What I've Been Reading: Irreversible Damage
Censorship. Cancel culture. Book burning or book banning. The news has been filled with conversations about these things. Having recently read a book that raised the ire of the social progressives, I thought it’d be a great time to share about it.
Abigail Shrier has written a very important work called Irreversible Damage about the transgender movement among American teenagers, specifically among girls. Shrier writes from a secular perspective. The book is not an exposition of Scripture nor are there many Scripture references in the book. Shrier writes as a journalist who has investigated and interviewed those who are part of the transgender lifestyle. For parents or grandparents, the book is very helpful in understanding today’s cultural climate.
Shrier’s observations about today’s teenagers are both helpful and heartbreaking. Today’s teenagers are dealing with isolation. Through the miracle of technology, students actually spend far less time in person with their friends than previous generations. They report “greater loneliness than any generation on record.” (3) Perhaps as a result of this, teenagers are in a "mental health crisis" when it comes to depression and anxiety. (3) Another ingredient that impacts today’s teens far more than most people realize is the massive exposure to pornography. Because today’s teens are so connected to technology, they are also exposed to any and every sexual perversion conceivable. The average age at which children first view pornography is eleven! (23) Our culture isn’t the first to discover pornography, but we are the first to stream pornography on a device that we allow our teenagers to carry with them at all times.
Shrier also notices how other societal phenomena are impacting teenagers. She observes that cultural “influencers” like YouTube personalities and other celebrities essentially evangelize students into transgenderism. In many states, the school systems are increasingly taking an activist role in the LGBTQ movement. In some cases even therapists and other health professionals take on this same type of advocacy role for transgenderism. Parents are effectively ignored as teens are steered toward this lifestyle.
Shrier argues that coupling the condition of today's teenagers with cultural influences has resulted in a transgender “craze.” She writes: “America has become fertile ground for this mass enthusiasm for reasons that have everything to do with our cultural frailty: parents are undermined; experts are over-relied upon; dissenters in science and medicine are intimidated; free speech truckles under renewed attack; government healthcare laws harbor hidden consequences; and an intersectional era has arisen in which the desire to escape a dominant identity encourages individuals to take cover in victim groups.” (xxiii)
Besides being informative in nature, Irreversible Damage provides a challenge for parents to, in fact, parent. Shrier really gives some wonderful pieces of advice to parents about how to handle technology as well as how to affirm our daughters. I don’t agree with every statement this author makes, but this book will help everyone who reads it gain a better insight on what is happening in the lives of teenagers today and how we can help.