WILL STONE fact-checks the colourful life of Ozzy Osbourne
Handle with care
GLYN ROBBINS advises caution when seeking advice on trans children from the conservative and reactionary forces that are exploiting them
A demonstration in Edinburgh on January 19, 2023 for trans rights following the UK Government decision to block the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill, passed by the Scottish Government in December 2022
JAMES CROSSLEY applauds a lucid biography of the German radical preacher who reemerged as a hero in the GDR
Prizes all round: the Bard hands plaudits to the Miners Gala, OT&JC, Joe Solo, Black Sabbath’s frontman and the Lionesses
Star cartoonist JAMIE BRITTON is in awe of a graphic novel of epic proportions that explores class, religion and globalisation via the strange cultivation of Ginseng in the US Midwest
GUILLERMO THOMAS is intrigued by a history of the Middle East that demonstrates how promising post colonial beginnings were snuffed out by Western imperialist interests
MARIA DUARTE recommends the intricate study of a high-performance and highly dysfuntional German family
When Kids Say They’re Trans: A guide for thoughtful parents
Sasha Ayad, Lisa Marchiano and Stella O’Malley, Swift Books £20
THE transgender phenomenon disturbs some of our most closely held social norms and has provoked some heated and divisive debate.
This book purports to be a “self-help” guide for a potentially difficult situation and parents or carers with a child who is trans may find some useful information here. What they will not find is an objective or balanced appraisal of a complex issue.
That the authors are writing with a particular outlook is made clear by the flyleaf recommendations from well-known gender-critical writers. Although, at times, the book does provide thoughtful suggestions for how to discuss gender identity with children, it does so from a position of essentially denying the possibility for that child to be defined by anything other than their biological sex. On the contrary, for a young person to be trans is presented as a problem and one the authors want to “fix.”
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