Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters is a 2020 book by Abigail Shrier, published by Regnery Publishing, which endorses the controversial concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD). ROGD is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by any major professional institution and is not backed by credible scientific evidence.
Shrier states that there was a "sudden, severe spike in transgender identification among adolescent girls" in the 2010s, referring to teenagers assigned female at birth. She attributes this to a social contagion among "high-anxiety, depressive (mostly white) girls who, in previous decades, fell prey to anorexia and bulimia or multiple personality disorder". Shrier also criticizes gender-affirming psychiatric support, hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery (together often referred to as "gender-affirming care") as treatment for gender dysphoria in young people.
Response to the book has been mixed. Positive reviews mostly endorsed Shrier's thesis, while much of the criticism focused on the book's use of anecdotes and other issues with its evidence. There were several boycotts aimed at the book which characterized it as anti-trans and its use of "she" to refer to teenagers identifying as transmasculine and non-binary as misgendering.
Summary
Shrier states that she began to investigate adolescent-onset gender dysphoria after being contacted by the mother of a young adult with no apparent history of childhood gender dysphoria, who identified as transgender in college. She describes what she sees as difficulties facing teenagers who were assigned female at birth, whom she refers to as "girls": isolation, online social dynamics, restrictive gender and sexuality labels, unwelcome physical changes and sexual attention. She profiles several teenagers who questioned their gender identities or came out as transgender while experiencing mental health or personal issues. She discusses Lisa Littman's 2018 journal article on rapid onset gender dysphoria and the ensuing controversy and endorses Littman's findings. She states that online trans influencers, on websites like Twitter, Tumblr and TikTok, frequently encourage questioning youth to identify as trans, experiment with breast binding and testosterone, and disown or lie to unsupportive family members.
Shrier criticizes transgender-related curricula and policies in schools. She describes parents distressed by their children's transgender identification or transition. She critiques the gender-affirming model of care and profiles its critics: Kenneth Zucker, Ray Blanchard, J. Michael Bailey, Lisa Marchiano, and Paul R. McHugh. Shrier discusses trans activism and related controversies, including sex-specific privacy concerns; passing versus trans visibility; the role of celebrities in increasing trans acceptance; conflict between transgender people and lesbians or radical feminists; transfeminine/male-to-female athletes competing in girls' and women's sports; the use of trans-inclusive language; intersectionality; and identity politics. She argues that medical interventions such as puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, and surgeries include risks. As an example, she describes a transgender person who became disabled after a failed surgery. She also profiles detransitioned young women.
Background and publication history
Shrier attended Columbia and Oxford University and earned a J.D. at Yale Law School.
The contentious concept of rapid-onset gender dysphoria (ROGD), which Irreversible Damage endorses, was first proposed in a 2018 paper by Lisa Littman. ROGD is not recognized as a medical diagnosis by any major professional institution and is not backed by credible scientific evidence.
Irreversible Damage was first published in June 2020 by Regnery Publishing, a conservative publisher. An audiobook narrated by Pamela Almand was released by Blackstone Audio. In the UK, the book was published by Swift Press, with the subtitle "Teenage Girls and the Transgender Craze". In a July 2020 interview on The Joe Rogan Experience, Shrier called the desire to transition a "contagion" and compared it with eating disorders and self-harm. She associated transgender youth with autism. Her remarks sparked calls by Spotify employees for the Rogan podcast episode to be removed from the platform, but the company denied the request.
Chase Ross, a transgender YouTuber interviewed by Shrier for Irreversible Damage, apologized in 2021 for his participation in the book, claiming he was misled about the book's contents and the author's intent.
