Lesbians: Where Are We Now? ~ Julie Bindel
Dates: Jun 07, 2026 - Jul 05, 2026
Before I begin, I think I should make it very clear that I am being VERY generous with that one star, which has only earned its place because I felt that the very little of this book that wasn't focused on bashing trans women and was actually about lesbian history was actually quite interesting. Now, onto everything wrong with this book:
I picked up this book amongst other LGBTQ+ non-fiction works in Waterstones (yes, I'm also pissed that I paid a full £10.99 for this) and read the blurb to think, wow, this is really interesting. I've never read this kind of book in full, only short snippets for essays for university. I thought this would encourage me to do more non-fiction reading, but honestly, I wish I'd never picked it up.
The blurb in itself is very misleading. Yes, all of the things it describes such as "love, friendship, and happiness" is talked about, but nothing in comparison to the sheer amount Bindel talks about trans women. I'm being very particular in my language here, because throughout the entire 200 pages of this book, trans men are only referenced once, and trans ideology is meant in terms of trans women only.
I'd also like to make clear that the only reason I read until the end is because I don't believe you can make a full assumption about a piece without reading the whole thing. A small piece of me was hoping that the further I got into the book, the closer I'd get to Bindel realizing error in her ideology. Obviously, that has not happened. I will also admit that I didn't read any reviews of this book before buying, which I now will do every single time I pick up a book, even a fiction one, to avoid spending money on books that don't have the same ideology I align myself with.
The conclusion I have come to at the end of this is the very real possibility that Bindel is not remotely queer in the slightest. She consistently talks about how sexuality is in fact a choice and that she discovered her sexuality in relation to radical feminism. It appears that she only has love for women as far as she has love for feminists, especially considering how badly she slates any women who don't share her ideology. Ironic, I know, as I'm writing this review out, but I'm not calling her any bad names or using year six bullying tactics, I'm explaining my perspective in what I would consider a respectable manner. Bindel accuses any women who appear to have any kind of relation with a man or trans woman to be submissive slaves to the patriarchy, and makes it clear she thinks less of them than she does the dirt under her feet.
I made a list on my phone of points to talk about in this review, very unprofessional ones, but I do want to share them all just in case it makes one person stop and think twice about picking up this book, or any of hers for that matter.
"Stop using Billy Porter to promote transphobia." Billy Porter, born William Ellis Porter II is an American singer, actor, writer, director, and businessperson (as per Wikipedia). I first saw him in Pose, a 2018 drama television series surrounding New York City's ball room subculture. He is an incredible activist in LGBTQ+ politics and one of the first openly gay celebrities that I ever recognized. Bindel uses the argument that because he wore a tuxedo dress to the Academy Awards in 2019, he proves that men can be in touch with femineity without being transgender. If she wants to use a celebrity queer icon to push her transphobic agenda, Billy Porter is definitely not the one.
"I don't think the n word should have been censored in a non-fiction book when it's detailing racism." This point may be controversial coming from a white woman, but when talking about racism, especially when its used in the context of a direct quote, I think it's almost more disrespectful to censor the terminology. This is obviously not a word that I or anyone else should be using on the regular, in notes or reviews or anything like that, but a published non-fiction work where its within the context of racism and bigotry? I don't think it should have been censored.
"'Not on' is not a professional language." This isn't the only example of unprofessional writing, in fact the vast majority of this book is written very informally to the point where I feel like I'm being ranted at in conversation rather than reading a respectable published book, but this example in itself did make me giggle when reading it. Equally, the context in which she's talking really emphasises the fact that she disagrees (though I can't remember what about) so using 'not on' almost devalues that entirely because its so blasé.
"The way this is described, you'd think there were doctors on the streets harassing masc lesbians to be trans." There a multiple instances in the book where Bindel talks about doctors recommending gender reassignment surgery over identifying with a queer sexuality, and I want to make it clear that I'm not talking about foreign countries but only the UK specifically, lesbianism is far more accepted than transgenderism. It takes so long for gender reassignment surgery to become an option for some many trans people, with psyche evaluations and counselling and medical intervention. There are so many hoops that people have to jump through, so forgive me if I don't believe these circumstances are as prevalent as Bindel makes them out to be. Especially considering the recent rise in transphobia and the rise of far right politics, there are most definitely no doctors rallying in the streets to chop off body parts.
"Questioning Stonewall is an INSANE take." Shockingly enough, Stonewall is constantly criticised in this book. If I'm being perfectly honest, before reading this book, Stonewall was the only queer activism I had ever heard of. Admittedly, I didn't realise it was its own charity based within the UK named after the Stonewall riots, but its the only activism I could pull to mind in relation to queer rights, and bashing it constantly is so incredibly tone deaf.
"How anyone can find an issue with David Tennant is baffling." "Having compassion for JK Rowling whilst slating David Tennant really tells you everything you need to know." Two birds with one stone here. Bindel suggests that JK Rowling is a woman she really looks up to and could, to some degree, consider her friend. Simultaneously, she is incredibly rude about national icon David Tennant, essentially saying that his prominent allyship with transgenderism (ignoring his allyship with the LGBTQ+ community as a whole) is brainwashing and that celebrities shouldn't be pushing ideologies. Ha ha, ironic. What's that statistic? Oh yeah, the one where, according to Psychology Today, more than 25% of people regret their Harry Potter tattoos, in comparison to the 9% of trans, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people aged 18 and over having detransitioned, according to Advocates for Trans Equality.
"Why is transphobia only directed at trans women and not trans men? Every time she says trans as a collective, she says they're all men. Patriarchally affirming I guess? For trans men?" I've said earlier on about how Bindel only really talks about trans women. I would like to further that point but the fact that she only uses their chosen name if she can't find their dead name. She also uses pretransition pronouns, or in some instances, calls them an 'it'. Funny how pronouns work, isn't it?
Overall, this was an awful read. I can't even say the writing was good and kept me engaged, because from an editorial standpoint, it wasn't even good writing. It was unprofessional, sloppy, and at every single turn, now matter what she was focusing on, a curve would always appear leading back to trans people. For a book about lesbian history, she spends an awful lot of time talking about transgenderism.
I would like to be clear also that I am not diminishing the stories of the women contacted for this book, especially those who have suffered from sexual assault. I'm not saying that they're not valid in their feelings, or that they should be discounted based on views alone (should they be less inclined towards transgenderism) because the reality is that they've been wronged. They been wronged, harmed, and chances are that these events are what have swayed their viewpoints, which in all honesty, is understandable. I do feel for them and hope that over the years, they have found the help they need and will continue to do so.
Julie Bindel, however, should learn to stop centering men. Its ironic, really, that all she talks about is how lesbians shouldn't centre men by letting trans women into their lives, but lets talk honestly here. She believes men are out there parading as women. She is spending her whole book talking about these evil men. Until she stops centering men in her life, maybe she should take a step back from radical feminist activism.
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