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3.44 AVERAGE
3.44 AVERAGE
medium-paced
Amazing in-depth dive of the transgender ideology that is swallowing young girls whole. Recommended read for anyone sick of gender ideology, anyone who thinks they may be transgender, or any parents of daughters who are claiming the same.
informative
I am not going to talk on some political tangent about the topic of this book, but there is one thing.
NEVER listen to someone who demands you to not read a book, but instead accept their opinion on how it is harmful or this-ist or that-phobic. If you have any intellectual ambition, just go ahead and read it if you want to know. You don't have to agree, but never accept ANYONE's word on how you are not allowed to read something.
NEVER listen to someone who demands you to not read a book, but instead accept their opinion on how it is harmful or this-ist or that-phobic. If you have any intellectual ambition, just go ahead and read it if you want to know. You don't have to agree, but never accept ANYONE's word on how you are not allowed to read something.
I felt this book was written about girls like me. I felt represented by the way girls who believe they are trans are described, I used to be one of them growing up. This isn't a book about transgender people, but about those of us who believed ourselves to be trans, but grew out of the dysphoria and are in the process of learning how to be and love ourselves.
I don't share many opinions with the author (obviously, there's no way to have every human being believing the exact same thing outside a cult o a religion) and I downgraded my rating because I felt the way she described trans youtubers was patronizing, but I believe people should be less afraid of backlash when speaking about this phenomenon and research should be made, whether we like the objective results or not, because regardless of our feelings, only knowing more and knowing the truth can help people, transgender or not alike.
People who are rating with one star without even reading should give this a chance. Listening to different perspectives is enriching and there is no shame to not like the book anyways.
I don't share many opinions with the author (obviously, there's no way to have every human being believing the exact same thing outside a cult o a religion) and I downgraded my rating because I felt the way she described trans youtubers was patronizing, but I believe people should be less afraid of backlash when speaking about this phenomenon and research should be made, whether we like the objective results or not, because regardless of our feelings, only knowing more and knowing the truth can help people, transgender or not alike.
People who are rating with one star without even reading should give this a chance. Listening to different perspectives is enriching and there is no shame to not like the book anyways.
informative
medium-paced
Informative and helpful. Worth a read to understand this social contagion.
An excellent book, well worthy of five stars!
Incredibly compassionate, well researched, and excellently written. A book I would recommend to anyone interested in the Transgender Craze!
Incredibly compassionate, well researched, and excellently written. A book I would recommend to anyone interested in the Transgender Craze!
Not a helpful text for parents of gender questioning or transitioning teens. Hateful, dismissive, patronizing, sexist. Picked this up as part of a larger set of trans readings, in an effort to self-educate, including a variety of perspectives. I thought to get some "objective" information, but this polemic masquerading as journalism did little to inform; whatever otherwise seemingly legitimate questions or misgivings people might have about the process and culture of transition are poisoned in this diatribe by association with its explicitly bigoted language and agenda. Contempt for all things trans thoroughly woven into every chapter.
This book is just blatantly transphobic. Like, straight up admitting it. I don't have the time or mental health to go through and refute point-by-point, and I'm sure other reviews have already, but two main points here:
Yes, there are more transgender people today, in the exact same way there are more autistic people, more people with allergies, more gay people, more interracial relationships--more of anything that would have gotten you literally killed before this time (and that's not even to say it won't now either). We just know 1) what to call that and 2) again, less of these people die / are killed. No one is being "seduced," we're just murdered slightly less. More transgender people are able to identify that they are trans and openly live as such, versus being "butch" lesbians or drag queens, staying in the closet, being forced into the closet by fear, family, or social consequences--loss of friends, jobs, housing, financial security, and actual physical safety.
So I also have no idea what the fuck she's on about how coming out as transgender "increases their social status." I can personally assure you, it does not. If you think it does, by all means, start telling YOUR family, and YOUR parents, YOUR partner, YOUR boss, YOUR friends that you're transgender. Just as a fun little experiment! You can immediately walk it back when you're in danger of being kicked out, disowned, divorced, fired, or even legally beaten to death, so long as the other person can claim in court they "panicked" and just had a natural and justifiable homicidal reaction to the news.
Just because that's happening less now, that we're slowly gaining SOME protections against SOME of these situations--it isn't legal to fire someone for being gay or trans now, but with so many states being at will, that just means all they have to do is fire you for literally anything else or simply not give a reason for firing you, and it's effectively the same result; the "gay panic defense" has been overturned in SOME states but not all; there are still states pushing for legal discrimination against LGBT+ folks in businesses and medical care, so there's also the fun transgender experience of checking the news each day to see what rights everyone else has might have been gained or lost today--doesn't mean it's "cool" or "trendy" to come out as transgender.
The only way you could think that is if you're so accustomed to transgender people automatically being shamed, beaten, and killed that now if you see a transgender person NOT experiencing all of those possibilities at once, perhaps even living a normal life like everyone else gets to have, and your brain kicks back "hey wait a minute--this is so much better! they're getting way more than they're SUPPOSED to! some people are being nice to them AND THAT'S NOT FAIR!! **I** don't get special court cases [because my rights aren't being actively taken away], **I** don't get a cool name change [literally yes you can, any time you want, also nicknames exist], **I** don't have a lot of people congratulating me for being male or female [or for being white or straight or healthy]" and then throwing a tantrum over it.
Most people just don't get their tantrums published.
Yes, there are more transgender people today, in the exact same way there are more autistic people, more people with allergies, more gay people, more interracial relationships--more of anything that would have gotten you literally killed before this time (and that's not even to say it won't now either). We just know 1) what to call that and 2) again, less of these people die / are killed. No one is being "seduced," we're just murdered slightly less. More transgender people are able to identify that they are trans and openly live as such, versus being "butch" lesbians or drag queens, staying in the closet, being forced into the closet by fear, family, or social consequences--loss of friends, jobs, housing, financial security, and actual physical safety.
So I also have no idea what the fuck she's on about how coming out as transgender "increases their social status." I can personally assure you, it does not. If you think it does, by all means, start telling YOUR family, and YOUR parents, YOUR partner, YOUR boss, YOUR friends that you're transgender. Just as a fun little experiment! You can immediately walk it back when you're in danger of being kicked out, disowned, divorced, fired, or even legally beaten to death, so long as the other person can claim in court they "panicked" and just had a natural and justifiable homicidal reaction to the news.
Just because that's happening less now, that we're slowly gaining SOME protections against SOME of these situations--it isn't legal to fire someone for being gay or trans now, but with so many states being at will, that just means all they have to do is fire you for literally anything else or simply not give a reason for firing you, and it's effectively the same result; the "gay panic defense" has been overturned in SOME states but not all; there are still states pushing for legal discrimination against LGBT+ folks in businesses and medical care, so there's also the fun transgender experience of checking the news each day to see what rights everyone else has might have been gained or lost today--doesn't mean it's "cool" or "trendy" to come out as transgender.
The only way you could think that is if you're so accustomed to transgender people automatically being shamed, beaten, and killed that now if you see a transgender person NOT experiencing all of those possibilities at once, perhaps even living a normal life like everyone else gets to have, and your brain kicks back "hey wait a minute--this is so much better! they're getting way more than they're SUPPOSED to! some people are being nice to them AND THAT'S NOT FAIR!! **I** don't get special court cases [because my rights aren't being actively taken away], **I** don't get a cool name change [literally yes you can, any time you want, also nicknames exist], **I** don't have a lot of people congratulating me for being male or female [or for being white or straight or healthy]" and then throwing a tantrum over it.
Most people just don't get their tantrums published.
medium-paced
A very irritating read. I only read this because I know it's a controversial book and I wanted to know exactly what "gender critical" people are reading and saying. I didn't pay for this book.
The book opens with one sided interviews with parents insisting that they know their adult children better than they know themselves, and continuing to misgender them. I'm not surprised that most left as soon as they were able, transitioned, and cut ties after their parents refused to treat them with empathy and compassionate. We do not hear the child's side.
Shrier also does not appear to challenge these parents or ask them to explain themselves or these events. Shrier does not interrogate her own points or those of the people she quotes. Conjecture is presented as fact, and it's all so easily disproved.
There are very basic facts that are incorrect and a fundamental misunderstanding of not just trans issues but the Internet, online cultures, and Shrier seems to conflate anime with furry art? Which is laughably inaccurate and also worrying.
There were also many sections that simply made me uneasy as she insists that tomboys no longer exists (they do) and no one is a lesbian anymore (they are). Again, a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be trans and an insistence on stating opinions as facts.
The danger with this book is that it preys on people's fears, particularly parents. Trans people are already a minority that are at risk of abuse and all this book does it compound the issue.
If you genuinely want to understand trans people then there are many other much better books out there. I suggest Shon Faye's book The Trans Issue which is out in September, or The Gender Games by Juno Dawson, Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon, or Gender Explorers by Juno Roche.
The book opens with one sided interviews with parents insisting that they know their adult children better than they know themselves, and continuing to misgender them. I'm not surprised that most left as soon as they were able, transitioned, and cut ties after their parents refused to treat them with empathy and compassionate. We do not hear the child's side.
Shrier also does not appear to challenge these parents or ask them to explain themselves or these events. Shrier does not interrogate her own points or those of the people she quotes. Conjecture is presented as fact, and it's all so easily disproved.
There are very basic facts that are incorrect and a fundamental misunderstanding of not just trans issues but the Internet, online cultures, and Shrier seems to conflate anime with furry art? Which is laughably inaccurate and also worrying.
There were also many sections that simply made me uneasy as she insists that tomboys no longer exists (they do) and no one is a lesbian anymore (they are). Again, a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be trans and an insistence on stating opinions as facts.
The danger with this book is that it preys on people's fears, particularly parents. Trans people are already a minority that are at risk of abuse and all this book does it compound the issue.
If you genuinely want to understand trans people then there are many other much better books out there. I suggest Shon Faye's book The Trans Issue which is out in September, or The Gender Games by Juno Dawson, Beyond the Gender Binary by Alok Vaid-Menon, or Gender Explorers by Juno Roche.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Transphobia, Medical content
Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Misogyny