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Essays on Transfeminism #1
Trans/Rad/Fem
Can a synthesis of trans liberation and feminism be easily arrived at? This collection asserts that, as a matter of fact, we possessed the answer to that question decades ago.
Second-Wave feminism is, today, nearly synonymous with ‘transphobia’. Any mention of this era or the movement of ‘radical feminism’ conjures images of feminists allying with right-wingers and the authoritarian state, providing legal justification for outlawing gender-affirming care and spreading deeply evil caricatures of trans women to rationalize their exclusion as feminist subjects. In the ensuing struggle to reconcile trans rights with feminism, the specter of the trans-exclusionary radical feminist has often reared its head in opposition. One may be tempted to conclude that the Second Wave, as a whole, has done irreparable harm to feminist, queer and trans politics, and must be discarded entirely.
But is that truly the case?
Radical feminism also is responsible for repudiating bioessentialistic notions of gender with theories that place it as a firmly social phenomenon. It gave us the language to describe patriarchy as a regime of mandatory heterosexual existence and dared to dream of a post-gender existence long before anyone spoke the phrase “breaking the binary”. Modern transfeminism owes much to radical feminist theory, and despite all propaganda to the contrary, the two schools of thought may be far more allied than believed.
This series of essays aims to reconstruct and reintroduce the radical feminist framework that its misbegotten inheritors seem determined to forget and in doing so boldly makes the claim that transfeminism, far from being antagonistic to radical feminism, is in fact its direct descendant. It shows how a comprehensive social theory of transsexual oppression flows almost naturally from radical feminist precepts and dares to declare that a materialist, radical transfeminism is the way forward to seize the foundations of patriarchy at the root.
Second-Wave feminism is, today, nearly synonymous with ‘transphobia’. Any mention of this era or the movement of ‘radical feminism’ conjures images of feminists allying with right-wingers and the authoritarian state, providing legal justification for outlawing gender-affirming care and spreading deeply evil caricatures of trans women to rationalize their exclusion as feminist subjects. In the ensuing struggle to reconcile trans rights with feminism, the specter of the trans-exclusionary radical feminist has often reared its head in opposition. One may be tempted to conclude that the Second Wave, as a whole, has done irreparable harm to feminist, queer and trans politics, and must be discarded entirely.
But is that truly the case?
Radical feminism also is responsible for repudiating bioessentialistic notions of gender with theories that place it as a firmly social phenomenon. It gave us the language to describe patriarchy as a regime of mandatory heterosexual existence and dared to dream of a post-gender existence long before anyone spoke the phrase “breaking the binary”. Modern transfeminism owes much to radical feminist theory, and despite all propaganda to the contrary, the two schools of thought may be far more allied than believed.
This series of essays aims to reconstruct and reintroduce the radical feminist framework that its misbegotten inheritors seem determined to forget and in doing so boldly makes the claim that transfeminism, far from being antagonistic to radical feminism, is in fact its direct descendant. It shows how a comprehensive social theory of transsexual oppression flows almost naturally from radical feminist precepts and dares to declare that a materialist, radical transfeminism is the way forward to seize the foundations of patriarchy at the root.
205 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 24, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
May 30, 2025
What a goddamn book. And what a goddamn cliché, but this was electrifying. Like when I first read STONE BUTCH BLUES, I could feel the tiny hairs on my arms and back of my neck stand up as I tore through this.
Regarding queer and trans theory, generally, I’d rather read the account of a single person and place myself in relation to their star than a theory that leaves gaping holes whilst it tries, and fails, to unify an entire group. In TRANS/RAD/FEM though, Bhatt’s star is not only burning beyond bright, but the truths she speaks are sharpened to wicked points. And the rage! Oh, the rage.
Bhatt says: Anger is the fire that keeps you warm in the bitter cold of meandering, hazy roads, the bright burning beacon that lights your way no matter how murky. […] So many women suffer because they were never permitted to feel their rage, because they had it smothered and choked out young, because they weren’t allowed to be angry at what was being done to them. My mother, bless her, wasn’t like that. She kept her fire lit.
I won’t go through everything Bhatt covers, but here are some topics especially that lit me up:
--Identity as a way of rejection. While I am not a trans woman, I felt heavily with her idea that (as she described it for herself (this is a paraphrase, so excuse that), rather than transness as a definitive ‘feeling’ of being a gender one had not been assigned, it comes to her more a repudiation of a role and poisonous placement in society thrust upon her.
--Transgender versus transracial
Bhatt debunks the logical absurdity of those who try to link transracial with transgender, as well as providing a thorough examination of the common perversion of the phrase ‘social construct.’ [Often twisted to mean ‘fake/not real’ rather than, as she points out, a consensus, a socially malleable ‘reality’ that is agreed upon (and in most cases, forcibly foisted upon) larger society.] To play a game, everyone must agree on the rules (while the majority insists there IS no game, and we are all born like this (even as they desperately try to make laws to force people to keep playing the game.)
--the fetishization of non-Western societies as more relaxed/gender ‘enlightened’ and the shameless, self-serving academia built up at the very expense of the people it writes about. [Look, I love a good Xtian/Catholic roast as much as the next, but it’s always bewildered me when certain people espoused queerness and gender-nonconformity as booming in non-Western areas, before Xtian colonists came in and impressed everyone under their gender-rigid ideas. Say what?] Bhatt tears this apart, with a particular focus on hijra and a deservedly scathing rebuttal to those who simultaneously fetishize these women as a ‘third gender,’ while mercilessly linking them with (an abandoned or failed) manhood they themselves likely don’t identify with.
--the regime of heterosexuality.
Possibly the most compelling parts of Bhatt’s writing. As a child myself (though I had no words for it coming from a more rigid Iron Curtain pseudo-Cathlick background, so it just seemed like ‘marriage’ ‘adulthood’ etc)—heterosexuality (at large, not all heteros etc. etc.) felt wicked, a place of eternal suffering and stultifying home-air, where both men and women (but women more), had few choices and even less agency. I asked myself as a kid, why were adult couples locked in what seemed an almost-cartoonishly joyless antipathy with each other? And if everyone was so unhappy, why did they seem so hellbent on herding the next generation down this same path?? It would take decades to figure it out, and Bhatt nails it with a single phrase: compulsory heterosexuality.
Reflected now in the jerky legal actions of the US is the absolute hysteria the regime feels, when it starts to believe it is losing its power to press its populace into compulsory heterosexuality [and Bhatt derives clearly how misogyny, trans-misogyny and lesbophobia all spring from this fount of needing to socially believe in a biologically ordained default, beyond any one individual’s control. All who stray or ‘fail,’ become fair game to be made gleeful examples of… (And those who give up their power are punished harshest of all...)
--loving women
Bhatt says: To love women, to really love them and be with them, you can’t not hate that which hurts them. A love that doesn’t inspire ceaseless rage at injustice, inequity, harm and dismissal isn’t much of a love at the end of the day. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
This deep love and fierce tenderness for her fellow women, woven throughout these essays (circling back to Stone Butch Blues, where the narrator's deep love and respect for her fellow women also struck me deep)--really etched Bhatt's words into my heart.
I could go on and on about this book’s brilliance and how many more issues Bhatt dissects so cleanly, but instead I’ll just say, please go out and read it. This is the radical trans fem writing I needed; the fire that the whole world needs right now.
Regarding queer and trans theory, generally, I’d rather read the account of a single person and place myself in relation to their star than a theory that leaves gaping holes whilst it tries, and fails, to unify an entire group. In TRANS/RAD/FEM though, Bhatt’s star is not only burning beyond bright, but the truths she speaks are sharpened to wicked points. And the rage! Oh, the rage.
Bhatt says: Anger is the fire that keeps you warm in the bitter cold of meandering, hazy roads, the bright burning beacon that lights your way no matter how murky. […] So many women suffer because they were never permitted to feel their rage, because they had it smothered and choked out young, because they weren’t allowed to be angry at what was being done to them. My mother, bless her, wasn’t like that. She kept her fire lit.
I won’t go through everything Bhatt covers, but here are some topics especially that lit me up:
--Identity as a way of rejection. While I am not a trans woman, I felt heavily with her idea that (as she described it for herself (this is a paraphrase, so excuse that), rather than transness as a definitive ‘feeling’ of being a gender one had not been assigned, it comes to her more a repudiation of a role and poisonous placement in society thrust upon her.
--Transgender versus transracial
Bhatt debunks the logical absurdity of those who try to link transracial with transgender, as well as providing a thorough examination of the common perversion of the phrase ‘social construct.’ [Often twisted to mean ‘fake/not real’ rather than, as she points out, a consensus, a socially malleable ‘reality’ that is agreed upon (and in most cases, forcibly foisted upon) larger society.] To play a game, everyone must agree on the rules (while the majority insists there IS no game, and we are all born like this (even as they desperately try to make laws to force people to keep playing the game.)
--the fetishization of non-Western societies as more relaxed/gender ‘enlightened’ and the shameless, self-serving academia built up at the very expense of the people it writes about. [Look, I love a good Xtian/Catholic roast as much as the next, but it’s always bewildered me when certain people espoused queerness and gender-nonconformity as booming in non-Western areas, before Xtian colonists came in and impressed everyone under their gender-rigid ideas. Say what?] Bhatt tears this apart, with a particular focus on hijra and a deservedly scathing rebuttal to those who simultaneously fetishize these women as a ‘third gender,’ while mercilessly linking them with (an abandoned or failed) manhood they themselves likely don’t identify with.
--the regime of heterosexuality.
Possibly the most compelling parts of Bhatt’s writing. As a child myself (though I had no words for it coming from a more rigid Iron Curtain pseudo-Cathlick background, so it just seemed like ‘marriage’ ‘adulthood’ etc)—heterosexuality (at large, not all heteros etc. etc.) felt wicked, a place of eternal suffering and stultifying home-air, where both men and women (but women more), had few choices and even less agency. I asked myself as a kid, why were adult couples locked in what seemed an almost-cartoonishly joyless antipathy with each other? And if everyone was so unhappy, why did they seem so hellbent on herding the next generation down this same path?? It would take decades to figure it out, and Bhatt nails it with a single phrase: compulsory heterosexuality.
Reflected now in the jerky legal actions of the US is the absolute hysteria the regime feels, when it starts to believe it is losing its power to press its populace into compulsory heterosexuality [and Bhatt derives clearly how misogyny, trans-misogyny and lesbophobia all spring from this fount of needing to socially believe in a biologically ordained default, beyond any one individual’s control. All who stray or ‘fail,’ become fair game to be made gleeful examples of… (And those who give up their power are punished harshest of all...)
--loving women
Bhatt says: To love women, to really love them and be with them, you can’t not hate that which hurts them. A love that doesn’t inspire ceaseless rage at injustice, inequity, harm and dismissal isn’t much of a love at the end of the day. (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
This deep love and fierce tenderness for her fellow women, woven throughout these essays (circling back to Stone Butch Blues, where the narrator's deep love and respect for her fellow women also struck me deep)--really etched Bhatt's words into my heart.
I could go on and on about this book’s brilliance and how many more issues Bhatt dissects so cleanly, but instead I’ll just say, please go out and read it. This is the radical trans fem writing I needed; the fire that the whole world needs right now.
January 26, 2025
There is a spectre that hangs over modern feminism and queer theory—the radfem. That belligerent hag, her face contorted in stupid and impotent rage, distorted meme after meme. She gnashes her teeth at the patriarchy but, ever the bumbling fool, in her hysteria she merely spits at other women—and at perfectly reasonable and feminist men. Finally, the radfem, having been thoroughly ridiculed for her misplaced activism in polite society, descends to thrashing in anti-transsexual rage somewhere in the bowels of the internet. She crystallises into her final form: a TERF. Proof that her cause was whispered to her by the devil from the very start.
And so by her example is every feminist chastised. Don’t get too feminist with it now. You’re not a hysterical, man-hating, unwashed, shorn-haired, un-lipsticked radfem, right? In the same breath, every trans person is warned away from feminists. You never know when one will shed their womanly skin and reveal the witch beneath—right? Above all, you should never actually read anything radical feminists have said or theorised. That would only corrupt you. Right?
Enter Talia Bhatt: a trans woman that reads. And writes. God, does she write.
To say that Trans/Rad/Fem is (only) a collection of essays is to undersell it tremendously. It is a visionary creed and a dissection; it is one woman’s reckoning with decades upon decades of epistemic erasure. With academic papers that buried her people’s lives; with vapid allies that patted her back with one hand and shut her mouth with another. It is written with the verve of a general and the piercing oracular gift/curse of Dworkin. It is nothing less or more than a recitation of truth. Truth you already know, but must not name.
Because here’s what happens when you actually read the damned thing: you stop seeing spectres. Or quasi-religious corruption. You begin to understand. To ask questions—and to arrive at answers.
Trans/Rad/Fem is both a synthesis of the best of radical feminism with transfeminism, and a thorough beating of the worst. From Bhatt’s veneration of Wittig and respect for Rich, to her searing contempt for Raymond and disgust with Nanda, she takes a scalpel to the second wave and examines its innards through the lens of a brown, Indian trans woman living today. What is born in synthesis is not merely critique—it is a whole new body of work. Though Bhatt is underpinned by years of prior scholarship, the burning core of her theory is spun from her own life, her own flesh. And the lives of all those that are not, as a rule, allowed to speak: female, racialised, lesbian, trans.
We are told to measure regimes by the fortunes of their most abject. Trans/Rad/Fem thoroughly makes that case for the patriarchy writ large. The depth of its depravity is seen most clearly through its whipping girl, its third sex: the trans woman. And so it is fitting that she must be the one to lead feminism's new chapter towards liberation. To quote,
I hope that you do. I hope that you accept this chance for understanding, for solidarity, for knowing.
I hope that you read the damned book.
And so by her example is every feminist chastised. Don’t get too feminist with it now. You’re not a hysterical, man-hating, unwashed, shorn-haired, un-lipsticked radfem, right? In the same breath, every trans person is warned away from feminists. You never know when one will shed their womanly skin and reveal the witch beneath—right? Above all, you should never actually read anything radical feminists have said or theorised. That would only corrupt you. Right?
Enter Talia Bhatt: a trans woman that reads. And writes. God, does she write.
To say that Trans/Rad/Fem is (only) a collection of essays is to undersell it tremendously. It is a visionary creed and a dissection; it is one woman’s reckoning with decades upon decades of epistemic erasure. With academic papers that buried her people’s lives; with vapid allies that patted her back with one hand and shut her mouth with another. It is written with the verve of a general and the piercing oracular gift/curse of Dworkin. It is nothing less or more than a recitation of truth. Truth you already know, but must not name.
Because here’s what happens when you actually read the damned thing: you stop seeing spectres. Or quasi-religious corruption. You begin to understand. To ask questions—and to arrive at answers.
Trans/Rad/Fem is both a synthesis of the best of radical feminism with transfeminism, and a thorough beating of the worst. From Bhatt’s veneration of Wittig and respect for Rich, to her searing contempt for Raymond and disgust with Nanda, she takes a scalpel to the second wave and examines its innards through the lens of a brown, Indian trans woman living today. What is born in synthesis is not merely critique—it is a whole new body of work. Though Bhatt is underpinned by years of prior scholarship, the burning core of her theory is spun from her own life, her own flesh. And the lives of all those that are not, as a rule, allowed to speak: female, racialised, lesbian, trans.
We are told to measure regimes by the fortunes of their most abject. Trans/Rad/Fem thoroughly makes that case for the patriarchy writ large. The depth of its depravity is seen most clearly through its whipping girl, its third sex: the trans woman. And so it is fitting that she must be the one to lead feminism's new chapter towards liberation. To quote,
Now is the time for the damned to have their due, for the wails of the forgotten to echo above the “civil”, silencing din. Now is the time for all those whose struggles have been erased, co-opted, recuperated, disrupted, and sanctified to make themselves known.
Now we will speak, and you will, for the first time, LISTEN.
I hope that you do. I hope that you accept this chance for understanding, for solidarity, for knowing.
I hope that you read the damned book.
February 17, 2025
A must read for anyone who considers themselves a feminist and/or trans ally. "the third sex" in particular is an incisive commentary on white/Western decolonization and a refusal to look at unfamiliar, but inarguable transmisogyny to score points using people of color as a rhetorical cudgel, while ignoring the reality of non-western patriarchy and misogyny as a whole.
February 10, 2025
3.5
I think it is refreshing to see radical feminism almost revitalised by Bhatt from her self-proclaimed desi transsexual woman's perspective. I certainly understand why some people have found this book to be revelatory for them.
There are some exceptional chapters in here, such as 'The Third Sex' and 'I Read It: The Sublime Lesbian Feminism of 'Stone Butch Blues'' which really demonstrate Bhatt's writing style and approaches to both criticism and literature. However, the other chapters on developing approaches to transmisogyny and lesbophobia, whilst very much embedded in radical feminism, were a bit harder for me to engage with. Some of that is down to her more personable writing style which I think can be hit and miss and more of a personal preference, it could be a bit jarring or go on slight tangents at times. Other times are that these articulations are like revision for me, reminders of radical feminist ideas that I am already aware about, primarily from the works of Adrienne Rich and Monique Wittig. So in that regard, it depends on if Bhatt does a good job at this, I think she does for the most part, but I would recommend having at least some understandings of these ideas beforehand. Also there is no bibliography in this book, which is disappointing as it is clear that Bhatt is well-read, but sometimes texts are introduced in later chapters even if those ideas are clearly used in previous ones.
Some really insightful essays in here, but also some that might be somewhat familiar to those already aware of radical feminism.
I think it is refreshing to see radical feminism almost revitalised by Bhatt from her self-proclaimed desi transsexual woman's perspective. I certainly understand why some people have found this book to be revelatory for them.
There are some exceptional chapters in here, such as 'The Third Sex' and 'I Read It: The Sublime Lesbian Feminism of 'Stone Butch Blues'' which really demonstrate Bhatt's writing style and approaches to both criticism and literature. However, the other chapters on developing approaches to transmisogyny and lesbophobia, whilst very much embedded in radical feminism, were a bit harder for me to engage with. Some of that is down to her more personable writing style which I think can be hit and miss and more of a personal preference, it could be a bit jarring or go on slight tangents at times. Other times are that these articulations are like revision for me, reminders of radical feminist ideas that I am already aware about, primarily from the works of Adrienne Rich and Monique Wittig. So in that regard, it depends on if Bhatt does a good job at this, I think she does for the most part, but I would recommend having at least some understandings of these ideas beforehand. Also there is no bibliography in this book, which is disappointing as it is clear that Bhatt is well-read, but sometimes texts are introduced in later chapters even if those ideas are clearly used in previous ones.
Some really insightful essays in here, but also some that might be somewhat familiar to those already aware of radical feminism.
Read
February 11, 2025This book does a sterling job of clearing up some misconceptions about Western colonialism and the so-called third genders in pre and postcolonial lecture. It's a rather important read if you're white and transgender — or even if you consider yourself an ally to queer people in general.
Now, as an aside: It is common knowledge that being a fascist and a conservative is easy, because it doesn't ask anything of you but hate and tribalism. It is also common knowledge that being on the left is hard, because it asks you to be compassionate to people who might not be like you, to educate yourself and, quite simply, to read.
That said, the amount of references and book recommendations I have been able to glean off this book is insaner than I am, and I'm freaking certified. My TBR list has grown at least twofold!
Now, as an aside: It is common knowledge that being a fascist and a conservative is easy, because it doesn't ask anything of you but hate and tribalism. It is also common knowledge that being on the left is hard, because it asks you to be compassionate to people who might not be like you, to educate yourself and, quite simply, to read.
That said, the amount of references and book recommendations I have been able to glean off this book is insaner than I am, and I'm freaking certified. My TBR list has grown at least twofold!
January 25, 2025
This book is incredibly rich. I've been following Bhatt's essays as they were released online over the past year so this was a reread of many plus a bit of new stuff. It can take a while to fully absorb every point but I've found it so clarifying in understanding how these forces of power work.
Rather than going over the content itself, I am just going to make a few points that I would love to see expanded upon in the future by other theorists (or Bhatt herself):
1) I would be really interested to see someone put the analysis of the slave used in the Diabolus ex Machina chapter in conversation with Black studies more directly.
2) Although "Degendering and Regendering" is short, it offers a lot to consider in thinking about how transmasculinity fits into these frameworks and I hope someone takes that up.
3) "The Third Sex" is SUCH a critical essay. I have a lot of thoughts about how some of this may or may not apply in the case of Two-Spirit people and the precolonial Americas but overall this is such a needed intervention in the mess that is academic accounts (and subsequent popular retellings) of global gender diversity.
Rather than going over the content itself, I am just going to make a few points that I would love to see expanded upon in the future by other theorists (or Bhatt herself):
1) I would be really interested to see someone put the analysis of the slave used in the Diabolus ex Machina chapter in conversation with Black studies more directly.
2) Although "Degendering and Regendering" is short, it offers a lot to consider in thinking about how transmasculinity fits into these frameworks and I hope someone takes that up.
3) "The Third Sex" is SUCH a critical essay. I have a lot of thoughts about how some of this may or may not apply in the case of Two-Spirit people and the precolonial Americas but overall this is such a needed intervention in the mess that is academic accounts (and subsequent popular retellings) of global gender diversity.
April 23, 2025
Una lectura urgente y necesaria. Bhatt revitaliza y cuestiona con contundencia las prácticas transmisóginas de la derecha, de los hombres y sus mujeres disfrazadas de feministas. Desmonta argumentos transfobos con excelencia y nos deja firmes como sujetas de la lucha de erradicación del patriarcado. Mi deseo es que la leamos y la discutamos incluso con esas TE"RF" (como dice ella) que negarían nuestra existencia y derecho a vivir.
February 25, 2025
This is likely the single most impactful and resonant book I have read in my entire life. For the first time I felt compelled to take notes in the margin and write as I read. I probably read every word in there three times over to digest and internalize it all. Now on the required reading list for all my trans sisters, brothers, and siblings.
I do wish it had taken a more direct analysis of non-binary identities and incorporated the unique blend of transmisogyny that exists for them, but that's really being nitpick-y in light of the ground tread.
I do wish it had taken a more direct analysis of non-binary identities and incorporated the unique blend of transmisogyny that exists for them, but that's really being nitpick-y in light of the ground tread.
May 9, 2025
i genuinely picked up trans/rad/fem because i kept seeing discourse about it on tumblr and decided to check it out for myself.
i ended up with complicated feelings. due to its nature as a collection of serially published essays i felt like the book frequently reiterated upon itself, especially as i'd read the essay that maybe acts the most as a centerpiece "the third sex" already. let the month+ it took for me to get through everything speak for itself.
i think many people could benefit from talia bhatts perspective. regrettably i think those who could benefit from it the most are unlikely to read anything shes written, since she used scary words in the title.
i ended up with complicated feelings. due to its nature as a collection of serially published essays i felt like the book frequently reiterated upon itself, especially as i'd read the essay that maybe acts the most as a centerpiece "the third sex" already. let the month+ it took for me to get through everything speak for itself.
i think many people could benefit from talia bhatts perspective. regrettably i think those who could benefit from it the most are unlikely to read anything shes written, since she used scary words in the title.
April 4, 2025
such an amazingly-argued book. bhatt gave such clear, unambiguous arguments about topics i had only begun to grasp at the edges of. a few chapters were hard to get through b/c they were on topics i was already familiar with, but after i finished, i realized i was still coming away with some new ideas. a real call to action for a trans-inclusive materialist feminism
February 5, 2025
Analysis sharp as a knife interspersed with personal experiences that similarly cut deep. This has given me a lot to think about, regarding materialist transfeminism and how we can better protect and defend our transfeminine sisters. Greatly looking forward to reading the second book in this series when it comes out.
December 12, 2025
To the Western academic, the subjectivity and activism of transfeminized Third-Worlders is a distant concern next to their rhetorical utility as a ‘venerated’, vaunted “Third-Sex”, casting “primitive yet Enlightened” non-Western cultures as curious gender-practitioners from whom the West has so much to learn. All the while, the ways in which Third-Sexed populations like hijra identify with womanhood and organize for legal recognition as women are utterly elided;
[...]
Strains of academic feminism exist that consider colonialism to be the genesis of patriarchy, that idealize a prelapsarian pre-patriarchal past that was then tainted by the relentless scourge of worldwide Euro-imperialist hegemony. I do not know how to explain how old the misogyny in Hindu scriptures is, how the history of my people is replete with burned widows and drowned infants and femicidal practices that far predate any British law, how the hijra and khwaja sira were persecuted on the subcontinent long before the Raj, how the ‘veneration’ of holy men is not actual social capital but rather theological justification for confinement, isolation, and exclusion.
[...]
I do not know how to explain to learned academics that sexual objectification and reproductive exploitation were not innovations that the West pioneered, nor do I know how to explain that a historical record of “asceticism”, of hijra being prescribed a livelihood of begging for alms at ceremonies, is not “reverence” or an “institutionalized gender-role”, but marginalization.
[...]
liberal feminism is fucking dead. It failed to protect abortion rights, it failed to meaningfully issue a challenge to patriarchal rape culture, and absolutely fucking failed every single trans person.
[...]
Strains of academic feminism exist that consider colonialism to be the genesis of patriarchy, that idealize a prelapsarian pre-patriarchal past that was then tainted by the relentless scourge of worldwide Euro-imperialist hegemony. I do not know how to explain how old the misogyny in Hindu scriptures is, how the history of my people is replete with burned widows and drowned infants and femicidal practices that far predate any British law, how the hijra and khwaja sira were persecuted on the subcontinent long before the Raj, how the ‘veneration’ of holy men is not actual social capital but rather theological justification for confinement, isolation, and exclusion.
[...]
I do not know how to explain to learned academics that sexual objectification and reproductive exploitation were not innovations that the West pioneered, nor do I know how to explain that a historical record of “asceticism”, of hijra being prescribed a livelihood of begging for alms at ceremonies, is not “reverence” or an “institutionalized gender-role”, but marginalization.
[...]
liberal feminism is fucking dead. It failed to protect abortion rights, it failed to meaningfully issue a challenge to patriarchal rape culture, and absolutely fucking failed every single trans person.
July 22, 2025
"does patriarchy hurt men? maybe. but it hurts women first. that's the part that matters."
as an academic, i often repeat the phrase, "it's always misogyny and it's always colonialism" whenever i think of or write about systems of oppression. this is a simplistic way to examine bigotry, yes, but the more i read, the more i feel that it might be the best way to think about things.
talia bhatt writes on her perspectives on feminism, both radical and non, from the perspective of an indian trans woman. in essays that are as emotive as they are informative, distinguishing a massive passion into researching such a topic, as well as a clear background in fiction writing, she concisely argues the merits of radical feminist thinking points, as well as speaking on subjects of racism, misogyny (both trans and otherwise), transfeminism and transemasculation (a term i love and WISH the boys on tumblr would adopt).
while the arguments are a little repetitive, especially if you've spent any time thinking about radical feminist theory at all, i particularly enjoyed bhatt's limited if insightful media analysis, as well as the entire chapter on "the third sex", a subject i wasn't previously informed on, but found absolutely shocking that these texts had gone unchecked for so long.
i recommend every reader of feminist theory, wanting to listen to the words spoken by our trans sisters, read this set of essays with an open mind and an open heart. very good!
as an academic, i often repeat the phrase, "it's always misogyny and it's always colonialism" whenever i think of or write about systems of oppression. this is a simplistic way to examine bigotry, yes, but the more i read, the more i feel that it might be the best way to think about things.
talia bhatt writes on her perspectives on feminism, both radical and non, from the perspective of an indian trans woman. in essays that are as emotive as they are informative, distinguishing a massive passion into researching such a topic, as well as a clear background in fiction writing, she concisely argues the merits of radical feminist thinking points, as well as speaking on subjects of racism, misogyny (both trans and otherwise), transfeminism and transemasculation (a term i love and WISH the boys on tumblr would adopt).
while the arguments are a little repetitive, especially if you've spent any time thinking about radical feminist theory at all, i particularly enjoyed bhatt's limited if insightful media analysis, as well as the entire chapter on "the third sex", a subject i wasn't previously informed on, but found absolutely shocking that these texts had gone unchecked for so long.
i recommend every reader of feminist theory, wanting to listen to the words spoken by our trans sisters, read this set of essays with an open mind and an open heart. very good!
April 3, 2025
This was a difficult read, lots to think on. It is as much about the heterosexual regime as it is about transness. The essays begin simple enough (although as someone who is generally unfamiliar with the formal study of feminism and the terminology therein, I had to really pay attention to parse what was going on). They culminate in the explosive final chapter, The Third Sex, which together with the Conclusion gave me so much to think about.
What particularly strikes me, beyond the theoretical revelations, is how personal this book is. This is not a dry discursive text; it has voice and life and deep feeling that you cannot, as the reader, be untouched by. It feels like Bhatt is speaking directly to you and you must listen, you cannot help but listen.
And then I understand how rare it is that trans women like Bhatt get to speak like this. She's eloquent and emotive and uninterrupted. She says what she wants to say - and even so, she asks "why does it have to be me to say this?"
I expect I will be revisiting this collection as I await the second volume next year.
What particularly strikes me, beyond the theoretical revelations, is how personal this book is. This is not a dry discursive text; it has voice and life and deep feeling that you cannot, as the reader, be untouched by. It feels like Bhatt is speaking directly to you and you must listen, you cannot help but listen.
And then I understand how rare it is that trans women like Bhatt get to speak like this. She's eloquent and emotive and uninterrupted. She says what she wants to say - and even so, she asks "why does it have to be me to say this?"
I expect I will be revisiting this collection as I await the second volume next year.
February 22, 2025
This is a really excellent book. A lot of anthologies of essays have great essays in them, as this one does, but not all of them work as well as a cohesive text as Trans/Rad/Fem does. I'd recommend this for anyone interested in transfeminism, even if you'd already read individual essays from Bhatt's newsletter by the same name. As with the essays in their newsletter format, The Third Sex and The Questions Has an Answer were my favorite.
April 8, 2025
This is required feminist reading.
It has one of the best surveys of how misogyny works that I've read. There is quite a bit of jargon, so it's not necessarily an intro level collection if essays, but Talia has filled a gap in feminism in a way that I've so long yearned for.
I have a lot more thoughts that I'm not gonna share in a goodreads review, but basically, you should read this.
It has one of the best surveys of how misogyny works that I've read. There is quite a bit of jargon, so it's not necessarily an intro level collection if essays, but Talia has filled a gap in feminism in a way that I've so long yearned for.
I have a lot more thoughts that I'm not gonna share in a goodreads review, but basically, you should read this.
May 16, 2025
AHHHH loved it sm, 10/10, especially the bit on hijra’s
May 27, 2025
bhatt is such a powerful writer, an essential reader in transfeminism in my humble opinion! talia bhatt you are awesome may you write for decades to come
April 2, 2025
Learned a lot from this. Highly, highly recommend.
March 4, 2025
I will carry this book in my heart for the rest of forever
May 9, 2025
This is what we've needed for a long, long time.
March 9, 2025
3.5 rounded up, primarily just essays from her substack which i have already read. i hoped for more polish, more grappling with the inherent bioessentialism in some of the cited authors (rich, feinberg, wittig), more nitty gritty, and less fourth wall address the audience breaks. that's on me for having false expectations, but i probably wouldn't have spent money if i knew it was essentially a substack bindup. worth reading if ur learning abt transfeminism, though
February 9, 2025
tellement contente d'être tombée sur cette pépite au ton délicieusement polémique mais très précis politiquement !
Talia Bhatt est une meuf trans indienne qui vit au Royaume-Uni, et son bouquin compile plusieurs textes théoriques qu'elle diffuse dans sa super newsletter . Ça donne une série de textes vraiment très percutants et convaincants qui proposent un cadrage théorique inspirée du féminisme radical des années 70, le racisme et les dérives transphobes de certaines des figures du mouvement en moins, pour penser l'intrication du féminisme, du lesbianisme et de la transitude.
en vrac, quelques éléments que j'ai aimés :
- la manière dont elle raconte que sa transition est motivée d'abord par le refus et la haine de la position sociale des hommes que d'un sentiment métaphysique de se "sentir femme"
- l'argumentaire sur l'impasse de la distinction sexe/genre du féminisme libéral qui mène droit vers la naturalisation du sexe et l'idée que, au fond, les trans ne change "que" leur genre, et restent donc quand même plus ou moins de leur sexe de naissance
- l'analyse transféministe de stone butch blues, notamment dans le combat commun que butch et transfem mènent contre le "dégenrage" permanent qui leur nie le droit d'être des femmes, mais aussi les résonances entre le parcours de l'héroïne du roman, Jess, et les parcours transfem
- et surtout la partie sur le "Troisième sexe", qui démontre comme ce concept, largement mobilisés même dans les cercles queer et féministes souvent pour se donner un air décolonial, peut largement être remis en question. Elle explique comme il a émergé du texte d'une anthropologue occidentale, inspirée par des textes transphobes, et qu'il est notamment mobilisé pour empêcher les Hijras qui le souhaitent d'être vraiment considérés comme des femmes, et d'accéder aux soins et à une transition médicale. C'est un moyen pour dégenrer les femmes trans, pour ne surtout pas qu'elles puissent être considérées comme des femmes, des "vraies". Elle arrive �� mener à la fois une critique du concept de base, mais aussi de sa mobilisation dans les espaces militants occidentaux qui sous couvert de dénoncer le modèle "binaire" qu'aurait imposé le colonialisme, fait l'impasse sur une vraie analyse transféministe de cette idée de "Troisième sexe". Le texte complet sur ce sujet est dispo ici d'ailleurs.
Je rêve déjà de le voir traduit en français et édité par Hystériques & AssociéEs…
Talia Bhatt est une meuf trans indienne qui vit au Royaume-Uni, et son bouquin compile plusieurs textes théoriques qu'elle diffuse dans sa super newsletter . Ça donne une série de textes vraiment très percutants et convaincants qui proposent un cadrage théorique inspirée du féminisme radical des années 70, le racisme et les dérives transphobes de certaines des figures du mouvement en moins, pour penser l'intrication du féminisme, du lesbianisme et de la transitude.
en vrac, quelques éléments que j'ai aimés :
- la manière dont elle raconte que sa transition est motivée d'abord par le refus et la haine de la position sociale des hommes que d'un sentiment métaphysique de se "sentir femme"
- l'argumentaire sur l'impasse de la distinction sexe/genre du féminisme libéral qui mène droit vers la naturalisation du sexe et l'idée que, au fond, les trans ne change "que" leur genre, et restent donc quand même plus ou moins de leur sexe de naissance
- l'analyse transféministe de stone butch blues, notamment dans le combat commun que butch et transfem mènent contre le "dégenrage" permanent qui leur nie le droit d'être des femmes, mais aussi les résonances entre le parcours de l'héroïne du roman, Jess, et les parcours transfem
- et surtout la partie sur le "Troisième sexe", qui démontre comme ce concept, largement mobilisés même dans les cercles queer et féministes souvent pour se donner un air décolonial, peut largement être remis en question. Elle explique comme il a émergé du texte d'une anthropologue occidentale, inspirée par des textes transphobes, et qu'il est notamment mobilisé pour empêcher les Hijras qui le souhaitent d'être vraiment considérés comme des femmes, et d'accéder aux soins et à une transition médicale. C'est un moyen pour dégenrer les femmes trans, pour ne surtout pas qu'elles puissent être considérées comme des femmes, des "vraies". Elle arrive �� mener à la fois une critique du concept de base, mais aussi de sa mobilisation dans les espaces militants occidentaux qui sous couvert de dénoncer le modèle "binaire" qu'aurait imposé le colonialisme, fait l'impasse sur une vraie analyse transféministe de cette idée de "Troisième sexe". Le texte complet sur ce sujet est dispo ici d'ailleurs.
Je rêve déjà de le voir traduit en français et édité par Hystériques & AssociéEs…
August 16, 2025
Solid four out of five.
This book is dense, but also rich in what it conveys. That being said, I think I was expecting something different than what Bhatt ends up conveying. The first half almost seems like a bit of a primer for those unfamiliar, and I feel other writers, such as Dworkin, just dive into the material. That being said, all the handholding leads to an explosive second half wherein Bhatt more explosively conveys her own points (such as epistemic injustice as it relates to third-sexing, for example), and the conclusion is absolutely fantastic. More than anything, it feels very much written for cis folks (as the ending of the text is addressed to them) and she takes great pains to make it legible, so her approach is quite understandable.
That being said, while most of the time I think Bhatt is good at citations (while they're informal, I did learn about a variety of sources I want to dive into), sometimes the lack of them feels like it makes her arguments less potent because it's harder to tell what she's building up to and adding and what's just crafting a foundation. For me, this was most notable in terms of her mention of hegemonic masculinity. I can see her need for cohesiveness, but I do feel her lack of even a brief explanation obscured her specific additions to the work.
I don't want to say Bhatt's at her best with her personal essays, because glamorizing trans pain is overdone and there's so much else this volume offers, but it's true, not because of the pain, but because in this and several other works here (such as expounding on Rossum's Universal Robots and patriarchal anxiety), is where her own thought most clearly shines out. I don't know, I'd just like the entire volume to be as great an expounding of Bhatt's thought as the second half is, as much as I appreciate the need for foundations. That being said, to defend radical feminism, you must outline its concepts, granted and Bhatt does that well.
Overall, very much recommend this book. It's not what I thought it'd be, and it's imperfect, but for what it is, it's very well done and we shouldn't pedastalize folks anyway. Still, praises are definitely due. Bhatt's work is uniquely incisive, cutting, and observant, and stands a head above the rest. When she's at her best, her brilliance is unmatched in her arena, and even when reiterating existing theory, she gives it new life and makes it accessible.
This book is dense, but also rich in what it conveys. That being said, I think I was expecting something different than what Bhatt ends up conveying. The first half almost seems like a bit of a primer for those unfamiliar, and I feel other writers, such as Dworkin, just dive into the material. That being said, all the handholding leads to an explosive second half wherein Bhatt more explosively conveys her own points (such as epistemic injustice as it relates to third-sexing, for example), and the conclusion is absolutely fantastic. More than anything, it feels very much written for cis folks (as the ending of the text is addressed to them) and she takes great pains to make it legible, so her approach is quite understandable.
That being said, while most of the time I think Bhatt is good at citations (while they're informal, I did learn about a variety of sources I want to dive into), sometimes the lack of them feels like it makes her arguments less potent because it's harder to tell what she's building up to and adding and what's just crafting a foundation. For me, this was most notable in terms of her mention of hegemonic masculinity. I can see her need for cohesiveness, but I do feel her lack of even a brief explanation obscured her specific additions to the work.
I don't want to say Bhatt's at her best with her personal essays, because glamorizing trans pain is overdone and there's so much else this volume offers, but it's true, not because of the pain, but because in this and several other works here (such as expounding on Rossum's Universal Robots and patriarchal anxiety), is where her own thought most clearly shines out. I don't know, I'd just like the entire volume to be as great an expounding of Bhatt's thought as the second half is, as much as I appreciate the need for foundations. That being said, to defend radical feminism, you must outline its concepts, granted and Bhatt does that well.
Overall, very much recommend this book. It's not what I thought it'd be, and it's imperfect, but for what it is, it's very well done and we shouldn't pedastalize folks anyway. Still, praises are definitely due. Bhatt's work is uniquely incisive, cutting, and observant, and stands a head above the rest. When she's at her best, her brilliance is unmatched in her arena, and even when reiterating existing theory, she gives it new life and makes it accessible.
January 23, 2025
Finished Talia Bhatt's Trans/Rad/Fem in a single sitting (which is not usually the case with theory) - very important concepts clearly communicated: a fierce cannonade against patriarchy and liberal feminism and cowards being unwilling to follow their arguments to their actual conclusions. It also details the ways it which transmisogyny has been smuggled into the academy and the problematic nature of third-sexing (and needing to ask the simple question of these 'apparently' happy to exist as a third sex: "would you transition medically if the capacity was there for you?")
A important read for any trans woman, especially those haunted by the way the name radical feminism has be co-opted by GC/T*ER*Fs
Amazing work.
A important read for any trans woman, especially those haunted by the way the name radical feminism has be co-opted by GC/T*ER*Fs
Amazing work.
March 3, 2025
"Kill the man who wears your face, and tear his flesh apart to reveal your own."
Talia Bhatt has quite the skill with language, and reading Trans/Rad/Fem has kickstarted a year of reading transfeminist fiction for me. This is one part takedown of the more queerphobic aspects of radical feminism, along with a look at a why radical feminism may have been the perfect framework for a trans-inclusive form of feminism. It's insightful, occasionally entertaining, just as often horrifying, and ultimately served to fill in a lot of gaps and discrepancies about patriarchy and feminism.
Required reading if you're trans, LGBTQIA+, female, or just a human being living on the planet Earth who has empathy.
Talia Bhatt has quite the skill with language, and reading Trans/Rad/Fem has kickstarted a year of reading transfeminist fiction for me. This is one part takedown of the more queerphobic aspects of radical feminism, along with a look at a why radical feminism may have been the perfect framework for a trans-inclusive form of feminism. It's insightful, occasionally entertaining, just as often horrifying, and ultimately served to fill in a lot of gaps and discrepancies about patriarchy and feminism.
Required reading if you're trans, LGBTQIA+, female, or just a human being living on the planet Earth who has empathy.
June 18, 2025
Completely insufferable writing style, like if a YA author started writing social theory.
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