Unsafe: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash

What if the fiercest battles over gender today aren’t just about identity—but about punishment, fear, and control?

The “gender wars” in Britain have been driven by a powerful and seductive narrative: that safety can be achieved through exclusion, surveillance, and the policing of difference. From feminist campaigns to media scandals, punitive logics have gained momentum across the political spectrum, fuelling a backlash against trans rights and distorting the meaning of safety itself.

Unsafe is a clear-eyed and decisive challenge to the toxic ideas at the heart of anti-trans feminism. With patient rigor, Sarah Lamble exposes how carceral solutions to safety always fail to address the root causes of harm, and only deepen divisions within our communities.

But Unsafe isn’t just about critique—drawing on abolitionist feminism and insights from grassroots organizing, Lamble makes a principled case for a different vision: one where safety isn’t built on punishment but on collective care, material justice, and radical solidarity.