Thank you for writing this piece, Susanna. I'm so sorry this has happened to you in Poland, but what better to do with such a negative experience than turn it into a Substack shining a light on what GC authors, especially female ones, know has been happening in the shadows for years now. I stayed silent for years on many negative experiences as a GC poet, as I was so concerned that by publicising them I was making myself vulnerable to more and more vicious attacks. I feared it would be like putting blood in the water, showing I was wounded, when sharks were already circling. But breaking that silence was the best thing I could have done. And more and more of us are doing it now. Proud to be counted as one of them and to stand alongside you.
Thanks so much for this Magi, this is a v generous comment (sorry to be slow replying to it!) I had a line in there about not wanting to give bullies the satisfaction but I took it out, since it seemed tangential to what I really wanted to say. But yes I totally recognise that too... I've been delighted to response to this piece - only my 2nd substack, far more people have read it than i expected and I'm going to post the banned interview next...
Thank you. The reason I ask is that there are great women writers in this above, but with the exception of Andrew Sullivan I’m perplexed that there are really no males. It’s a problem for everyone.
I wrote the outline and treatment for a book called “The Boy Who Was Not a Girl” using my own childhood as an example but there nothing I can compare it to.
It's a very tricky market, and publishing is dragging its heels and very 'captured' by ideological activists. Hopefully that situation will improve, but it might take some time. I wouldn't hold my breath.
I have published under my own imprint for a few years on experimental projects and work I’ve done for friends including gay art portfolios. My writing is usually so extreme that I never imagine any conventional publisher would cover it. The few which have in the past, when I did readings half the audience ran out, the other half were hypnotized.
I tend to read a lot in a subject as I write but just been very perplexing. I am not the only adult gay man who has both observed these issues and been subject to them.
Well, Simon Edge and Ian Macpherson have both written comic novels that would be seen as gender critical. Simon's is The End of the World is Flat, Ian's is In The Madness of Time. I wasn't thinking so much about books directly on the topic. There are many poets and authors ostracised for simply expressing support for women's rights in line with the For Women Scotland Supreme Court judgement on Social Media. Jenny Lindsay and myself were both cancelled and bullied as poets long before Jenny wrote her book, Hounded. And there are male authors who've been hounded too, but the real wrath has been directed at women, and often their agents and editors. For example, the fabulous editor/publisher Ursula Doyle was hounded out of publishing altogether. To be cancelled as a GC writer does not always mean you write in your non-fiction/fiction output about gender ideology. I hadn't before my cancellation. And have only done so since, in the last year or so, in order to shine a light on how such cancellations work in the publishing industry.
Gareth Roberts, who has a Substack, his polemic ´Gay Shame´ published last year, explores how trans affects gay men specifically. He offers some necessary and critical self examination and also shines a light on the misogyny that lies over much of the rainbow ´community´.
Astonishing really, because ordinary people in Poland are very very much not woke. But again, it's these little cliques in the white-collar world of arts and humanities, publishing, academia and the media that have a totally different set of norms, which they desperately ape from America to try and be cool. They don't even care about trans or LGBTQ people in any meaningful or practical way, it's just a question of following the latest trends. An etiquette and status game for the upper-middle classes.
So sorry to hear that Polity won't be doing a paperback. Your book is such a great introduction to the history of British feminism and the continuity of the fight for sex realist feminism. An afterword covering most recent events would have been a great update. Polity really missing a trick.
thanks so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Maybe there might be an updated edition at some point, a few people have suggested this now.. but I hope there's enough in it that it still feels relevant for now. The 19th-century chapters turned out to be some of my favourite ones which I didn't expect at all when I started..
This is why I now write in detail about every incident of bullying, deplatforming etc that I experience. Because blasting a spotlight onto it is the opposite of what shame wants me to do. Shame wants me to hide and feel awful about myself. So I do the opposite, and for the most part, it works. My detractors also hate it. Shame changes sides. Welcome to substack by the way! x
Well said Susannah, and how vey disappointing that the Polish media has had this reaction. As you say, being anti TERF (or anti-women) only aids the Right, homophobia and lies. I thought your book a terrific one for a new generation of feminists.
Thank you Amanda that is very kind. I would love to think that some young women (students even!) were reading it. Too much gender and not enough sex on the university humanities syllabuses... s
I was lucky to read your interview on OKO and for one day I felt hope that something is changing. I will definitely read your book and I hope someone will write something similar about Polish feminizm!
Ironically, it was trans identified male well known for his internet hatred towards feminists who alarmed OKO, and a trans identified woman journalist who cancelled your interview from the website. What a shame.
Thanks so much that's great to hear! I have to be honest there isn't much Australia in the book but Germaine Greer and Carmen Callil both v important in women's lib years and of course there are many others..
Feminists everywhere including Australia can benefit from an historical account of our sisters in Britain. And I need to read your book to learn about Carmen Callil—an unfamiliar name to me.
"Logically, I don’t think I should be ashamed about any of this."
Damn right! Not only do you have nothing to be ashamed of, you should be proud for standing up for truth.
This batshit-insane trans psychosis that has taken over society is harming untold numbers of people, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and professionally. I can't wait till a stake is driven through its sadistic heart.
You were cancelled immediately after a Polish transactivist (MtF) wrote an angry post about the interview on Facebook.
In that post the transactivist called you "a transphobe" and claimed that about 80% of your Twitter posts are "anti-trans". You were also described in this way: "this is literally a devoted and committed Terf who supports limiting the rights of trans people, including their right to transition". Here's a link to this post from 9 June: https://www.facebook.com/zer01n3/posts/pfbid0izeht7VAC2gPy7urmEwWvmF5FiCJB6FKpuEkzpFvfHtGX89SvEb5EcS279HvEEHGl
In reply an editor from the OKO Press Website wrote under the post: "We apologize for our lack of editorial vigilance - the interview has been removed from the website and from all the social media. Sorry!"
Thank you for writing this piece, Susanna. I'm so sorry this has happened to you in Poland, but what better to do with such a negative experience than turn it into a Substack shining a light on what GC authors, especially female ones, know has been happening in the shadows for years now. I stayed silent for years on many negative experiences as a GC poet, as I was so concerned that by publicising them I was making myself vulnerable to more and more vicious attacks. I feared it would be like putting blood in the water, showing I was wounded, when sharks were already circling. But breaking that silence was the best thing I could have done. And more and more of us are doing it now. Proud to be counted as one of them and to stand alongside you.
Thanks so much for this Magi, this is a v generous comment (sorry to be slow replying to it!) I had a line in there about not wanting to give bullies the satisfaction but I took it out, since it seemed tangential to what I really wanted to say. But yes I totally recognise that too... I've been delighted to response to this piece - only my 2nd substack, far more people have read it than i expected and I'm going to post the banned interview next...
Thank you. The reason I ask is that there are great women writers in this above, but with the exception of Andrew Sullivan I’m perplexed that there are really no males. It’s a problem for everyone.
I wrote the outline and treatment for a book called “The Boy Who Was Not a Girl” using my own childhood as an example but there nothing I can compare it to.
Thanks for responding!
It's a very tricky market, and publishing is dragging its heels and very 'captured' by ideological activists. Hopefully that situation will improve, but it might take some time. I wouldn't hold my breath.
I have published under my own imprint for a few years on experimental projects and work I’ve done for friends including gay art portfolios. My writing is usually so extreme that I never imagine any conventional publisher would cover it. The few which have in the past, when I did readings half the audience ran out, the other half were hypnotized.
I tend to read a lot in a subject as I write but just been very perplexing. I am not the only adult gay man who has both observed these issues and been subject to them.
Best of luck!
I’m curious about the statement “Gender Critical authors, especially female ones…”
Are there male ones? I can’t recall seeing a single book by a male author on this topic. I’m curious to see one.
Yes, see Graham Linehan’s writing and memoir “Tough Crowd”
Got it, thanks and I saw a Cis Gay Male book coming out in Nov
Well, Simon Edge and Ian Macpherson have both written comic novels that would be seen as gender critical. Simon's is The End of the World is Flat, Ian's is In The Madness of Time. I wasn't thinking so much about books directly on the topic. There are many poets and authors ostracised for simply expressing support for women's rights in line with the For Women Scotland Supreme Court judgement on Social Media. Jenny Lindsay and myself were both cancelled and bullied as poets long before Jenny wrote her book, Hounded. And there are male authors who've been hounded too, but the real wrath has been directed at women, and often their agents and editors. For example, the fabulous editor/publisher Ursula Doyle was hounded out of publishing altogether. To be cancelled as a GC writer does not always mean you write in your non-fiction/fiction output about gender ideology. I hadn't before my cancellation. And have only done so since, in the last year or so, in order to shine a light on how such cancellations work in the publishing industry.
Gareth Roberts, who has a Substack, his polemic ´Gay Shame´ published last year, explores how trans affects gay men specifically. He offers some necessary and critical self examination and also shines a light on the misogyny that lies over much of the rainbow ´community´.
Astonishing really, because ordinary people in Poland are very very much not woke. But again, it's these little cliques in the white-collar world of arts and humanities, publishing, academia and the media that have a totally different set of norms, which they desperately ape from America to try and be cool. They don't even care about trans or LGBTQ people in any meaningful or practical way, it's just a question of following the latest trends. An etiquette and status game for the upper-middle classes.
So sorry to hear that Polity won't be doing a paperback. Your book is such a great introduction to the history of British feminism and the continuity of the fight for sex realist feminism. An afterword covering most recent events would have been a great update. Polity really missing a trick.
thanks so much, I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Maybe there might be an updated edition at some point, a few people have suggested this now.. but I hope there's enough in it that it still feels relevant for now. The 19th-century chapters turned out to be some of my favourite ones which I didn't expect at all when I started..
My comment vanished! Your dear mother Margaret has been so.supportive of me so.i am.paying it
forward..Forza!! see judithedwards.co.uk
This is why I now write in detail about every incident of bullying, deplatforming etc that I experience. Because blasting a spotlight onto it is the opposite of what shame wants me to do. Shame wants me to hide and feel awful about myself. So I do the opposite, and for the most part, it works. My detractors also hate it. Shame changes sides. Welcome to substack by the way! x
thanks Milli! I'm unexpectedly glad to be here! x
It's a great place!
Well said Susannah, and how vey disappointing that the Polish media has had this reaction. As you say, being anti TERF (or anti-women) only aids the Right, homophobia and lies. I thought your book a terrific one for a new generation of feminists.
Thank you Amanda that is very kind. I would love to think that some young women (students even!) were reading it. Too much gender and not enough sex on the university humanities syllabuses... s
I was lucky to read your interview on OKO and for one day I felt hope that something is changing. I will definitely read your book and I hope someone will write something similar about Polish feminizm!
Ironically, it was trans identified male well known for his internet hatred towards feminists who alarmed OKO, and a trans identified woman journalist who cancelled your interview from the website. What a shame.
Thank you your courage in writing this, Susanna. I have placed an order for your book with my library in Sydney.
Thanks so much that's great to hear! I have to be honest there isn't much Australia in the book but Germaine Greer and Carmen Callil both v important in women's lib years and of course there are many others..
Thanks for helping me discover that Carmen Callil founded Virago Press, the feminist publishing house of
second wave feminism
Feminists everywhere including Australia can benefit from an historical account of our sisters in Britain. And I need to read your book to learn about Carmen Callil—an unfamiliar name to me.
"Logically, I don’t think I should be ashamed about any of this."
Damn right! Not only do you have nothing to be ashamed of, you should be proud for standing up for truth.
This batshit-insane trans psychosis that has taken over society is harming untold numbers of people, physically, psychologically, emotionally, and professionally. I can't wait till a stake is driven through its sadistic heart.
I just can’t believe they let you talk in Todmorden, 5 miles from the epicentre of radical gender ideology in Hebden Bridge!
I absolutely loved doing my talk in Todmorden! One of my best days, even reconnected with an old friend from when I was 11.
Do you have a link to the OKO webpage? Perhaps it's been saved by the wayback machine?
I've got permission to publish the interview in English so I'm going to do that..
Right, I'm just saying that something deleted from a website is not necessarily gone with no trace of it ever being there...
You were cancelled immediately after a Polish transactivist (MtF) wrote an angry post about the interview on Facebook.
In that post the transactivist called you "a transphobe" and claimed that about 80% of your Twitter posts are "anti-trans". You were also described in this way: "this is literally a devoted and committed Terf who supports limiting the rights of trans people, including their right to transition". Here's a link to this post from 9 June: https://www.facebook.com/zer01n3/posts/pfbid0izeht7VAC2gPy7urmEwWvmF5FiCJB6FKpuEkzpFvfHtGX89SvEb5EcS279HvEEHGl
In reply an editor from the OKO Press Website wrote under the post: "We apologize for our lack of editorial vigilance - the interview has been removed from the website and from all the social media. Sorry!"