UNSAFE: S. Lamble in conversation with Jackie Stacey

Join us to hear Lamble discuss their book Unsafe: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash We are excited to welcome professor and community organiser Lamble to Blackwell's in partnership with University of Manchester's Centre for the Study of Sexuality and Culture to discuss UNSAFE: The Carceral Roots of the Anti-Trans Backlash. Lamble will be in conversation with Jackie Stacey. Doors: 6.30pm, Starts: 6.45pm. About the book: The fiercest battles over gender today aren't just about identity or womanhood-but about punishment, fear, and control.The twenty-first century "gender wars" have been driven by a powerful and seductive narrative: that safety can be secured through exclusion, surveillance, and the policing of difference. These punitive logics have gained momentum across the political spectrum, fueling an anti-trans backlash and distorting the meaning of safety itself.Unsafe is a clear-eyed and decisive challenge to the toxic ideas at the heart of this backlash. With patient rigour, Lamble exposes how carceral approaches to safety fail to address root causes of harm, ultimately deepening social divisions and legitimising new forms of violence and control.Drawing on feminist and queer traditions as well as their experience organizing against prisons and policing, Lamble makes a principled case for a different vision: one where safety is not built on punishment but on collective care, radical solidarity, and transformative justice. About the author: Lamble is a community organizer and Professor of Criminology and Queer Theory at Birkbeck, University of London. Their work explores questions of gender, sexuality, and justice with a focus on feminist and abolitionist alternatives to prisons, police, and punishment. They are based in London. If you cannot make the event but would like a dedicated copy of the book, please email [email protected] or call us on 0161 274 3331. Our event format is usually a 45 minute discussion between the author and interviewer, followed by a chance for audience members to ask questions. There will be the opportunity to get your book signed/dedicated after the event. Events are a brilliant opportunity to discover new books, meet authors and likeminded readers and learn something new.Support your local bookshop and help us keep the Manchester literary scene vibrant and exciting. You can follow us on Eventbrite and social media (@BlackwellsMCR) to keep up to date on upcoming events.