Think we don't have a serious problem w censorship in America?
Here's what it's like to write a book that takes the entirely common sense view - supported by dozens of experts & most Americans - that gender transition among teen girls is risky & should only proceed w caution. 1/
Amazon blocked my publisher from sponsoring ads for my book, while allowing ads for books that pushed the contrary view -- that is, books that argue that gender transition for teens is without serious risk. wsj.com/articles/amazo… /2
All of the legacy media outlets refused journalists' requests to review my book. Even Kirkus, which reviews 10,000 titles per year, declined to review it - even though it was the #1 book in several Amazon categories based on sales. feministcurrent.com/2020/08/30/bla… /3
Joe Rogan had me on his show. Spotify has now held 10 meetings w employees to debate whether to pull the episode--about a *book* that presents the mainstream idea that all this gender transition for teens is too much, too fast with too little oversight. vice.com/en/article/xg8… /4
Sean Scott, member of the National Association of Science Writers @ScienceWriters online forum, heard about my book and mentioned it on the forum. For this, he was expelled from the online forum. I have the emails. Many of the NASW members were quietly horrified. /5
Disturbed that more people weren't learning of the risks of gender transition, parents dug into their own pockets to purchase a billboard to get the word out. christianpost.com/news/puberty-i… /6
Encouraged that they managed one billboard, parents started a Gofundme to pay for more billboards, across the country. Gofundme -- which allows numberless teens to raise money for gender surgeries -- immediately shut the parents' account down:
Commonsense debate is being strangled by a woke orthodoxy. My book contains not a word of hate. I explored a medical issue and offered a considered view. How many other issues will you never hear about? How many journalists have already abandoned the pursuit of truth? /e
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In August, the National Association of Science Writers (@ScienceWriters) expelled a member of its online discussion group for mentioning my book, IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE, and @LisaLittman1, the public health researcher who did the original study that the book is based upon. /1
I spoke to Sean Scott, the man who was expelled from the group. When he mentioned my book, he wasn't even sure he agreed with it. "I thought it might be something I might want to write about or at least talk about, and I was banned," he told me. /2
Since then, I have tried to get a mainstream journalist to take this up. The NASW isn't a preschool and its members are NOT right-wingers. They are professionals who report on scientific matters. The older members were appalled. One tipped me off, another confirmed. /3
At 12, daughter decides with her friends that she's trans. Mom not on board. Daughter had always been very girly - more girly than the non-feminine mom was comfortable with.
At 14, daughter pushes for hormones & surgery.
/1
Daughter discovers that if she "opens up" to her pro-transition step-mom & therapist that mom is a "transphobe," that she's not "safe" with mom as a trans teen, she
gets everyone's attention.
/2
At 14, frustrated with mom, daughter tells step-mom that living with mom puts her at risk of suicide. Social workers and therapists leap in to 'help.' Step-mom only too happy to let her get hormones and surgeries. Mom now at risk of losing custody.
/3
The essential claim of my book is that most of the teen girls who identify as "trans" suddenly in adolescence are caught in a social current that has little to do with actual gender dysphoria. This is the sort of claim that ought cause a doctor to pause /2
and examine whether it is true for some or any of these patients. Are girls being fast-tracked to transition? Are docs sure the girls' desire for transition is motivated principally, if at all, by GD? Because the most important question is whether these girls are being harmed. /3
We're going to see a lot more of this - adolescent girls, regretting their hasty and heated transitions. And we'll wonder why more people didn't speak up.
I've been kicked out of events and labeled a bigot in my community, all for a book NO ONE's yet read. All for suggesting that maybe the sudden spike of trans id among teen girls may be the result of peer contagion.
Endlessly, I'm told, I'm going to "need serious security."
/2
There is *nothing* transphobic about pointing out that a population of teenage girls who has never exhibited any 'gender dysphoria' in the entire diagnostic history of GD (going back to the early 1900s) might be talking themselves into it.
/3
Here's what the book is NOT about: trans adults - although I interviewed many, mainly because so much activism claims to speak in their name. The individuals were sober and lovely and one became a friend. But the book--and the contagion--have almost nothing to do with them. /2
IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE is about a contemporary hysteria -- teen girls' penchant for spreading & increasing their own pain. These girls are in genuine distress. But "gender dysphoria" or "being trans" is a cry to be taken seriously, not correct self-diagnosis. /3
My response to this rebuttal of my WSJ piece in the NYT:
1/ Conservatives didn't invent ROGD and it isn't a political designation; it's a term Lisa Littman used - and it is a clinical term; she's a public health researcher and medical doctor.
2/ If you don't like the term "ROGD," the point still stands: This is a social contagion. Adolescent girls, mentored by friends, encouraged by internet gurus and psychotherapists are self-diagnosing as "gender dysphoric" and demanding testosterone and surgeries.
3/ Gender clinics are complying -- even with minors -- without even requiring a psych evaluation. These girls are very troubled. They have social issues. Their anxiety rages. But rather than acting like adults, apprising them of the grievous health risks of massive doses of T,