Reviving Ophelia by Mary Pipher Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shrier

In 1994, Reviving Ophelia was published, and it shone a much-needed spotlight on the problems faced by adolescent girls. The book became iconic and helped to reframe the national conversation about what author Mary Pipher called "a girl-poisoning culture" surrounding adolescents. Fast forward to today, and adolescent girls and the parents, teachers, and counselors who care about them find themselves confronting many of the same challenges Pipher wrote about originally as well as new ones specific to today.

Girls still struggle with misogyny, sexism, and issues of identity and self-esteem. But they're also more isolated than ever before: They don't talk face-to-face to the people around them, including their peers, as they used to: They're texting or on social media for hours at a time. And while girls today are less likely to be in trouble for their drinking or sexual behavior, they have a greater chance of becoming depressed, anxious, or suicidal.

Review
“Reviving Ophelia is a cultural touchstone and... [this] revamp carries the air of a cultural artifact.” —NPR

“An important book…Pipher shines high-beam headlights on the world of teenage girls.” —Los Angeles Times

“So, yeah, I’d say the new version of Reviving Ophelia? Pretty damn important read, even 25 years later. Maybe especially 25 years later.” —BookRiot

“A must-read for all of us who care about young women in our lives…Reviving Ophelia arms us with information we can use in helping our daughters grow to adulthood with their strength intact.” —Lincoln Star Journal

“Pipher is an eloquent advocate…[she] offers concrete suggestions for ways by which girls can build and maintain a strong sense of self.”
—Publishers Weekly

“Serious and thoughtful material presented with the fluidity of good fiction.”
—Kirkus Reviews

Until just a few years ago, gender dysphoria—severe discomfort in one’s biological sex—was vanishingly rare. It was typically found in less than .01 percent of the population, emerged in early childhood, and afflicted males almost exclusively.

But today whole groups of female friends in colleges, high schools, and even middle schools across the country are coming out as “transgender.” These are girls who had never experienced any discomfort in their biological sex until they heard a coming-out story from a speaker at a school assembly or discovered the internet community of trans “influencers.”

Unsuspecting parents are awakening to find their daughters in thrall to hip trans YouTube stars and “gender-affirming” educators and therapists who push life-changing interventions on young girls—including medically unnecessary double mastectomies and puberty blockers that can cause permanent infertility.

Abigail Shrier, a writer for the Wall Street Journal, has dug deep into the trans epidemic, talking to the girls, their agonized parents, and the counselors and doctors who enable gender transitions, as well as to “detransitioners”—young women who bitterly regret what they have done to themselves.

Coming out as transgender immediately boosts these girls’ social status, Shrier finds, but once they take the first steps of transition, it is not easy to walk back. She offers urgently needed advice about how parents can protect their daughters.

A generation of girls is at risk. Abigail Shrier’s essential book will help you understand what the trans craze is and how you can inoculate your child against it—or how to retrieve her from this dangerous path.

1.0 out of 5 stars ask a trans person
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2020
cisgender people need to stop positioning themselves as experts on lives they've never lived.




1.0 out of 5 stars Sarcastic, condescending, and “holier than thou”.
Reviewed in the United States on July 30, 2020
Shrier writes as this “savior” for the young and struggling. She demeans role models, many of whom are spoken of without their consent, and shows blatant disrespect to those lost to suicide. We live in a generation where, of course, information is going to be found through likely digital means. This book plays out as though these few stories of young individuals, who turned out to either be or not be transgender, serve as a “gotcha” for the entirety of the trans (adult) population in America (1.4 million). She appears to have sought out and used those interviewed who perpetuate and validate her radfem views. As much as she can pretend this isn’t biased/one-sided (what other party declares their love so vehemently for the First Amendment), she fails. It’s clear what her message is here. As a trans man who transitioned in adulthood, I feel this work is very infantilizing, dripping with poor-taste sarcasm, and flagrantly narcissistic. While she noted concerns I can give her credit for (hence the one star), there is far more misinformation and twisting of said information for her own narrative.


1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous ill-informed book
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2020
This book should come with a warning label! As a gender care therapist, this book is grossly uninformed and full of fear mongering. Especially dangerous for families who have any genuine desire to figure out how to support their kids.
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1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous, misinformed, and misguided.
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2020
Would give zero stars if I could. Statistics show 51% of transgender male teens attempt suicide, and things like this book are the reason why. Rates of transition aren’t increasing because this is a “fad” or an opportunity to increase social status- they’re higher because more young folks have access to information and exposure to others like them. This book also falsely claims that transition is irreversible, when in fact, many aspects of transition are reversible. There is a reason that medical professionals and mental health experts agree that gender dysphoria is real and very harmful when ignored, as this book advocates. Listen to medical experts, not journalists who are trying to make a splash at the expense of trans teens’ lives.

1.0 out of 5 stars DANGEROUS AND DAMAGING
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2020
This book is dangerous, bigoted, and perpetuates damaging rhetoric that will cost us the lives of our young trans community members. When a FB group exists where members are being encouraged to positively review this book whether or not they have read it (just to help out the anti-transgender movement), one must question the validity of the glowing reviews that fly in the face of all medical and psychological best practices.

1.0 out of 5 stars Dangerous and toxic
Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2020
I would give this book and author negative stars if I could. This is atrocious and an abomination of humans. Abigail Shrier is an author, journalist, and writer for the Wall Street Journal; She is NOT an expert nor professional in transgender youth. Please do not take any guidance nor advice from a person without any mental health professional licensing. This is so DANGEROUS! To parents, please seek professional guidance and support if you are needing education on transgender youth/people. It is so important to have accurate information and also to get to know your child. A child is not a theory but a human person that gets to tell you who he/she/they are. This takes an incredible amount of compassion and support for you and your child