DILF: Did I Leave Feminism?

This formidable polemic from cultural critic Doyle (Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers) argues for trans people’s meaningful place within the feminist movement. Doyle explores the limitations of mainstream feminism’s essentialist understanding of “male dominance and female oppression,” and jousts with the “TERF” assertion that “trans existence” is “a threat to women.” He does so by analyzing influential second-wave thinkers (Andrea Dworkin, Shulamith Firestone), as well as anti-trans texts like Abigail Shrier’s Irreversible Damage. Doyle takes on the latter works with pointed precision and a biting sense of humor (on Shrier: “If I ever need anyone to write a cheery brochure for a prison camp, I know who to call”), but his argument is most incisive when invoking his own experiences as a trans man. These range from obtaining testosterone at a Planned Parenthood clinic to deflecting prying online comments about his husband’s sexual identity (“Does that guy have to pretend he’s gay now?”), and add up to an evocative demonstration of how stereotypes about gender and battles for bodily autonomy affect trans and cis people in overlapping ways. Doyle concludes with a call for burying the hatchet—if all feminists acted as “one cohesive constituency, we could have what it takes” to overthrow patriarchy’s violent enforcement of expectations around gender, he writes. The result is a heartening call for feminist solidarity. (Oct.)