Jessica Taylor vs. transgender people

Jessica Taylor (formerly Jessica Eaton) is a British psychologist and author whose work focuses on trauma and interpersonal violence. Taylor identifies as a radical feminist and has espoused and defended “gender critical” views.

Background

Jessica “Jess” Taylor was born in October 1990 and grew up on a council estate in Stoke-on-Trent. Taylor was reportedly sexually and physically abused by local perpetrators as a teenager. Taylor gave birth at 17 following a sexual assault, and reported the assault to police.

Taylor earned a bachelor’s degree from Open University in 2015 and a doctorate from University of Birmingham in 2019. While in college, Taylor worked for Victim Support, SARAC Rape Centre, and Safe & Sound. Taylor was appointed to Chair of the Parliamentary Conference on Violence Against Women and Girls while pursuing a doctorate. Taylor was a lecturer at University of Derby and was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal Society of Arts.

Taylor co-founded The Eaton Foundation with Alex Eaton. Taylor founded VictimFocus in 2017 and incorporated VictimFocus Ltd in 2019.

Taylor identifies as a femme lesbian and is in a relationship with Jaimi Shrive (born 1998). Taylor and Shrive co-founded Aureum Trauma Experts Ltd in 2026.

“Gender critical” views

Taylor identifies as a radical feminist who is critical of “gender ideology.” In 2020, Taylor outlined these views in a post:

The concept of gender is being wrongly discussed and defined which has confused millions of people.
Telling children and adults that they are born in the wrong body is abusive and biologically impossible.
You can’t challenge the gender role binary by upholding the gender role binary.
Biological sex is real, important and remains a protected characteristic in law.
Gender ideology has some repressive and homophobic ideas within it.
Issues around gender present serious dilemmas for safeguarding.
Gender ideology, like any other ideology, does not have to be accepted or supported by anyone else.

Taylor has also stated that “radical feminists are blamed for male violence,” writing:

As some of you will have seen this week, J. K. Rowling has been subjected to yet more death threats because of her opinions on sex and gender. Her position is broadly radical feminist, and this has resulted in thousands of messages of harassment, abuse, and threats of being bombed or killed.

There are two levels to the victim blaming and woman blaming that has happened in the last couple of days. The first is the indirect and direct blaming of J. K. Rowling for the death threats sent to her. It has been suggested several times that the death threats are justified, and that she deserves them. Secondly the victim blaming is focused on radical feminism, again.

One of the arguments I’ve seen is the belief or position that radical feminists holding contentious or contested beliefs about the concepts of gender, stereotypes, gender identity, and sex means that they are causing men to abuse them, harass them, and threaten them online. This often goes further and moves towards a suggestion of justification or desert. The belief seems to be that if women speak out or even privately discuss their views about sex and gender, they are bringing the violence of men upon themselves. Many radical feminist women (especially in the last 5 to 10 years) have been subjected to increasing security threats, rape threats, death threats, doxxing, stalking, and other forms of male violence in the name of activism and feminism.

What is most interesting is that women are paying the price for a view that is actually held by many men as well. I’ve noticed that when men speak out about their views about sex and gender they are criticised, but they are not subjected to death threats, rape threats, doxxing and harassment in the same way.

The suggestion that radical feminists are bringing male violence upon themselves by merely holding views about gender and sex, is very similar to the position held by men’s rights activists and incel groups which often argue that radical feminists deserve, and bring male violence upon themselves, by their so-called ‘misandry’.

Taylor has also been critical of other radical feminists who do not work in harmony and solidarity with like-minded activists. Taylor was particularly disappointed by cruel remarks other self-identified radical feminists made about Taylor’s appearance in 2019 and 2020.

Selected writing by Taylor

Taylor, Jessica (October 23, 2024). Were psychology and psychiatry built on hate? What Would Jess Say? https://whatwouldjesssay.substack.com/p/were-psychology-and-psychiatry-built

Taylor, Jessica (October 11, 2023). UN and WHO call for ‘significant shift away from biomedical model of mental health.’ What Would Jess Say? https://whatwouldjesssay.substack.com/p/un-and-who-call-for-significant-shift

Taylor, Jessica (July 20, 2021). Woman blaming: How radical feminists are blamed for male violence. Victim Focus Blog https://victimfocusblog.com/2021/07/20/woman-blaming-how-radical-feminists-are-blamed-for-male-violence/ [archive]

Taylor, Jessica (September 14, 2020). Femmes: Not feminist enough, not lesbian enough. Victim Focus Blog https://victimfocusblog.com/2020/09/14/femmes-not-feminist-enough-not-lesbian-enough/ [archive]

Taylor, Jessica (February 23, 2020). Let’s talk about sex… and gender ideology. Victim Focus Blog https://victimfocusblog.com/2020/02/23/lets-talk-about-sex-and-gender-ideology/ [archive]

Books

Taylor, Jessica (2026). Click. Stalk. Destroy.: Inside the Minds of People Who Stalk Online. Constable, ISBN 978-0349022611

Taylor, Jessica (2024). Underclass: A Memoir. Little, Brown, ISBN 978-1408716953

Taylor, Jessica (2022). Sexy But Psycho: How the Patriarchy Uses Women’s Trauma Against Them. Constable, ISBN 978-1472135490

Taylor, Jessica (2020). Why Women Are Blamed For Everything: Exploring the Victim Blaming of Women Subjected to Violence and Trauma. Lulu, ISBN 978-0244498344

Eaton, Jessica; Paterson-Young, Claire (2018). The Little Orange Book: Learning about abuse from the voice of the child. Lulu, ISBN 978-0244713027

Eaton, Jessica (2011). Detoxing Taylor. Lulu, ISBN 978-1447845287