DILF: Did I Leave Feminism?

In this sharp manifesto, veteran author and activist, Jude Doyle, reunites feminist and trans politics through a common belief: that all people deserve to have the final say about who they are…

When Jude Doyle began his transition in the summer of 2020, he had a very public career as a feminist—winning awards from women’s organizations, writing for women’s magazines, publishing books on “women’s issues.” Then, after a decade in the movement, he had to walk out in front of the public and tell them he had never been a woman at all.

Doyle offers a seldom-heard and much-needed transmasculine perspective on feminist subjects, drawing together strands of intersectional feminist theory and queer and trans politics to show that all their struggles are the same struggle: The fight for gender-marginalized people to maintain autonomy and full selfhood in a patriarchy that is always eager to hollow us out and use us to further its own agenda.

DILF offers a strong rebuke to trans-exclusionary feminisms that seek to drive a wedge between gender-marginalized communities. Using interviews, critical analysis, and Doyle’s own personal experience, DILF proves that feminism is a vital and necessary tool for breaking free of patriarchal control, whoever you are.