Backlash: A new era of policing women & queer people [Radical Book Fair]

As we organise to reclaim our rights and our streets, this panel asks how we got here, and who, of our forebears, we can learn from to claim victory in the future.

Knowledge is power. History doesn't repeat but it rhymes.

New laws and political policies are taking us back to a time we'd rather forget. Marginalised communities are fighting for their rights are facing increased policing, reduced legal protections, and heightened precarity - and these changes seem to be coming for everyone.

Our panellists, Cécile Simmons, Keio Yoshida and Jake Hall (chair) are activists, lawyers, and journalists who draw from their own experiences and have delved into archives, courtroom decisons, political histories to examine our current political moment and draw inspiration for how we make the future better for all of us.

-- The Books --

Ctrl Hate Delete by Cécile Simmons

How did Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s divorce become the centre of the anti-#MeToo backlash? Why have so many teen boys fallen under the thrall of Andrew Tate, a failed reality show contestant? And why are a growing number of influencers like #tradwives dressing up like 1950s housewives and preaching total subservience to men?In the years since #MeToo – the largest social media facilitated feminist campaign in history – Roe v. Wade has been overturned in the United States, there have been attacks on reproductive rights in multiple countries and female political leaders have withdrawn from the world stage citing the level of abuse they get as a reason. CTRL HATE DELETE takes a deep dive into how a collection of misogynists and their allies have turned male supremacist ideology from a niche set of beliefs into a mainstream movement.

Pride and Prejudices : queer lives and the law by Keio Yoshida

Internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer Keio Yoshida uncovers the ongoing battle for LGBTQ+ rights, how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go. The right to life and the right to live life free from discrimination are rights that are codified and legally protected, but — unlike those on women’s rights, disability rights, children’s rights, freedom from torture, and racial discrimination — there is no dedicated and binding treaty or convention in international human rights law with respect to LGBTQ+ rights. In Pride and Prejudices, Yoshida analyses case law from around the world, including Rosanna Flamer Caldera v Sri Lanka, the first global precedent to call for the decriminalisation of same-sex intimacy between women, in which Yoshida acted as counsel, as well as other timely cases such as the bitter debate over self-ID for trans people in the UK and Florida’s recent ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.

-- Our Speakers --

Cécile Simmons is an investigative researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD) focusing on dis/misinformation, online subcultures, women’s rights and wellness

Dr Keio Yoshida is an international human rights lawyer and barrister. Keio is the co-author of Silenced Women (Octopus, 2024) and co-editor of Feminist Conversations on Peace (Bristol University Press, 2022). In February 2025, Keio was named by Attitude magazine as one of the 101 LGBTQ+ trailblazers ranking as top 10 in the area of law and business.

Jake Hall (chair) (they/them) is an author and journalist who has been writing about intersectionality and queer culture for over a decade and who has written extensively for publications like British Vogue, The Independent, Pink News, Dazed, i-D, VICE, Refinery29 and Slate. Their first book, The Art of Drag, published in 2020 and has become an award-winning success, translated into Chinese, Italian, Spanish and German. As a working-class queer kid from Doncaster, Jake Hall has always been interested in the experience of marginalised groups and their aim is to uncover histories that have long gone untold.