Humans are social animals, who want to belong.  Transgender people want safety, political and social acceptance, but the methods used to obtain the wants has consequences.  There have been many movements to support transgender people, and laws changed.  Society has changed to support transgender people, but misinformation harms society and transgender people.

 

Sex is biological while gender is social.  Transgender people are those who are transitioning their gender to a different gender.  Social aspects of a person can change more readily than sex differences.  The sex of members of the human species depends on gametes, which are facilities for production of sperm or eggs.  As humans mature, male and female bodies have various biological differences.  Differences such as skeletal structure and hormones.  Differences create different abilities in physical ability, that are not based on weight class. 

 

Testosterone is a growth hormone that males produce in higher quantities, which increases the strength and size of those born male.  When someone is thinking of transitioning at an early age, they can take puberty blockers to prevent the body from producing estrogen and testosterone.  Those who transition after puberty do not lose their testosterone produced differences even if they take hormonal medications.  Puberty blockers are a source of conflict for transgender due to the misinformation about them, for the side-effects of puberty blockers are not shared. 

 

Puberty blockers are presented as reversible, but they can affect the long-term health of an individual.  There are physical and mental health problems related to taking puberty blockers, which require a cascade of interventions, such as additional medications, to prevent the problems from exacerbating.  Detransitioners are those who transitioned, experienced the medication and surgeries involved, but later regretted their decision.  They have to live with health consequences of the interventions.   The physical, mental, and other wounds.   

 

To become transgender used require a major operation.  Being transgender has become based on self-identification.  A person can declare themselves to be whichever sex that they want, no matter their biology.  Gender self-identification requires others to validate the sex of the individual, to treat them for how they identify as.  While societies have been removing gender stereotypes for the harm they have caused, as no person represents any stereotype, and activities can be completed no matter the sex of the individual.  The transgender movement is taking a different approach with gender stereotypes, as someone who does not fit into a gender stereotype is thought of as transgender.

 

This is a book more about transactivists than the transgender.  Transactivists are a lobby group who outnumber the transgender people they claim to speak for. 

 

The methods transactivists use to obtain political and social support are based on persecution.  Any views not aligned with transactivist, are considered hate speech.  They silence anyone who does not affirm the transactivist beliefs, share the consequences of transitioning, or question those thinking about transition.  Transactivists silence even the transgender themselves. 

 

This leads people to self-censor their views, to prevent harassment.  This has the effect of people publicly agreeing with transgender policies, while privately disagreeing.  Societies can accommodate various belief systems even if they are contradictory, but societies have a conflict when a group attempts to impose their beliefs on everyone else.

 

There are people who changed their want to transition, they desist.  Medical professionals claim to be good at picking out those who persist, to go through with the transition.  Medical professionals who wanted caution or tried to make children comfortable in their own sex were harassed, resulting in a reduction of caution in the transitioning industry. 

 

Children can undergo surgery based on the advice of the medical professionals.  There are even regions that allow children to make their own claims on their medical treatment, overriding guardian’s consent and child-safeguarding rules. 

 

With self-identification, any sex can enter spaces devoted to another sex.  Such as men can enter women’s restrooms.  This creates physical and social risk.  Men in jail can self-identify as women for their own safety, but this risks the safety of the female inmates. 

 

States are facing lawsuits to allow male athletes to compete as women, and lawsuits to prevent male athletes to compete as women.  Those who transitioned do not have the same physical abilities as the sex they have transitioned into, creating unfair competition.  A more appropriate response would be to add an additional category in sports for transgender, which would make sports safe and fair for everyone.

 

The transgender movement effects women’s political rights.  When women were fighting for equality, women were considered oppressed and needed to challenge the oppression.  With the transgender movement, women that want equal rights can become men, while those who remain women are considered content with supporting roles.

 

The topic is socially and politically sensitive.  The author tries to error correct for various sources of misinformation.  This book focuses on the harmful consequences on the health of transgender and social reactions, as these views are perceived to be more difficult to share.  The author recognizes that there have been people who were improved through the transition process, but does not share those details.  Details which could have included ways and reasons that can make transition appropriate.  Along the missing details of those who appreciated the transition, are the missing references to transgender people who are being hurt through lack of inclusion and social support. 

 

The author shares various conflicts of including transgender people into various social functions.  What are missing are the alternative methods for safety and acceptance for transgender people which would not cause a conflict.

 

The author disapproves the methods that transactivists use to gain social and political support.  The problem is that the author sometimes uses the same harsh methods on the transactivists.  Alternative methods to explain ideas would have set a better precedent on how to handle the sensitive topic. 

 

The author tries to be scientific when approaching the topic of sex and gender.  The problem is that the author sometimes uses inappropriate scientific reasoning for lack of supporting scientific research.  In part, this is due to the lack of scientific research being done on the topics given the political sensitivity.