PODCAST: The Transsexual Empire revisited — Janice Raymond on transgenderism, yesterday and today

Feminist Current

In 1979, Janice Raymond published The Transsexual Empire, the first and probably most well-known book articulating a radical feminist analysis of transgenderism. Little did we know, 40 years later, trans activism would become the biggest threat to feminism in decades. She warned us all, early on, and now we are living it: watching women’s sex based right be eroded in order to accommodate gender identity legislation. So much of Raymond’s analysis could have been written today. But it wasn’t

I spoke with Janice recently about the book, how it was received then vs how it is discussed today, the backlash, what we are up against now, and how we can fight back.

Janice is professor emerita of women’s studies and medical ethics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the author of four books, was Co-Executive Director of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW) from 1994–2007, and served on CATW’s Board of Directors until recently.

I spoke with her over Skype on September 15, 2020.