Review by Jo Bartosch in Spiked-Online
“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.
“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
“One day the world will look back on this insane period of biology denial & 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 & even simple respectful debate out into the public domain. All these women are modern day superheroes.”
Sharron Davies MBE, legendary British Olympian, Olympic silver medallist and campaigner
Suzanne Moore in the Daily Telegraph, July 2025
“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
“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
“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
“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
This is not real!
US writer Donovan Cleckley compares the women of Terf Island with previous generations of feminists.
“Fiona McAnena’s TERF Island: How the UK Resisted Trans Ideology is one among many more women’s works to come—we can hope—giving us portraits of women’s activism that we may learn from courageous and, perhaps more importantly, disagreeable women. Studying women’s social movement rhetoric, largely due to my mother who taught me how to read, it seems unavoidable how much TERF Island recalls the histories written by woman suffragists. Readers should read McAnena’s book to find much of interest with regard to the nature of women’s organizing exemplified in the efforts of Stephanie Davies-Arai, Dr. Nicola Williams, Kellie-Jay Keen, and Maya Forstater over these past years.“
Read Donovan’s thoughtful essay.
Watch Sonya Douglas talk about the book at the Battle of Ideas 2025