- A new book out this summer,

"Irreversible Damage,"by author Abigail Shrier,

documents a transgender trendyou might not have heard of,

cluster outbreaks, amongfemale friendship groups

in middle, high school and college.

It's a topic that you think many parents

would wanna read about,

but Amazon has decidedit's not appropriate.

Amazon informed Shrier'spublisher, Regnery,

that it won't run a paid ad for the book,

and explained that the book,

"contains elements thatmay not to be appropriate

for all audiences, whichmay include ad copy,

book content, that infersor claims to diagnose,

treat or question sexual orientation."

And we are joined now byauthor, Abigail Shrier.

Thank you so much for joining us.

- Thanks so much for having me on.

- What is your response to Amazon

saying that it won't allow apublisher's ad for your book?

- Well, one of outrage.

I mean, this is the new anorexia.

Girls in distress aredeciding with their friends

that the source of their distressmust be gender dysphoria.

They've decided it's severe discomfort

in their biological sex.

Now we know that that isn't so,

because it doesn't looklike gender dysphoria.

But my book explores both the medical,

the psychological andthe cultural conditions

that allowed this to skyrocket,among this population.

And, exploring those risks,

is now something we're not allowed to do.

We're not allowed to accessteenage girls' health,

according to Amazon.

- Yeah, it's really a head scratcher.

How much of a set-back is it for the book

to not be able to have this paid ad?

- It's hard you know, I hearfrom parents all the time,

because parents are aware of this

because they see 2% ofhigh school students,

our of nowhere, nowidentify as transgender.

This was something thatalways afflicted a tiny, tiny

percentage of the population, .01%.

So 1 1/100 of a percent, and now it's 2%

of high school students,and most of them are female.

So parents are looking for guidance,

they're looking for a book to help explain

what is going on.

And when they enter searchterms, to find out about this,

what they find are anumber of books promoting

and celebrating young women,toward making this transition.

But they won't allow an ad for a book,

skeptical that this isdoing them any good.

- So what kind of response

are you getting to your book, overall?

I'm sure different groups areresponding in different ways.

- Right, so overall, it's beenwonderful, so many parents.

I get calls from parents every day.

Parents who will tell me,

from the toniest girls'schools in Manhattan,

to public schools across the country,

telling me that 15 or 20 or %30

of their daughter's seventh grade class,

has now decided it is LGBTQ,and very often, transgender.

These are numbers thatdon't make any sense,

unless you entertain thepossibility of social contagion.

And we've seen this with teenage girls.

And they're predominantly white girls.

They're in distress.

And the ways that theyexplain that distress,

might have been in prior generations,

demonic possession, or I'm so fat.

And then today, it'sI'm so gender dysphoric.

- Have you gotten any other pushback,

other than from Amazon and the paid ad?

- Sure, I mean, there's amassive campaign underway

to get my publisher to drop my book.

- Okay. (laughs)

This transgender social contagion

that you have written about in girls,

where do you see it going?

And I'm wondering if perhaps,

the pandemic might slow it down?

- Ya know, I've heard both things.

So, part of this has beenfueled by a lot of things.

One of them is social media.

Because there's so manyinfluencers online,

and these influencers,

because teenagers spendso much time online,

and so little time witheach other in person.

These influencers have a hugeimpact on these girls' lives

in convincing them thattestosterone will cure

all of the problems that they're feeling.

So when they come home, andthey're with their parents,

if they are not online all the time,

very often these girls will desist,

they'll stop saying they're transgender,

and they'll return,sort of, to themselves.

But if these girls come home...

Another thing is that ifthey're away from their peers,

they tend to desist.

But if they are still online all the time,

the problem does get worse.

- Alright, well fascinating topic.

Abigail Shrier, authorof "Irreversible Damage."

Thanks for your time.

- Thank you!