The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes

Zoë Playdon: Bloomsbury $33

Ewan Forbes, born in 1912, was a respected GP, husband, farmer and church elder. That he was born a girl would have been nobody’s business – except he also fell heir to an ancient Scottish baronetcy. Forbes’ legal case to claim the title was kept secret for years because it has huge implications for the ancient practice of male primogeniture. Doctor and trans activist Zoë Playdon uses Forbes to explain the medical and legal understanding of transgender people, and is scathing about professionals of the 1960s-70s who argued it was easier to change minds than bodies. Playdon argues cisgender privilege is based on the same thinking that spawned religious fundamentalism, slavery and eugenics.