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A review by trywii
When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment by Ryan T. Anderson
1.0
The TLDR: The book is the most conservative of all anti-trans books, and its direct ties to The Heritage Foundation make it clear that it’s not in for the benefit of trans or gender non-conforming people. It refuses any and all input from trans people themselves and fails to draw the lines between ‘trans activists’ and trans people who seek care. The citations it made in (especially in regard to detransitioners) have since been deleted or the creators of said citations themselves have called out this book for its appropriation of their work/experiences.
Long review, buckle up.
To start, I’m not going to reiterate what I’ve said in the past several anti-trans book reviews that would also apply here. If there’s something this review is missing that this book discusses, consider reading my previous reviews under the ‘I Read It So You Don’t Have To’ bookshelf.
Such topics include misappropriate studies (No, the desistance rate of trans children isn’t 85-90%, and no, trans surgeries don’t make suicidality skyrocket) and the frequency and urgency of which John Money is mentioned despite being a blip in a much larger discussion. Those are two examples, but there’s at least a dozen more. All anti-trans books tend to repeat each other, as Ive come to notice.
I feel the most important thing to bring up is the ties this book has to The Heritage Foundation and its previous campaigns. The Heritage foundation is a right-wing think tank that has been funding many anti-lgbt campaigns in the past several decades. The author himself played a prominent roll in chaperoning campaigns hosted by them, so it was of no shock to me when ‘credible sources’ for trans healthcare and wellbeing included (but was not limited to):
- Paul Mchugh, Michelle Cretella, and subsequently the American College of Pediatricians [a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States…The group's primary focus is advocating against abortion rights and against rights for gay, queer, and transgender people. ACPeds promotes conversion therapy and purity culture. (Wikipedia)]. Cretella’s statement on “twins studies” to ‘prove’ that being trans was not biological was swiftly disproven by the study itself, despite being cited in this book Transsexuality Among Twins: Identity Concordance, Transition, Rearing, and Orientation).
- Alliance Defending Freedom is briefly mentioned as being ‘just a law firm’, but the reality is a conservative christian group that “works to oppose what it sees as threats to religious liberty, expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights.”(wikipedia). Robert P. George was a mentioned figure in the book.
- Hands Across the Aisle and Women’s Liberation Front were both co-opted and partially paid by Alliance Defending Freedom and The Heritage Foundation as early as 2016. Both of these are not considered widely supported feminist groups despite the author’s poor attempts to make this seem like a bipartisan of the ages.
- Conversion Therapy, despite being a practice that is both outdated and ineffective is somehow held to a high standard in this book. Of course, to try and wave away the obviously negative connotations of the term, the author instead begs the reader to try and see that it’s *not* conversion therapy despite laws, doctors, therapist, psychiatrists, and LGBT people clearly stating otherwise.
One thing that bothered me throughout my reading was the lack of distinction between ‘trans activists’ and just…a trans person. Is a trans activist someone who seeks trans-specific medical care? Is a trans activist someone who is vocal about the obstacles trans people face, or is it someone who brings up discrimination at all? Is anyone who is ‘ok’ with trans people a trans activist, or is there a criteria?
“Here I'm talking about transgender activists. Again, most people who suffer from gender dysphoria are not activists, and many of them reject the activists' claims. Many of them may be regarded as victims of the activists…”
He doesn’t cite anyone by name, save for a few detransitioners (more on that in a bit), nor does he specify the difference between a trans person and an activist.
The lines aren’t drawn to make the distinction, and so the book not-so-quietly paints *all* trans people under this light of ‘extreme activism’.
On the note of detransitioners, I was (not) surprised to learn that many of the ones cited have since deactivated their blogs/social media and have denounced this book.
- Cari Stella: “just got a chance to read the detransition chapter of ryan anderson’s new book. absolutely disgusted to have had my work misappropriated by the heritage foundation’s homophobic goons. no permission was sought to use my original content, nor would it have been given.
- The creator of Third Way Trans: “I condemn those that use my blog or my life to fight against trans rights. I am 100% in support of trans people living their lives free of harassment and being given all of the opportunities that other people get. I think adults get to choose for themselves whether they want to transition or not, and should be treated as sovereign human beings and have full access to the treatments they desire.”
- Carey Callahan: “I am begging you to stop referencing detransitioners such as myself as a justification for attacking trans healthcare and trans people. You aren’t protecting children from becoming a detransitioner like me. You are exiling good people from our state, traumatizing kids and families, and working hard to make Ohio a less safe place to raise kids.”
Other listed detransitioners mentioned in the book are anonymous and/or link back to sites that no longer exist. Sites such as YouthTransCriticalProfessionals have since gone private and deleted by their owners as early as April 2019.
What also doesn’t help that there’s a notable lack of trans perspectives. The author cites a sparse few, Andrea Long Chu being one, but quickly leaves a quote or two before getting back to what he wants to say. We spend more time reading about the author and his colleagues’ opinions about trans people far more than trans people explaining their own experiences. Anything that’s from the ‘trans side’ of the story is often under the label of ‘trans activists’, which is a far too broad and misleading. ‘trans activists say this’, ‘trans activists force that’, but who are the trans activists, and why are trans people an amalgamation working entirely in-sync??
A different note: It’s strange to me how he’s able to string radical feminism (a fringe subset of feminism that gave way for intersectional feminism) and the trans movement as parallels, but didn’t mention that lgbt and feminist movements often went hand-in-hand. The author mentions them as two warring sides, but there’s a surprising lack of where lesbian feminism and trans activism have intersected throughout the past several decades.
Had the author and this book not have made its roots of anti-gay politics clear, I would’ve brushed this off as simply poor researching.
Something unique about this book in comparison to other anti-trans books is both the grievances of ‘religious liberty’ being threatened as well as the more explicit conservatism and all that entails laying the groundwork.
‘Religious Freedom’ means one can practice their faith and the limitations of that faith. It does *not* mean that the limitations of that faith must then be applied to every person one meets. Having an occupation where you will encounter and service many different groups of people will mean you will have to set personal biases aside to provide that service. If personal faith gets in the way of providing a service that is government controlled or something that people need to stay alive, then maybe it’s not the right job for you.
I say this because the author frequently mentions ‘religious freedom’ and how things such as the Equality Act are actually very very bad because Christians and the like should be able to turn trans people away from services they require.
No, Ryan, it’s not a matter of ‘religious liberty’ if people in positions of authority and power can discriminate and refuse any and all services to trans people on the basis of them being trans.
Theres honestly much, much more I can’t fit into this review, but these are the detailed highlights. The arrogance and deception that this book has, the nerve to advocate taking away trans healthcare and protections, it’s all appalling. Theres nothing more appalling than to pretend to have empathy for trans people yet do everything in your authority and financial power to strip them without even allowing them to advocate for themselves.
Bad book. Womp womp.
Long review, buckle up.
To start, I’m not going to reiterate what I’ve said in the past several anti-trans book reviews that would also apply here. If there’s something this review is missing that this book discusses, consider reading my previous reviews under the ‘I Read It So You Don’t Have To’ bookshelf.
Such topics include misappropriate studies (No, the desistance rate of trans children isn’t 85-90%, and no, trans surgeries don’t make suicidality skyrocket) and the frequency and urgency of which John Money is mentioned despite being a blip in a much larger discussion. Those are two examples, but there’s at least a dozen more. All anti-trans books tend to repeat each other, as Ive come to notice.
I feel the most important thing to bring up is the ties this book has to The Heritage Foundation and its previous campaigns. The Heritage foundation is a right-wing think tank that has been funding many anti-lgbt campaigns in the past several decades. The author himself played a prominent roll in chaperoning campaigns hosted by them, so it was of no shock to me when ‘credible sources’ for trans healthcare and wellbeing included (but was not limited to):
- Paul Mchugh, Michelle Cretella, and subsequently the American College of Pediatricians [a socially conservative advocacy group of pediatricians and other healthcare professionals in the United States…The group's primary focus is advocating against abortion rights and against rights for gay, queer, and transgender people. ACPeds promotes conversion therapy and purity culture. (Wikipedia)]. Cretella’s statement on “twins studies” to ‘prove’ that being trans was not biological was swiftly disproven by the study itself, despite being cited in this book Transsexuality Among Twins: Identity Concordance, Transition, Rearing, and Orientation).
- Alliance Defending Freedom is briefly mentioned as being ‘just a law firm’, but the reality is a conservative christian group that “works to oppose what it sees as threats to religious liberty, expand Christian practices within public schools and in government, outlaw abortion, and curtail LGBTQ rights.”(wikipedia). Robert P. George was a mentioned figure in the book.
- Hands Across the Aisle and Women’s Liberation Front were both co-opted and partially paid by Alliance Defending Freedom and The Heritage Foundation as early as 2016. Both of these are not considered widely supported feminist groups despite the author’s poor attempts to make this seem like a bipartisan of the ages.
- Conversion Therapy, despite being a practice that is both outdated and ineffective is somehow held to a high standard in this book. Of course, to try and wave away the obviously negative connotations of the term, the author instead begs the reader to try and see that it’s *not* conversion therapy despite laws, doctors, therapist, psychiatrists, and LGBT people clearly stating otherwise.
One thing that bothered me throughout my reading was the lack of distinction between ‘trans activists’ and just…a trans person. Is a trans activist someone who seeks trans-specific medical care? Is a trans activist someone who is vocal about the obstacles trans people face, or is it someone who brings up discrimination at all? Is anyone who is ‘ok’ with trans people a trans activist, or is there a criteria?
“Here I'm talking about transgender activists. Again, most people who suffer from gender dysphoria are not activists, and many of them reject the activists' claims. Many of them may be regarded as victims of the activists…”
He doesn’t cite anyone by name, save for a few detransitioners (more on that in a bit), nor does he specify the difference between a trans person and an activist.
The lines aren’t drawn to make the distinction, and so the book not-so-quietly paints *all* trans people under this light of ‘extreme activism’.
On the note of detransitioners, I was (not) surprised to learn that many of the ones cited have since deactivated their blogs/social media and have denounced this book.
- Cari Stella: “just got a chance to read the detransition chapter of ryan anderson’s new book. absolutely disgusted to have had my work misappropriated by the heritage foundation’s homophobic goons. no permission was sought to use my original content, nor would it have been given.
- The creator of Third Way Trans: “I condemn those that use my blog or my life to fight against trans rights. I am 100% in support of trans people living their lives free of harassment and being given all of the opportunities that other people get. I think adults get to choose for themselves whether they want to transition or not, and should be treated as sovereign human beings and have full access to the treatments they desire.”
- Carey Callahan: “I am begging you to stop referencing detransitioners such as myself as a justification for attacking trans healthcare and trans people. You aren’t protecting children from becoming a detransitioner like me. You are exiling good people from our state, traumatizing kids and families, and working hard to make Ohio a less safe place to raise kids.”
Other listed detransitioners mentioned in the book are anonymous and/or link back to sites that no longer exist. Sites such as YouthTransCriticalProfessionals have since gone private and deleted by their owners as early as April 2019.
What also doesn’t help that there’s a notable lack of trans perspectives. The author cites a sparse few, Andrea Long Chu being one, but quickly leaves a quote or two before getting back to what he wants to say. We spend more time reading about the author and his colleagues’ opinions about trans people far more than trans people explaining their own experiences. Anything that’s from the ‘trans side’ of the story is often under the label of ‘trans activists’, which is a far too broad and misleading. ‘trans activists say this’, ‘trans activists force that’, but who are the trans activists, and why are trans people an amalgamation working entirely in-sync??
A different note: It’s strange to me how he’s able to string radical feminism (a fringe subset of feminism that gave way for intersectional feminism) and the trans movement as parallels, but didn’t mention that lgbt and feminist movements often went hand-in-hand. The author mentions them as two warring sides, but there’s a surprising lack of where lesbian feminism and trans activism have intersected throughout the past several decades.
Had the author and this book not have made its roots of anti-gay politics clear, I would’ve brushed this off as simply poor researching.
Something unique about this book in comparison to other anti-trans books is both the grievances of ‘religious liberty’ being threatened as well as the more explicit conservatism and all that entails laying the groundwork.
‘Religious Freedom’ means one can practice their faith and the limitations of that faith. It does *not* mean that the limitations of that faith must then be applied to every person one meets. Having an occupation where you will encounter and service many different groups of people will mean you will have to set personal biases aside to provide that service. If personal faith gets in the way of providing a service that is government controlled or something that people need to stay alive, then maybe it’s not the right job for you.
I say this because the author frequently mentions ‘religious freedom’ and how things such as the Equality Act are actually very very bad because Christians and the like should be able to turn trans people away from services they require.
No, Ryan, it’s not a matter of ‘religious liberty’ if people in positions of authority and power can discriminate and refuse any and all services to trans people on the basis of them being trans.
Theres honestly much, much more I can’t fit into this review, but these are the detailed highlights. The arrogance and deception that this book has, the nerve to advocate taking away trans healthcare and protections, it’s all appalling. Theres nothing more appalling than to pretend to have empathy for trans people yet do everything in your authority and financial power to strip them without even allowing them to advocate for themselves.
Bad book. Womp womp.