Gender Dysphoria

If you are looking for a book that will compassionately explore the Transgender World and gender dysphoria then pick up Ryan T. Anderson’s book, “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment“.

Let me quote from his introduction:

“In this book, I  argue that Dr. McHugh got it right. The best biology, psychology, and philosophy all support an understanding of sex and a bodily reality, of gender as a social manifestation of bodily sex. Biology isn’t bigotry. Every human society has been organized around a recognition that men and women are different, and modern science shows that the differences begin with our DNA and development in the womb. It is true that men and women differ among themselves, and some people have difficulty identifying with their bodily sex. But this doesn’t mean that sex is either fluid or subjective, as transgendered ideology maintains. This book is an effort to provide a nuanced view of our sexed embodiment, a balanced approach to policy issues, involving transgendered identity and gender more broadly, and a sober honest survey of the human costs of getting human nature wrong.”

At several points in the book he admonishes his fellow social conservatives not to treat people who identify as transgender with “scorn, contempt, and belittlement.”

Throughout the book, Anderson highlights the various contradictions at the heart of this moment: How it embraces the gnostic idea that the real self is something other than the body, while also embracing the idea that nothing but the physical exists. How it relies on rigid sex stereotypes—in which dolls are for girls and trucks are for boys—while also insisting that gender is purely a social construct, and that there are no meaningful differences between women and men. How it assumes that feelings of identity deserve absolute respect, while the facts of our embodiment do not. How it preaches that people should be free to do as they please and define their own truth—while enforcing a ruthless campaign to coerce anyone who dares to dissent.

Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in American Principles and Public Policy at The Heritage Foundation.

This is a book well worth reading.  It is not a Biblical or theological argument, but one based on sound reason arguing from physiological, psychological, and sociological points of view.  It also addresses the modern activism that permeates our culture and policy and treatment concerns for gender dysphoria.

-Michael Holtzinger