Front Lines: Trans Journalism 2007-2021

by Juliet Jacques

Juliet Jacques was one of the first trans writers in the UK to contribute broadly to both British and foreign media, writing widely about the trans experience. Spanning over a decade, Jacques' ground-breaking journalism about selfhood, society, art, politics, freedom, and gender identity, tracks the backlash against emerging trans rights and the rise of a new and more explicit form of media transphobia. Front Lines is a seminal collection of writings on trans and queer art, politics, and media, from a period in which the relationship between trans and non-binary people and the British media was exceptionally turbulent. Jacques navigates the tension between wanting to simply write about art and culture and needing to counter the dishonest, damaging rhetoric being published about trans people in virtually every national newspaper in the UK. 'I never believed any journalism was objective, nor that there was any point in even trying to be,' writes Jacques in her introduction. 'Above all, activism is needed to fight this, with journalism to support there is no point in pretending to be objective in our work, as the stakes remain just as high as they were back in 2010, perhaps even higher... We're entering a new phase of collective struggle, with new fronts and new tactics I hope this book can help to inform that.' This crucial collection asks what we can learn from the last decade and, importantly, what we can do now. How can new writers take up the struggle for trans liberation? And what will the future of trans writing look like?

299 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 21, 2022

About the author

Juliet Jacques (born Redhill, Surrey in 1981) is a British journalist, critic and writer of short fiction, known for her work on the transgender experience, including her transition as a trans woman.

She grew up in Horley, and attended Reigate Grammar School for two years before her parents moved her to a local comprehensive school, followed by the College of Richard Collyer in Horsham, West Sussex, studying History at the University of Manchester and then Literature and Film at the University of Sussex.

In 2007, she published a book on English avant-garde author Rayner Heppenstall for Dalkey Archive Press, and her memoir, entitled Trans, appeared on Verso Books in 2015. She has written regular columns for The Guardian, on gender identity, and The New Statesman, on literature, film, art and football, and published extensively on film in Filmwaves, Vertigo and Cineaste. She began writing a chronicle of her gender reassignment in 2010, which was widely praised. She contributed a section in Sheila Heti's book, "Women in Clothes" in 2014.

She was longlisted for The Orwell Prize in 2011 for her series on gender reassignment. In 2012 she was selected as one of The Independent on Sunday Pink List’s most influential journalists, and was also included in the 2013 list.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Edeh]

very interesting, thumbs up. dont know why there are two version on goodreads with one until 2020 and the other til 2021

[Jay Chapman · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the first two main sections and found them interesting and engaging but struggled with the last section. I found it hard when reading about other countries given the differing language and information I didn't know, and found myself skipping chapter when the headline and first paragraph didn't interest me. But loved that it was written by a trans person for both trans and cis people to identify struggles and highlights we face

[Moth Walsh-Hay · Rating 2 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first two sections on politics and media but the art section was just becoming too grating to finish. I understand that was the authors primary focus for the earlier years of her journalism, but they were just such boring articles!