* something about the horror of a world without ambition or the life of the mind (or specifically, the philosopher–scientist's mind, rather than the activist's)? Binnie (who will always have more readers than me) writes characters don't have any concept of _doing_ anything except drugs and complaining about Society's transphobia.
* Abigail Shrier's _Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters_
* _Damage_ is sensationalist right-wing journalism, rather than the kind of careful, nuanced scholarship of the kind you would expect to be reviewed by such a refined blog as _The Scintillating But Ultimately Untrue Thought_—but damned if the situation on the ground doesn't call more sensationalist right-wing journalism
+ * Shon Faye's _The Transgender Issue_
* Multi-Book Review: Various Sex-Ed Books for Children
* comparing and contrasting mainstream (for now) selections ([_What's the Big Secret? Talk about Sex with Girls and Boys_](https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Big-Secret-Talking-about/dp/0316101834), [_Amazing You! Getting Smart About Your Private Parts_](https://www.amazon.com/Amazing-You-Getting-Smart-Private/dp/0142410586), and [_It's Not the Stork! A Book About Girls, Boys, Babies, Bodies, Families, and Friends_](https://www.amazon.com/Its-Not-Stork-Families-Friends/dp/0763633313)), to a genderist alternative ([_Who Are You? The Kid's Guide to Gender Identity_](https://www.amazon.com/Who-Are-You-Gender-Identity/dp/1785927280)) and a Christian alternative ([the _God's Design for Sex_ series](https://www.amazon.com/Full-Set-Design-Revised-Paperback/dp/B00O5DIVTU))
* The ideological books are what you would expect and impossible to parody, but I would be [more comfortable reading the Christian book](/2020/Apr/peering-through-reverent-fingers/) to a child, because at least it explains the facts ("I have a penis. That makes me a boy like Daddy") in the course of attributing everything to God, whereas _Who Are You?_ is trying to set up [a world where facts aren't a thing](/2019/Aug/the-social-construction-of-reality-and-the-sheer-goddamned-pointlessness-of-reason/) ("Babies can't talk, so grown-ups make a guess by looking at their bodies").
* the Christians also believe in beauty and have much more competent illustrations
- * You can also see a propaganda gradient in the mainstream books over time. _What's the Big Secret?_ (1997) acknowledges sex stereotypes as having a grain of truth, but is firm about them not being normative or definitive ("Girls and boys do play in different ways. Sometimes, but not always"), whereas _It's Not the Stork_ (2006) bizarrely tries to rebut psychological-sex-difference claims without even acknowledging what they claims are ("Girls catch fish and worms and bugs!" "So do boys!") and has more racially diverse illustrations.
+ * You can also see a propaganda gradient in the mainstream books over time. _What's the Big Secret?_ (1997) acknowledges sex stereotypes as having a grain of truth, but is firm about them not being normative or definitive ("Girls and boys do play in different ways. Sometimes, but not always"), whereas _It's Not the Stork_ (2006) bizarrely tries to rebut psychological-sex-difference claims without even acknowledging what the claims are ("Girls catch fish and worms and bugs!" "So do boys!") and has more racially diverse illustrations.
New list of more ideas I want to finish—
projects / Ultimately_Untrue_Thought.git / blobdiff