Booksellers association apologizes for anti-trans mailing

[SouthBayDem]

Source: Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The American Booksellers Association is apologizing for sending a publication widely criticized as anti-transgender, Abigail Shrier’s “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” in a recent mailing to independent stores.

“This is a serious, violent incident that goes against ABA’s ends policies, values, and everything we believe and support. It is inexcusable,” the trade group tweeted Wednesday.

“Apologies are not enough. We’ve begun addressing this today and are committed to engaging in the critical dialogue needed to inform concrete steps to address the harm we caused.”

Casey Morrissey, a buyer at the Greenlight Bookstores in Brooklyn, had tweeted earlier that they were “seething” after seeing “Irreversible Damage” included in the ABA’s “white box,” which the association sends every two months to many of its member stores. The box generally includes promotional materials, advanced copies of upcoming books and “finished books that publishers wish for booksellers to read” and consider selling, according to the ABA.

Full story: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-entertainment-business-arts-and-entertainment-amazoncom-inc-26035c9ee8c2720d1bd2dc7983b035f3

An AP wire article can't even begin to summarize how full of crap Irreversible Damage is. For instance, as this Psychology Today review pointed out:

Shrier claims that “in most cases—nearly 70 percent—gender dysphoria resolves," and thus youth should not be provided gender-affirming medical care. That statistic is false.

Shrier incorrectly uses this statistic to claim that trans youth shouldn't be offered gender-affirming medical interventions because most will change their minds and later regret their decision. The studies Shrier refers to used an old diagnosis of “gender identity disorder,” not the DSM-5 diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

The reason this is a problem is that one could meet this diagnosis without being transgender. The old criteria largely focused on gender expression (think a tomboy or a cisgender boy who likes “feminine” toys). Those kids aren’t transgender, so it’s not surprising that most of them weren’t transgender at follow-up. This problem with the “gender identity disorder” diagnosis from the DSM-IV was fixed for the DSM-5.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Dear lord.

That's appalling. Now, don't get me wrong. I am, as I like to say, a boring heterosexual cisgender woman. I've had the good fortune to have known various lesbians and gay men and in more recent years, one or two trans people. Wow. Just knowing them shows me how limited my personal experience is.

My two sons are happily straight, but I've told them more than once that no matter who they love, who they bring home, I'll be prepared to accept and welcome that person.

I keep on meeting people with trans or some kind of non-conforming status. Or parents of such people. I will say I know there's a lot I don't understand, but I hope that I am appropriately accepting of all. What I also appreciate is how young people especially, are good at correcting old people like me. Several years ago I was somewhere and referred to a person sitting next to me as "she" and was told that the preferred pronoun, at least for this person, was "they". I immediately apologized, used the correct pronoun, and also asked forgiveness if I got it wrong again. I certainly did not get it wrong the rest of that evening.

Sometimes we all need schooling.