Hounded: Women, Harms and the Gender Wars

by Jenny Lindsay

The last decade has seen countless cases of women being fired, disciplined, protested or no-platformed for their views on sex and gender. Whether high-profile celebrities or previously unknown feminists, such women’s vocal non-belief in ‘gender identity’ as a universal human condition bears a high social cost. These ‘houndings’ are often presented starkly, clinically, in headlines or fleeting social media moments, stripped of the true cost of holding such beliefs.

But what is the reality behind the headlines and noise? What are the true consequences of holding – and living with - such seemingly now-heretical thoughts?

Hounded charts the often hidden and unspoken harms women face for prioritising and defending sex-based language and rights. Outlining the often-bewildering array of tactics used by opponents against such women, as well as the resilience required to refuse to be silenced, Lindsay presents a compelling argument for recognition of the individual and social harms that are being enacted under the auspices of ‘gender identity activism.’ 

This debut non-fiction book by award-winning poet and essayist Jenny Lindsay, whose own ‘hounding’ offers a unique perspective, is a solid, sane, witty but also compassionate account about the very human cost of this extraordinary cultural and political schism.

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Gender, Politics, Womens

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 11, 2024

About the author

Jenny Lindsay is a Scottish poet and spoken word performer. Her spoken word, theatre and music organisation, Flint and Pitch (est. 2016), was included in The List Magazine‘s Hot 100 for 2017.

Lindsay has performed across the UK and further afield at a variety of festivals and events including Latitude, the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the ‘Where I’m Calling From’ Literary Festival in Montenegro, and the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali. She is the author of one full collection and two pamphlet collections of poetry, was the BBC Slam Champion in 2012 and was longlisted for the inaugural Jerwood Compton Poetry Fellowship in 2017. In December of that year Lindsay was awarded the Creative Edinburgh Award for Leadership for her work in the spoken word sector. In 2024, she published Hounded: Women, Harms and Gender Wars (Polity).

Reviews

[Neil Fulwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nuanced, timely, principled and astoundingly even-handed given the appalling treatment Lindsay was subjected to by ideologues, ‘Hounded’ seeks to address its theme without hysteria, rhetoric or antagonism. It is a remarkable piece of work and deserves to be read by everyone, whether they are on one side of the so-called debate, the other, or mistakenly think that it has nothing to do with them. Anything with the potential to negatively impact on women’s rights affects all of us.

[Ruth Lavery · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fabulous book charting the consequences to women of speaking out against Gender Ideology and for women's rights. Highly recommended

[M E Steven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Jenny

Wow. Huge respect and appreciation to Jenny Lindsay for so boldly and steadfastly standing up for what she believes in / what’s right / women - regardless of the personal consequences to her - and for so eloquently writing this book. Who knows where we’d be without Jenny and the others she mentions. Thank you just doesn’t seem enough.

[an elf · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important and well-documented accounting of what happens to women who dare believe that women are: materially definable; culturally, legislatively and politically important, with their own rights, needs and concerns; and have a right to meet and discuss freely that which affects their lives profoundly.

[Emily Posthumus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very shallow discussion of how women who oppose what they call "gender ideology" are harmed whenever anyone disagrees with them. While I agree that online discourse is often toxic, Jenny presents a one-sided view, ignoring all the harm that she and her colleagues do by spreading hate. Would like to see Lindsay be self reflective and engage with criticism. Would have been interesting to include a "What if we're wrong chapter?", reflecting on the harm her movement does, and how it contributes to the high rates of violence, hate crimes, suicide and murder that affects trans people. In her prologue she states that anyone who doesn't agree with her conclusion doesn't value liberal democracy, so I doubt she's open to critical reflection.

[Jenifer Lavery · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lindsay has written a clear well balanced tale of women's resistance to the insidious cult attempting to remove our rights whilst arguing they are in the right side of history. She explains in clear terms the tools we require to fight for our very existence

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well-written, thought-provoking, and timely. I highly recommend this one. The first 15 pages or so were a tad dense/difficult to read/understand, but after that, very interesting and well laid-out.

[Lilac · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the more accessible and engaging books that I’ve read about this issue.

My only quibble is that she lays out 3 core beliefs of the feminists who found themselves hounded and then refers back to them. As a queen of flaky reading I wish that they’d been set apart more in the formatting so that it would have been easier to flip back through the book and find them for reference.