) and author ofThe Transsexual Empire.‘Feminists fighting to free women from male definitions of what a woman is now find themselves assailed by male transgender activism claiming the right to make precisely such a definition. This clash of human rights has produced more heat than light. But Jeffreys illumines it by countering misogynistic threats of violence with scholarly research and reason. In a climate rife with pain on both sides, toxic with stereotypes, ignorance, misunderstanding, and fear, she dares to offer clarity. Even those who disagree with her must surely recognize that as an act of courage.’Robin Morgan