Laura Lecuona
Laura Lecuona studied Philosophy at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and has worked in publishing since 1993. She was editorial coordinator in Editorial Paidós Mexicana for eleven years, children’s books editorial manager in Ediciones SM for seven years, and has worked as freelance publishing editor, copy editor, proofreader and translator for some of the main publishing houses in the Spanish language, such as Penguin Random House, Océano, Norma, Ediciones B, Planeta and Fondo de Cultura Económica, as well as public institutions including Secretaría de Educación Pública, Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas (UNAM), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana and British Council. As a translator, she masters a wide range of topics, from philosophy and social sciencies to young adult fiction, illustrated books for children, biographies, memoirs, adult fiction… She’s a member of Asociación Mexicana de Traductores Literarios (Ametli). As a lifelong feminist, she’s one of the first Mexican women to have voiced criticism towards the transition of children and the harms of gender identity ideology, and consequently one of the first to have been cancelled and to have been made redundant and lost job opportunities because of their views. As a popularizer of feminism, she is regularly invited as a lecturer to radical feminist conferences and writes short pieces for several independent media and news outlets. She is author of Las mujeres son seres humanos (Secretaría de Cultura, 2016), a short introduction to feminism. As an activist, she was part of a group against violence against women from a very young age. In 2017 she founded Feministas Mexicanas contra Vientres de Alquiler (Femmva), a grassroots organisation against surrogacy, and is Mexico’s country contact for Women’s Declaration International.
Laura Lecuona
Thousands of pages of books, millions of characters in tweets and hundreds of blogs have been devoted to explaining the distinction between sex and gender, but far from clarifying anything, bewilderment for ordinary people is only growing.
The concept of gender is central to a vaguely progressive-looking set of ideas based on the maxim that people possess a so-called ‘gender identity’. The real problem arises when this nebulous concept, bandied about with different and even incompatible meanings by different groups, is used as a prop to introduce policies that mark a huge setback for the rights of women and girls. The general public, watching the controversy from the sidelines, is confused by conflicting claims about whose rights are being infringed.
In this incisive book, Laura Lecuona sets the record straight by reviewing the origin of the current uses of the key term gender and exploring the main theories of transgenderism. She discusses what lies behind the claims about pronoun usage and warns about the consequences of promoting the recognition of so-called transgender children. She points out the collateral damage arising from this activism, from the perpetuation of sexist roles to limitations on freedom of speech. She dares to confront the accusations of transphobia that often inhibit those who question the foundations of this financially-driven and increasingly dominant ideology and shows the devastating effects transactivism is having on women, both socially and politically.
Gender Identity: Lies and Dangers is essential reading for the urgently needed conversation we need to have about whose interests are being served with the advancement of transgender ideology and what this means for women’s sex-based rights.
FEBRUARY 2024 | ISBN 9781925950908 | Paperback | 378 pages
THIS BOOK IS PART OF THE GENDER CRITICAL COLLECTION