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Watch the online launch with Helen Joyce in discussion with Fiona McAnena
Endorsements
I devoured this essential history of the people and campaigns that turned Britain into Terf Island in a single sitting. Packed with sharp insights and telling details, this is social history written with the thrill and verve of a whodunnit.
—Helen Joyce, author of Trans: Gender Identity and the New Battle for Women’s Rights
When historians chronicle this period of insanity, due honour will go to the four heroic women whose stories are told in this engaging and important book. It’s easy to talk sense now that the tide has turned, but it took real courage in the days when you could lose your job, suffer savage bullying and almost universal ostracism, even physical violence, simply for stating a scientific fact.
—Richard Dawkins FRS, Emeritus Professor of the Public Understanding of Science, University of Oxford
A bracing account of the battle for sanity in a society that fancies itself so modern but has actually gone medieval. The gutsy women in this compelling book have risked everything to defend the reality of unalterable biological sex.
—Lionel Shriver, author of We Need to Talk About Kevin and Mania
A fascinating book about brave key figures in the UK sex-realist movement, told grippingly by another brave key figure. These women deserve to have their stories widely heard.
—Kathleen Stock, author of Material Girls: Why Reality Matters for Feminism
I love this book. It’s calm and authoritative, a reminder of what women can achieve when faced with an overtly misogynist ideology. Anyone who’s heard the phrase ‘toxic on both sides’ should read it, and marvel at the patience and persistence of the inspiring women McAnena has written about.
—Joan Smith, author of Misogynies
History is mostly written by men, about men. This vastly entertaining and informative book is different; about a handful of women whose efforts changed the UK for everyone, including incisive portraits of heroines from Kellie-Jay Keen to Maya Forstater.
—Julie Burchill, journalist, polemicist, novelist; the TV adaptation of her YA novel Sugar Rush won an International Emmy
While much of the world has capitulated to gender identity ideology and its regressive impact on women’s rights, the UK has taken a different path. If you want to know how – and who made that happen – this is the book for you.
—Andrew Doyle, writer and broadcaster, author of The New Puritans and The End of Woke
One day the world will look back on this insane period of biology denial and the wilful mutilation of vulnerable children with true horror. All those in this book from Terf Island can say they did their very best to stop it. Feisty women, every one. I’m proud to be amongst them. Fiona tells the story in brilliant detail of just how hard it was to get facts, science, statistics and even simple respectful debate out into the public domain. All these women are modern day super- heroes.
—Sharron Davies MBE, legendary British Olympian, Olympic silver medallist and campaigner
Proud to have been an outspoken Terf Islander although I came to the protest a little later than the women in this book. Defending the rights of women and children was a tough, dangerous and painful battle. These women never gave up. We must all thank them for saving our sex.
—Dame Jenni Murray, writer and broadcaster
Media Coverage
Reader Reviews
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | What is a TERF? What is the Transgender Trend? Why’s everyone’s so mad at JK Rowling? A google led me to the site of the legal group Sex Matters; who sent me a newsletter recommending TERF Island. I now have greater comprehension of the legal battle for single-sex spaces and the push back against the transgender trend, and can speak more wisely on these issues if asked.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | I thought I knew a fair bit about the so called gender wars in the UK, but this book is an eye opener and a strangely gripping read, I just could not stop reading. This is a fantastic 'primer' for anyone new to this subject but equally if you think you've heard much of the story, there is so much more to learn and appreciate. I was very moved by the personal stories and reflections from women who have been in the eye of the storm, understanding the price they have paid to fight for truth and to try to prevent harm to women and children. The book provides a clearly detailed, and 'from the horses mouth', account of what happened and when. It's an important historical account setting the record straight, and we can see already that many people who have pushed transgenderism are now rowing back, revising what they think, tweaking their version of what happened. As these people try to distance themselves from the horrific cancelling and denigration of ordinary women, who fought with integrity and compassion to prevent unnecessary harm, this book stands as important testimony for everyone in the future who says, "What happened? Who spoke out? Why did no one listen?" The book is concise, well written and neatly links the women's different areas of expertise and their varied experiences of being shunned, defamed, belittled and betrayed. One day all the women in this book will be honoured for the role they played, as will the writer, who has done an excellent job of recording this terrible chapter in UK history.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Very enjoyable and informative read. Great in particular to see the contribution of Stephanie Davies-Arai recognised - she was an early campaigner in this area at a time when speaking out guaranteed vilification and cancellation.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | As an American, I loved McAnena's behind-the-scenes look at the women who led the UK to become the TERF Island we all know and love. The personalities I already knew about, such as Kellie-Jay Keen and Maya Forstater, come to life, and all of the stories and photos offer insights into how a small group of women persisted and collaborated in the face of incredible challenges, resistance, and personal threats. Inspiring, informative, good read.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Engages the reader with the history of how women have stood up to trans ideology. The background to how individuals are connected and the hard work they all did. Child safeguarding and female rights impacted by trans ideology are clearly called out. The women of Terf Island will resist an abusive ideology until common sense returns. Great read.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Women working tirelessly to save women’s rights and keep children from irreparable harm, when most of us were blissfully unaware there was even a problem. We owe them so much. A must-read.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | An insightful read into some of the key women who have been and still are instrumental to resisting and rejecting gender ideology in the UK. An easy read, well written book. I like the author's style and find it a very comfortable read. Eye opening.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Amazing book about amazing women who are definitely on the right side of history. Without them we would be in Handmaids Tale land. Easy read too. Thank you Fiona.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | I devoured this book in one sitting. Fiona McAnena has captured the stories of the women who stood their ground when it was dangerous to do so — women who risked careers, reputations, and even their safety to speak the truth about biological reality. The endorsements from Helen Joyce, Richard Dawkins, Lionel Shriver, Kathleen Stock, and others are well-deserved. This is more than social history — it’s a gripping account of courage under fire, told with clarity, insight, and compassion. Personally, I found this book inspiring and motivating. It gave me the courage to speak up, with far less fear, about my concerns over gender ideology and its harmful impact on women and girls. If you’ve ever been told this issue is “toxic on both sides,” read this book. You’ll see the patience, persistence, and integrity of the women who refused to be silenced — and understand why we must all thank them.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | This is a brilliant read introducing some really heroic women standing up for their rights. It shows us the issue these women fought to uphold and the very hostile, disgraceful attacks on them from their opponents. A thoroughly good read.★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | I have followed the trans insanity since Bruce Jenner won a woman of the year award. It was absolute insanity to me that a man could so brazenly steal an award from women. Trouble is as Fiona explains, this rotten trans ideology ran deep and was down right dangerous to children, women and homosexuals. Fiona has done an amazing job with telling the stories of the women that raised concerns about the dangers of puberty blockers on children and men accessing female only spaces. I cried reading Staphanies story, thinking about those poor children who where failed, mislead and damaged using puberty blockers - the parents as well, this is devastating. The other ladies - all I can say is that they are true warriors, they saw how men were exploiting a loop hole of being able to gain access to spaces reserved for females only. All the while they were largely celebrated whilst being deemed vulnerable. If it weren’t for these ladies - Fiona included, I truly believe we’d be living in a society where women have no rights to spaces without male bodies. And children would continue to be harmed.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | This is a wonderful book about the brave women who risked so much to highlight the nonsense that the transgender community has tried to impose on society. Defending the rights of women and children was a difficult battle for these women. Everyone who like me who failed to recognise gender identity ideology should read Terf Island.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Brilliantly written account of the actions of four women who galvanised support to stop some of the worst excesses of the trans movement.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Anyone out there still not sure what a woman (or a man) is? ‘Terf Island’ is the incredible story of a modern women’s resistance movement; grassroots feminism happening live. Structured around four prominent campaigners, each with a distinctive background and reason for engagement, it saves its best card for last: Maya Forstater’s landmark extended courtroom drama. Naive hope, despair, resilience and triumph, this story has a narrative arc of a Hollywood epic, with plenty of scope for a sequel. Should the day ever come when any cultural institution finds the guts and integrity to produce it.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | A great summary in how a small vanguard of women and their hard work has helped the UK retain more common sense in the trans debate than other Anglosphere countries. After reading the book you can't help but respect the people who in some cases put their jobs, livelihoods, and freedom on the line for the protection of biological women's rights.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | A well-written and compelling account of the courageous women who were among the first to take a stand for women’s rights and the safeguarding of vulnerable children at a time when many were unaware or unwilling to speak out. I found it especially interesting to see how their paths crossed and what led each of them into this fight. Despite having read extensively on this subject, I still learned a great deal from this book.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Well written and very informative..I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone wishing to protect women's sex based rights.★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Fantastic book - thank you Fiona and all the brilliant women who have fought for us
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | This was a great read and is an important historical record of the latest wave of the feminist movement.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Excellent, concise, accurate and respectful account of the last few years and how women collaborated and protected the everyday rights they didn’t expect to need to defend. Thank you so much for this important social history
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Brilliant book with deep analysis of the contributions made by just some of the women brave enough to stand up for women’s single sex spaces and services.★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | A wonderful read- I am in awe of the sheer bravery and persistence of these women. My only 'complaint' is that Fiona stopped at just 4 'stories' -I'd loved to have read many more.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | A deeply insightful and thoughtfully written book. Capturing feminism in all its painful, raw truth. Immense gratitude to the women who have held the line and fought tirelessly for women’s rights.
★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | An excellent book charting the amazing activism of women trying to protect their rights and fighting back against gender ideology★★★★★ AMAZON REVIEW | Very interesting and well written