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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Informative and accessible. Well written. Just an all around enjoyable read. And such a brave and necessary stand for truth in today’s political climate in the West.
This should be used to teach how to spot logical fallacies and poorly constructed arguments.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
first off, this author was smart to include so many footnotes/references to back-up her claims AND she encouraged all readers to look up the studies themselves and draw their own conclusions. But it irked me that she inserted herself (and her personal opinions - which we all know can be divorced from fact) into the book. what does the merits of the author - pro gay rights, heavy attender of drag shows, appearing very feminine but possessing many masculine traits - matter to the thesis? it's another case of prioritizing the messenger rather than the message. Heck! she even sidebars that, when researching whether to 'believe' scientific studies, we should first look into the author's academic department and if their bio contains the buzzwords like inequity or lived experience! Please, please, bring back science that follows the principle of scientific inquiry!
many times I was unsure if she wanted to abolish gender or reinforce it, because the title implies the desire to 'end' it but she successfully argued for gender being very much linked to biology, at least for 98% of humanity (and even some animals!) Dr Money's poor David Reimer, evolutionary biology/psychology, and my own observations of my children contradict the popular 'gender is a social construct' mantra.
the biggest weakness of the book is probably also it's greatest strength: it is written in layman's terms for people who are just coming to this subject. but I'm a person who is well versed in these arguments, so it seemed overly facile in many spots (especially concerning intact male bodies in women's prisons)
many times I was unsure if she wanted to abolish gender or reinforce it, because the title implies the desire to 'end' it but she successfully argued for gender being very much linked to biology, at least for 98% of humanity (and even some animals!) Dr Money's poor David Reimer, evolutionary biology/psychology, and my own observations of my children contradict the popular 'gender is a social construct' mantra.
the biggest weakness of the book is probably also it's greatest strength: it is written in layman's terms for people who are just coming to this subject. but I'm a person who is well versed in these arguments, so it seemed overly facile in many spots (especially concerning intact male bodies in women's prisons)
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
I needed to create a new shelf for my frustration at this one.
I saw it on a shelf without seeing the related titles, which actually give me context and an idea of what to expect. My theoretical preference lean toward the relativist, and I thought I would just be reading an empiricist’s approach.
That I can handle. I was not expecting repeated faulty logic and unsubstantiated claims presented as evidence.
It’s bombastic, not insightful. I welcomed a chance to learn from a different discipline and epistemologic approach. I’m left with the sense that the favor wouldn’t be returned.
I saw it on a shelf without seeing the related titles, which actually give me context and an idea of what to expect. My theoretical preference lean toward the relativist, and I thought I would just be reading an empiricist’s approach.
That I can handle. I was not expecting repeated faulty logic and unsubstantiated claims presented as evidence.
It’s bombastic, not insightful. I welcomed a chance to learn from a different discipline and epistemologic approach. I’m left with the sense that the favor wouldn’t be returned.
informative
medium-paced
Yeah, this was just not a very good book in my opinion. Ideologically, I disagree with much of what Dr Soh wrote, but more than that it just wasn't very well written.
For someone who claims to be crying out for a return to science, Dr Soh wrote a book that was painfully unscientific. She frequently contradicted herself and her own arguments, only included references when it suited her (seriously I was sick of writing "source?" in the margins by page 36), and constantly made broad sweeping statements that from my perspective, as someone who exists within many of the spaces and communities that Dr Soh talked about, were inaccurate and misrepresentative, but more worryingly were almost completely unsubstantiated. Dr Soh constantly accuses the political left of fearmongering and yet is exactly what she is doing with these unsubstantiated claims that she relies so heavily on.
Dr Soh frequently left out or ignored parts of the conversation or specific groups such as the intersex community when it wasn't convenient to her staunch defense of the sex and gender binary. And when she did acknowledge them, it was to say that they *don't* fit into the sex and gender binary but they're such a small percentage of the population that they essentially don't matter and there's no point changing our understanding of sex and gender to include them. So that's lovely.
Dr Soh constantly came across as intensely out of touch with real life. Without a shred of self-reflection she indicated that she couldn't understand why a young girl would ever be dissuaded from pursuing a career in a field that she was passionate about. She really couldn't imagine a single social or structural obstacle that might prevent a young girl from pursuing her passions? Really? At another time she lamented about young boys being encouraged to dress provocatively and "seductively" in the name of exploring gender expression, and then queried if young cis girls would be allowed to dress similarly. Is she not on tik tok, instagram, or exist within society at all? Young girls all over are dressing more and more provocatively at younger and younger ages. It's an issue to be sure, but hardly one that does not affect cis girls as well. It worries me that Dr Soh wrote this book while clearly being so out of touch with current society.
Once again I reiterate that Dr Soh spends much of the book bemoaning society turning away from science, and yet presents one of the most biased scientific voices I've ever had the displeasure of reading. She fails to hide her total and utter contempt for the political left, those working within the social sciences, and the LGBTQ+ community. The last one she at least attempts to cover with faux-sympathy but her condescension and dislike towards the community leaps off the page. She derides the non-binary community (notably comparing it to "being goth" implying that it's merely a phase rather than a genuine expression of gender), theorises that much of the LGBTQ+ community and particularly queer women only identify as such as to be considered "more oppressed" or "more" of a minority, and on multiple occasions tries desperately to pit the factions of the LGBTQ+ community against one another. She further has a poor understanding of body dysmorphia, intimates that transgender and non-binary individuals see their identities as fun and trivial without properly acknowledging the very real obstacles they face, and compares transitioning to conversion therapy. I could continue, but I think you get the point.
Furthermore, for much of the book Dr Soh seemed more concerned with painting herself and those like-minded as victims of the political left than actually talking about gender. She constantly threw out one-liners about trans-activists and the political left attacking her (mostly online) without ever acknowledging the harmful rhetoric that she peddles as the cause of this or how it damages the community she's claiming as the aggressors. If I took out all the lines and anecdotes that desperately try to paint Dr Soh and her colleagues as helpless victims of the big, scary, cancel-culture, political left, I think this book could have been a good 50 pages shorter.
I could go further into each section of this book, as I found the chapters on transgender people in sport (which fails to acknowledge the lack of level playing field among cis-gender athletes), gender dynamics in dating (including advice that sets society back roughly 50 years), and gender neutral parenting (featuring a frankly alarming lack of understanding about what gender neutral parenting actually is) particularly egregious but I'll refrain.
To close this review, I picked out one of the many notes I made while reading this book: The fear mongering and paranoia in this book would read as a great dystopian novel. The only problem is that Dr Soh hasn’t decided who her big bad is or what their goal is. It’s all a conspiracy!! She claims. Most health care professionals are terrified to say how they really feel!! She decides. Who are they scared of you ask and what does "the other side" want? Well *mumble mumble* something trans activists something. Dr Soh constantly assumes nefarious intentions of the political left, frequently gives the benefit of the doubt to the political right, and can't quite decide what exactly conspiracy theory she believes in. And her book reflects that confusion.
For someone who claims to be crying out for a return to science, Dr Soh wrote a book that was painfully unscientific. She frequently contradicted herself and her own arguments, only included references when it suited her (seriously I was sick of writing "source?" in the margins by page 36), and constantly made broad sweeping statements that from my perspective, as someone who exists within many of the spaces and communities that Dr Soh talked about, were inaccurate and misrepresentative, but more worryingly were almost completely unsubstantiated. Dr Soh constantly accuses the political left of fearmongering and yet is exactly what she is doing with these unsubstantiated claims that she relies so heavily on.
Dr Soh frequently left out or ignored parts of the conversation or specific groups such as the intersex community when it wasn't convenient to her staunch defense of the sex and gender binary. And when she did acknowledge them, it was to say that they *don't* fit into the sex and gender binary but they're such a small percentage of the population that they essentially don't matter and there's no point changing our understanding of sex and gender to include them. So that's lovely.
Dr Soh constantly came across as intensely out of touch with real life. Without a shred of self-reflection she indicated that she couldn't understand why a young girl would ever be dissuaded from pursuing a career in a field that she was passionate about. She really couldn't imagine a single social or structural obstacle that might prevent a young girl from pursuing her passions? Really? At another time she lamented about young boys being encouraged to dress provocatively and "seductively" in the name of exploring gender expression, and then queried if young cis girls would be allowed to dress similarly. Is she not on tik tok, instagram, or exist within society at all? Young girls all over are dressing more and more provocatively at younger and younger ages. It's an issue to be sure, but hardly one that does not affect cis girls as well. It worries me that Dr Soh wrote this book while clearly being so out of touch with current society.
Once again I reiterate that Dr Soh spends much of the book bemoaning society turning away from science, and yet presents one of the most biased scientific voices I've ever had the displeasure of reading. She fails to hide her total and utter contempt for the political left, those working within the social sciences, and the LGBTQ+ community. The last one she at least attempts to cover with faux-sympathy but her condescension and dislike towards the community leaps off the page. She derides the non-binary community (notably comparing it to "being goth" implying that it's merely a phase rather than a genuine expression of gender), theorises that much of the LGBTQ+ community and particularly queer women only identify as such as to be considered "more oppressed" or "more" of a minority, and on multiple occasions tries desperately to pit the factions of the LGBTQ+ community against one another. She further has a poor understanding of body dysmorphia, intimates that transgender and non-binary individuals see their identities as fun and trivial without properly acknowledging the very real obstacles they face, and compares transitioning to conversion therapy. I could continue, but I think you get the point.
Furthermore, for much of the book Dr Soh seemed more concerned with painting herself and those like-minded as victims of the political left than actually talking about gender. She constantly threw out one-liners about trans-activists and the political left attacking her (mostly online) without ever acknowledging the harmful rhetoric that she peddles as the cause of this or how it damages the community she's claiming as the aggressors. If I took out all the lines and anecdotes that desperately try to paint Dr Soh and her colleagues as helpless victims of the big, scary, cancel-culture, political left, I think this book could have been a good 50 pages shorter.
I could go further into each section of this book, as I found the chapters on transgender people in sport (which fails to acknowledge the lack of level playing field among cis-gender athletes), gender dynamics in dating (including advice that sets society back roughly 50 years), and gender neutral parenting (featuring a frankly alarming lack of understanding about what gender neutral parenting actually is) particularly egregious but I'll refrain.
To close this review, I picked out one of the many notes I made while reading this book: The fear mongering and paranoia in this book would read as a great dystopian novel. The only problem is that Dr Soh hasn’t decided who her big bad is or what their goal is. It’s all a conspiracy!! She claims. Most health care professionals are terrified to say how they really feel!! She decides. Who are they scared of you ask and what does "the other side" want? Well *mumble mumble* something trans activists something. Dr Soh constantly assumes nefarious intentions of the political left, frequently gives the benefit of the doubt to the political right, and can't quite decide what exactly conspiracy theory she believes in. And her book reflects that confusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia
slow-paced
Content Warnings
Minor: Deadnaming, Sexism, Transphobia, Medical content
informative
medium-paced
Dr. Debra Soh lays down, probably, the most unbiased scientifically proven approach to gender and gender related issues that I've ever read in my life. I personally disagreed with some things she wrote, but one cannot deny that The End of Gender is one one the most powerful books in today's time. There is not one single claim that is not backed up by hardcore, peer-reviewed and scientifically well structured science and research. Dr. Soh's explanations on sex and gender, on transgenderism and sexual orientation and on how SJW and LGBTQ+ ideology have devolved into pitchfork protesting are, to put it mildly, irrefutable. And irrefutable thoughts are of extreme value these days. A very good book.
Those who snag this assuming it's going to be some conservative hate screed will be greatly disappointed. Instead, this is a thoughtful fascinating look at the myths that surround our discussions of gender these days. She uses clear-headed unemotional science to make her point and debunk the nine myths she focuses on. She courageously points out that activist science isn't science, and she repeatedly insists on ideas and policies that extend rights to transgender individuals.
She narrates her book with a professional highly listenable style. I can't remember whether I expended an Audible credit for this or just paid for it outright, but either way, I am far from disappointed. In fact, I find a certain kind of hope that there are more people like her out there who can look at the science without slashing and trashing those who disagree with whatever position they've taken.
She narrates her book with a professional highly listenable style. I can't remember whether I expended an Audible credit for this or just paid for it outright, but either way, I am far from disappointed. In fact, I find a certain kind of hope that there are more people like her out there who can look at the science without slashing and trashing those who disagree with whatever position they've taken.