Philosophy & Hope Bookclub 6: The Transgender Issue

Welcome to Lighthouse’s Philosophy Bookclub, where we will be reading contemporary philosophers that concern themselves with the social!

The overarching theme will be readings that engage in social critique that can help take us towards new forms of social hope. We will be reading authors that offer powerful critiques of institutions, big tech, political concepts, and late-stage capitalism that, ultimately, seek to re-evaluate the now in order to re-envision the future.

Why Philosophy & Who's This For?

Philosophy is first and foremost a social activity – it’s about thinking together in communities of inquiry, it’s about synthesising ideas, transforming the categories and concepts which guide our thinking. It is famously characterised as a space “to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term” as one philosopher put it.

This bookclub is for both philosophers and non-philosophers alike! For the philosophically initiated, the readings will be contemporary thinkers who you won’t find on a typical reading list. For the uninitiated, these readings will also be highly accessible, short, and relevant to the world we find ourselves in today. It's an inclusive reading club, welcoming as many people from as many different backgrounds to help give us the best chance of seeing how everything hangs together!

Meetings:

Meetings will be hosted by Nic and take place every 5-6 weeks on Monday at Lighthouse from 7pm-8:30pm.

Use the code HOPE-PHILOSOPHY-SOC to get 10% off the bookclub books!

What We Are Discussing This Month:

The Transgender Issue: An Argument For Justice by Shon Faye

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.