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arthur_of_camelot 's review for:
Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters
by Abigail Shrier
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.