Abigail Shrier

The first half of this book poses a reasonable question with a reasonable thesis; the question being why so many teen girls are identifying as trans nowadays, and the thesis being that some number of those girls-however small-are not actually trans. The first half of the book relies heavily on parent interviews; noticeably absent are interviews with the transitioners themselves. In the second half of the book, however, Shrier relies on thoroughly debunked, 40-year-old gender science, show more interviews with radical detransitioners, and the brutally unscientific research of Lisa Littman to argue that transwomen are perverts, that the “adolescence” window she refers to throughout the book actually runs up to age 25, that no one in this age group should be able to reason about their own identity and therefore should be disallowed for medical transitioning.

What starts as a reasonable enough text exploring the nascent phenomenon of adolescent transitioning, with the author claiming to have no problem with trans people, turns at the halfway mark into harmful rhetoric and scare tactics. I would not recommend this book to anyone without strongly encouraging them to conduct independent research on Shrier’s sources and the trans issue as a whole. Most notably, I would recommend they talk to an actual trans person. show less

An excellent and necessary study into the social contagion into which so many young girls are getting caught up. The author treats the subject fairly, noting that she supports many adults who identify as trans and interviews some for this book. The evidence she presents cannot be denied, however, showing that many young girls *are* feeling pressured to give up their identity as girls. There are many reasons: girls coming from middle-class white families looking for an identity as a minority show more in a society that places high value on such identity; girls raised in progressive households looking to push whatever boundaries they can find in acts of rebellion; the way we've raised kids today to believe that happiness must be a constant state of mind and, when uncomfortable in one's body (as so many teens are!), one *must* be in the wrong body, etc. Particularly valuable are chapters 7-10. Whether one agrees or not with the ultimate point of the book, this is a valuable addition to the conversation about trans identities in children and teens. show less

The topic of how maybe social media and peer pressure may have led to the rise in teen girls identifying as anything other than girl feels like an afterthought in this book.

I don’t know, I just don’t buy it. The author says she’s an opinion writer, and very frequently does it show. Her diction is dismissive, her interjections are self-righteous, and her anecdotes are misleading. She’ll say kids don’t know anything, then she’ll quote a kid who suits her narrative.

She’ll use the show more story of that boy’s botched circumcision where the doctor convinces the parents to raise that boy as a girl before he could consent (to not great results) to prove gender is assigned at birth, then she’ll say trans people are afforded the luxury to make a choice. She’ll compare that same choice with a holocaust survivor by saying the survivor was forced to lose her identity and never really reconnect with herself after the fact due to circumstances, but, like, she still technically made a choice. It’s hyperbole. It’s sensationalism.

I wanted to rate this one star and move on, but then the naysayers would consider my opinion invalid. Well, I went into this book defensive (maybe because the subtitle’s use of “seduce” in such close proximity to “daughters” is (intentionally) unnerving). I try not to rate any published work below two stars because I know how much work it takes to finish a project, but I don’t think this book brings any value to the trans conversation. I think it takes some away.

According to the author, gender affirming care is that one joke where a mom takes her son to the therapist because he thinks he’s a chicken. “I oughta know I’m a chicken,” he says. The mom pleads with the therapist. “See? He’s crazy right?” The therapist responds, “You’re the one arguing with a chicken.”

Harvard recently released a study involving the private insurance usage of five million teenagers in between 2018 and 2022. Of those 5,000,000 teens, less than 0.1% used any form of gender affirming care.

Final rating: If you don’t have the time or privilege to look past the dismissive language to pick apart why this book, published and promoted during the summer before the 2020 election, is focused on a niche subject that affects a very small portion of the population that still gets so much attention nowadays, then don’t bother. Talk to your children. Support them, but make sure they know what they’re doing before you let them make a life-altering decision. show less

Irreversible Damage is a book filled with horror and tragedy. It is vital reading for everyone living in the contemporary English-speaking world, at the very least. It is, for outsiders of other cultures or of the (hopefully not too) distant future, an interesting journalistic account of the range of human social psychology, that may serve as a warning. For too many, the concept of "cult" is necessarily linked with religiosity; unfortunately, that has left many of us (including my younger show more self) vulnerable to the (often atheistic) Transgender Cult which is exerting worrying influence not only via the internet, but also on policies in schools, government, and medical centers.

An opinion writer for the WSJ, Abigail Shrier has crafted a highly engaging text, her writing style keeping me hooked the whole way through. Her arguments are logically compelling; indeed, as she writes with regards to one, many arguments almost write themselves. It is somewhat an exercise of explaining the obvious to a culture that has become afraid of saying the wrong thing, even if it is true. With a wealth of information not only from textual research, but also from her many interviews with parents and their trans-identified children, internet personalities, gender "therapists", school officials, surgeons, psychiatrists, transgender adults, and finally de-transitioners, 'Irreversible Damage' is an excellent reference for facts and personal experiences helpful in understanding the current Transgender Craze.

Reading the book was frustrating, but in the way a tragedy is frustrating. Unfortunately, Irreversible Damage tells true stories of suffering and professional incompetence; I found myself filled with an urge to share the book with everyone I know who works with young people. There were some moments of relief: in particular, the middle chapter on dissenting psychiatrists was a welcome intervention of good sense in a narrative filled with interviews of individuals actively endorsing the psychic and medical harm of young girls and women. The final chapter, 'The Way Back', left me feeling hopeful: this tragedy can be overcome, and we as a culture have clear lessons to learn.

Although there were certain sentences or passages I might critique, none were necessary to the book: they were typically analogies meant to invoke pathos. Because of its quality as a reference and its urgent relevance to our contemporary culture, I without hesitation give this work five stars. show less