Andrew Cotter

Parents, if you want to read the LEAST credible book possible in regards to transgender youth, this is the book for you! Abigail Shrier is a notoriously bad-faith author who writes books on psychology despite knowing nothing about psychology. Irreversible Damage is appallingly chauvinistic, bafflingly ill-informed, and deceitfully pseudointellectual. Seriously, it takes two minutes to check any of the sources in this book, all of which are either of dubious credibility, or don't even support the claims of the author. Heavily biased anecdotes, unprofessional and mean-spirited tone, and hilarious (but sad) lapses in logic also abound in this book. My favorite not-so-fun-fact about this book is that the study it's based on was already disavowed by the time the book was launched. It's based on junk science, and hinges on the hope that its readers won't think about it too much or sleuth too deeply. In other words, it is (purposefully or otherwise) exceedingly deceptive. In order to think this book makes any valid points, it takes an especially braindead lack of media literacy or cognitive ability, a severely irresponsible neglect for further study, a heart lacking any ounce of empathy or willingness to understand, AND/OR a desire to only grant confirmation to predetermined opinions.