If you’re anything like us, you’ve already binge-watched What It Feels Like For A Girl, the catty, chaotic coming-of-age story following a young Byron (played by Ellis Howard) as they navigate growing up queer in the Midlands during the early aughts.
While the show taps into the current wave of Y2K nostalgia sweeping our screens, is actually an adaptation of the 2021 memoir by the same name written by UK author Paris Lees. But who is Paris Lees, and what makes her so influential?
Who is Paris Lees?
ICYMI: Paris Lees is an author, broadcaster, and journalist who rose to prominence as a voice in political and LGBTQIA+ media throughout the 2010s.
Starting out right here at Gay Times she went on to become an award-winning author, a whip-smart columnist, the first trans woman to present BBC Radio 1 and Channel 4 News, and a tireless trans rights campaigner.
In 2021, she released a well-received memoir about her childhood growing up in the ex-mining town of Hucknall, Nottinghamshire. In the book, she recounts instances of family struggle, bullying, statutory rape and underage sex work, as well as finding an effervescent friendship group of fellow queer and trans young people she dubs the ‘Fallen Divas’ and diving into the Nottingham club scene.
The memoir also explores Lees’ first-hand experience of the criminal justice system, after she spent eight months in a young offenders’ institute after robbing a client. As she told the BBC in 2013: “I had a lot of time for thinking when I was in prison.” While incarcerated, she explored art therapy and was able to envisage a future lived as her true self.
She was released early on a curfew and enrolled back into college to attain her A-levels. However, she chose not to pursue gender-affirming care while still in Nottinghamshire.“I didn’t feel like I could transition at college because it was a little bit rough. I didn’t think I could face it,” she told the BBC.
This perspective changed following the death of her beloved grandmother, with whom she lived at points throughout her life. “She died and I just thought, ‘do you know what, life is too short. I can’t do this, I need to express myself and who I am,” she has said.
Lees then enrolled in the University of Brighton, graduating in 2009 with a BA (Hons) in English Language and Literature, later receiving an honorary doctorate degree from the university in 2016, for “making a major contribution to transgender identity in contemporary society through her work as a journalist and social commentator.”
@gaytimes For GAY TIMES’ 40th birthday, writer Paris Lees is delving into the archives 📖 #magazine #behindthescenes #bts #archive #lgbtqhistory #queerhistory #historytime #trans #transjoy #transpride ♬ original sound – GAY TIMES
Paris Lees’ career so far
Despite her academic success, Lees struggled to find employment due to her criminal record, and has explored the role employment discrimination plays in youth recidivism. For Lees, being rejected from an application as a telesales rep was what encouraged her to focus on her writing and on activism.
As a journalist, Lees founded the digital platform META, which focussed on the trans community. Prominent within UK queer media, she gained a column before worked as an assistant editor at this very magazine and had her own column at Diva. She then went on to write for the likes of The Guardian and became the first trans woman to serve as a columnist for British Vogue and worked as a presenter for Channel 4 and BBC Radio 1.
In 2021, she released her memoir What It Feels Like For A Girl, and wrote the BBC 3 adaptation which has just landed on screens to pretty much universal acclaim (we’re not counting the write-up in The Telegraph, for obvious reasons).
In an interview with The Bookseller in 2021, Lees reflected on her ascendant career as a writer, saying: “I grew up feeling like I wasn’t good enough, so to feel respected for my writing is really moving.”
She’s also previously suggested that more book material is underway, telling The Guardian that “there’s at least two more books” following the release of her debut memoir.
Is Paris Lees an activist?
Paris Lees is often referred to as an activist, but has spoken out about how the term doesn’t necessarily feel like the right fit. “It drives me crazy when people introduce me as a trans activist, because that makes me feel like I should be chained up to the railings outside Downing Street with Peter Tatchell,” she told The Guardian in 2021.
However, she has been involved with a number of social causes throughout her career. Challenging transphobia in the media, she’s collaborated with organisations like All About Trans and Trans Media Watch. In her journalistic work, she’s explored her experiences as a trans woman as well as topics such as discrimination and youth reoffending rates. Additionally, she’s advocated against the Nordic Model and in favour of sex workers’ rights.
In the media, she’s been outspoken about her experiences as a working class person.
Is Paris Lees on social media?
You can follow Paris Lees on Instagram and X but, word of warning, she’s not super active on either account. She doesn’t have a TikTok account either, presumably because she’s too busy writing!
