Trans : when ideology meets reality / Helen Joyce.

By:

Joyce, Helen

Material type: Text

text

Media type:

unmediated

Carrier type:

volume

ISBN:

0861543726
9780861543724 :

Subject(s):

Gender identity -- Social aspects

DDC classification:

305.3 23/eng/20220607

Contents:

Danish girls -- Sissy boys and the woman inside -- My name is Neo -- Child, interrupted -- Miss Gendering -- Back in the box -- She who must not be named -- We just need to pee -- Folding like deckchairs -- Regardless of sex -- Behind the scenes -- Through the looking glass -- They can't fire us all -- Conclusion: trans rights are human rights.

Summary: "Gender identity ideology is about more than twitter storms and using the right pronouns. In just ten years, laws, company policies, school and university curricula, sport, medical protocols, and the media have been reshaped to privilege self-declared gender identity over biological sex. People are being shamed and silenced for attempting to understand the consequences of redefining 'man' and 'woman'. While compassion for transgender lives is well- intentioned, it is stifling much-needed inquiry into the significance of our bodies. If we recommit to our liberal values of freedom of belief, freedom of speech and robust debate, we can de-escalate this most vicious of culture wars." -- Provided by publisher.

List(s) this item appears in: New Adult Nonfiction | New Young Adult Additions

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Shelving location	Call number	Status	Notes	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Adult Book	Phillipsburg Free Public Library	Adult Non-Fiction	New Books	305.3 JOY	On hold	pap ed.		36748002556134	1

Total holds: 1

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER and a Times, Spectator and Observer Book of the Year 2021

'In the first decade of this century, it was unthinkable that a gender-critical book could even be published by a prominent publishing house, let alone become a bestseller.' Louise Perry, New Statesman

'Thank goodness for Helen Joyce.' Christina Patterson, Sunday Times

'Reasonable, methodical, sane, and utterly unintimidated by extremist orthodoxy, Trans is a riveting read.' Lionel Shriver

'A tour de force.' Evening Standard

Biological sex is no longer accepted as a basic fact of life. It is forbidden to admit that female people sometimes need protection and privacy from male ones. In an analysis that is at once expert, sympathetic and urgent, Helen Joyce offers an antidote to the chaos and cancelling.

"A Oneworld book"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 319-327).

"Gender identity ideology is about more than twitter storms and using the right pronouns. In just ten years, laws, company policies, school and university curricula, sport, medical protocols, and the media have been reshaped to privilege self-declared gender identity over biological sex. People are being shamed and silenced for attempting to understand the consequences of redefining 'man' and 'woman'. While compassion for transgender lives is well- intentioned, it is stifling much-needed inquiry into the significance of our bodies. If we recommit to our liberal values of freedom of belief, freedom of speech and robust debate, we can de-escalate this most vicious of culture wars." -- Provided by publisher.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

Foreword (p. ix)
Introduction (p. 1)
1 The Danish Girls (p. 11)
2 Sissy Boys and the Woman Inside (p. 31)
3 My Name is Neo (p. 53)
4 Child, Interrupted (p. 71)
5 Miss Gendering (p. 91)
6 Back in the Box (p. 113)
7 She Who Must Not Be Named (p. 129)
8 We Just Need to Pee (p. 149)
9 Folding Like Deckchairs (p. 175)
10 Regardless of Sex (p. 201)
11 Behind the Scenes (p. 223)
12 Through the Looking Glass (p. 245)
13 They Can't Fire Us All (p. 261)
Conclusion: Trans Rights Are Human Rights (p. 283)
Afterword (p. 301)
Acknowledgements (p. 317)
Further Reading (p. 319)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Publishers Weekly Review

Economist journalist Joyce challenges the idea that "people should count as men or women according to how they feel and what they declare, instead of their biology" in this alarmist critique of "transactivism." Characterizing gender self-identification as a "belief system" akin to reincarnation, Joyce traces the origins of gender theory to Judith Butler and other feminist academics in the 1990s, and recounts the story of Christine Jorgensen, who became synonymous with "sex change" in the 1950s. Though Joyce acknowledges that a "suffering minority" of people struggle with gender dysphoria ("misery caused by cross-sex feelings"), she contends that "the truth is that we are our bodies, and our bodies are our selves," and calls the use of hormone blockers to delay puberty in gender-dysphoric children a "medical scandal." Joyce also suggests links between homophobia and transitioning, and autism and cross-sex identification. Testimonials from "detransitioners" who have returned to identifying as their biological sex buttress Joyce's arguments, though she makes no effort to speak with people who have happily transitioned, and doesn't present statistics on how many people come to regret their surgical and hormonal treatments. Ultimately, Joyce's unwillingness to take the claims of trans people seriously undermines her arguments, and her talk of the billionaires, academics, and profit-hungry healthcare companies behind "gender-identity ideology" has elements of conspiracy thinking. This one-sided takedown comes up short. (Sept.)

Kirkus Book Review

How zealous activists have misrepresented biology and endangered women. Joyce, a senior staff journalist at the Economist, provocatively challenges the now common assumption among progressives that, regarding social classifications, self-determination of gender identity ought to have priority over any underlying biological reality. Offering carefully researched analyses of the scientific view of human sexual dimorphism, the psychology of gender dysphoria, and the medical and personal tolls associated with transitioning, the author argues that a refusal to acknowledge biology has, among other injustices, caused enormous and unnecessary harm to many children and threatened safe spaces for women. Joyce explains how trans-rights ideologues have spread falsehoods about what contemporary research actually demonstrates about the immutability of sex and encouraged an egregiously one-sided public discourse. "When it comes to whether sex or gender identity should take precedence in law and everyday life," writes the author, "the conflict has been treated as if only trans people are affected, and there has been no negotiation at all." Joyce's work is impressively logical, nuanced, and empathetic in restoring balance to such negotiations. Particularly astute is the author's critique of how specialists in the West now typically counsel parents of children who present with gender dysphoria, often resorting to dubious or outright false assertions about how this disorder tends to proceed without medical intervention--or understating the risks of surgery or hormone therapies. Also excellent is her discussion of the practical and moral problems generated by an undiscriminating acceptance of trans women as women in single-sex spaces such as public bathrooms as well as in professional sports and the penal system. Furthermore, Joyce's recommendations for how a just society might balance the rights of trans people with those of the rest of its members are profoundly compelling. An informed, judicious, sensitive consideration of the falsehoods and hazards of contemporary trans activism. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.