Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I must say that I’m surprised to find this “summary” of Ryan Anderson’s book, “When Harry Became Sally,” available for purchase on Amazon. As many readers will know, after happily selling Anderson’s actual book for three years, Amazon suddenly made it unavailable several months ago, in what many considered a censorious and deeply concerning action. If Amazon, for reasons it has never fully explained, considers the book too offensive to be sold, why is it selling a summary? The most hopeful explanation would be that Amazon has belatedly realized how terrible its original decision was and is now trying to back away from it, without outright reversing it. More likely, I’m afraid, is that Amazon wants this controversy behind it, and is looking for some kind of middle ground, however nonsensical it may be. I’m writing this review although I’ll be quite amazed if Amazon publishes it. If it does, it will deserve some credit, although not as much as it would have earned by simply saying its original decision was a mistake. One would think that wouldn’t be so difficult; the best people and companies make mistakes all the time. I’ll have more to say about this below, but first a bit about the book, which I encourage you to obtain from its publisher, Encounter. Despite a somewhat lighthearted title, "When Harry Became Sally" is a serious and sober work. Its major themes are nicely summed up in this quote from the book: “We need to respect the dignity of people who identify as transgender, but without encouraging children to undergo experimental transition treatments, and without trampling on the needs and interests of others. And we need to acknowledge that taking our sexual embodiment seriously in public policy is not discriminatory.” Anderson does a good job in explaining that sex is not “assigned at birth,” in the formulation approved by transgender activists, but comes into being at conception, with sex differences being ascertainable in every cell of the embryo. And while individual differences in traits and characteristics thought to be male or female can and do exceed the average for the gender for which the trait is supposedly characteristic, differences in the average prominence of the trait will be observable almost immediately after birth. So, a girl can certainly have mechanical abilities far exceeding those of an average boy, and a boy’s verbal facility can exceed those of the average girl. But, on average, baby boys will be more likely to look at a picture of, say, a car, while baby girls will, on average, show a preference for a picture of a face. Sex differences are real, Anderson argues, rejecting what he sees as the position of transgender activists that they are only “social constructs.” Therefore, while gender stereotypes that inhibit individual expression must be avoided, social structures that recognize those differences will best lead to human flourishing. Another major point made by Anderson is that some 85 percent of children who identify as transgender will ultimately grow out of it. Anderson therefore deplores therapeutic steps that may make that outcome less likely by cementing a child’s belief that he really is a member of the opposite sex. Acquiescing to a young boy’s professions that he is in fact a girl by allowing a “social transition” to names, pronouns and clothing appropriate for girls is counterproductive, Anderson says, and may make it more likely that the child will then desire next steps – puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and even radical surgery. Since those treatments may well be harmful, Anderson believes that the preferred therapeutic option should be trying to understand the causes of the patient’s gender dysphoria and helping the patient to accept his or her biological sex. The arguments thus made by Anderson are serious ones about one of the most contentious current issues of public debate. Amazon’s effort to use its economic power to constrict that debate is therefore nothing less than shocking. Amazon withdrew the book from sale without explanation, and without notice to its publisher or author. When pressed for the reasons for its action, Amazon for days would only make reference to its policy against “hate speech,” which a reading of the book reveals is utterly irrelevant since it does not contain a single hateful word. Nobody could consider it “hate speech” except those who regard any disagreement with their ideological convictions as hateful. Amazon apparently felt it had to give a more fulsome – pejorative meaning intended – if no more persuasive explanation to an inquiry from four U.S. Senators. To them, Amazon wrote that it does “not sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.” Leave aside that gender dysphoria – a feeling that one is “trapped in the wrong body” because of a gender identification at odds with one’s biological sex – is among the conditions listed in the American Psychiatric Association’s "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders." Once again, anyone who has read Mr. Anderson’s book knows that he never characterizes gender dysphoria as a “mental illness.” Rather, he says that gender dysphoria is a real and “deeply painful’ condition, and that sufferers must be taken seriously and treated with respect. Would anyone, including Mr. Anderson’s harshest critics, disagree with that? Hardly. What transgender ideologues disagree with, adamantly, is Mr. Anderson’s argument against an immediate focus on “transitioning” people who experience gender dysphoria through puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and radical surgery, especially where children and teenagers are concerned. Does Amazon believe this issue of medical practice is beyond debate, notwithstanding the number of psychiatrists and physicians who hold it? Amazon is not a local book store that has a First Amendment right to sell or not sell such books as it pleases. It controls 50 percent of the distribution of print books in the United States and three quarters of the market for the sale of e-books. That gives it tremendous market power. Amazon’s refusal to sell works reflecting views it doesn’t like could significantly inhibit the writing and publication of such books. Its apparent willingness to exercise such power raises issues that no true civil libertarian can ignore. So how about it, guys and girls? Why not publish this review, and start your way back to the right side of free speech?