Amazon finds itself at the beginning of a growing controversy surrounding their decision to sell a book that “frames LGBTQ as a mental illness.” As of the time of writing this article, two employees have already quit the conglomerate and a petition that is circulating through Amazon corporate has gained 467 signatures. That number can rise as this story is still developing.
Selene Xenia worked as a software engineer for seven years at Amazon. Xenia was the first employee to quit in June. Xenia identifies as transgender and had this to say to NBC News,
“The book literally has [craze] in the title and considers being transgender a mental illness in many senses throughout the book. I found it extremely hypocritical for Amazon to say that it would stock this book and not another similar one. It looks like Amazon had to remove that particular book for PR reasons, not because they felt morally obligated to.”
“Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters” by Abigail Shrier was temporarily banned from Target and in an online search on Target.com the book does not appear to be for sale at this time. However a spokesperson from Amazon said in a statement emailed to The Hill, regarding their stance on the novel,
“As a bookseller, we believe that providing access to written speech and a variety of viewpoints is one of the most important things we do – even when those viewpoints differ from our own or Amazon’s stated positions,”
Anti-transgender book sold by Amazon gets employee protest; Target bans book. Author calls protesters idiots #translivesmatter #transrights https://t.co/7fh9re4L9F
— Uneeda Biscuit (@GeraldFarinas) July 16, 2021
Author Shrier seems to revel in the controversy as she is trolling the Amazon employees on Twitter and generally behaving as awful you would guess a person to behave who would write a book labeling people in the queer community as having a mental illness.
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Dear Amazon HR,
You’re welcome!
Yours,
Abigail https://t.co/NwJUo0UriK— Abigail Shrier (@AbigailShrier) July 14, 2021
If Shrier has not done the rounds on Fox News I am sure we will see her on Tucker Carlson next week complaining about cancel culture.
This writer stands with the 467 employees at Amazon corporate who signed the petition to have this book taken off the Amazon website.
Mr. Dominic, have you actually read the book? Have you even listened to Ms. Shrier in interviews? Maybe you should do that before passing judgment or offering criticism. I have noticed a growing trend in the gay press of condemning authors without ever reading a word of what they wrote. Those in today’s gay press throw the terms “homophobic” and “transphobic” around so much that they have now lost all meaning. Those terms now apply anyone who slightly disagrees or even questions current LGBT activism and ideology. Now, I must confess that I have not yet read Ms. Shrier’s book, but I have listened to her in interviews and she seems anything but transphobic. She has repeatedly stated that she supports transgender rights, that transgenderism is a real thing, and that no one should be bullied or harassed for being trans. What she is criticizing is the rush to label anyone who does not conform 100% to gender norms as transgender, particularly among teen and pre-teen girls. Ms. Shrier is critical of the fact that we no longer have medical professionals to gatekeep and authentically diagnose those with gender dysphoria. Her research has shown that there has been a significant increase in de-transitioning among these young women, something that was almost non-existent 10-15 years ago. This misdiagnosis/mislabeling is what she argues needs to be fixed, not transgender people. Perhaps there is something to criticize in her methodology or research. Maybe she is missing something that needs to be addressed in her conclusions. That is a discussion worth having. But, we will never have that if people just outright attack and dismiss her like you have.