My favorite books to shed light on the gender-critical perspective

Why am I passionate about this?

I am a mom who has struggled to understand the changes I have witnessed in my child after she told me she was “trans.” Nothing about her declaration or how she came to that point made sense to me. As a loving mother and curious person who loves to learn, I studied the topic of gender from multiple angles. As I recorded my research findings and experience, the content developed into a book. I provide a voice for parents who challenge transgender medicalization of cross-sex hormones and surgeries and instead desire natural options to treat the root cause of their child’s distress. 


I wrote...

The Trans Train: A Parent's Perspective on Transgender Medicalization and Ideology

By Lisa Shultz,

Book cover of The Trans Train: A Parent's Perspective on Transgender Medicalization and Ideology

What is my book about?

I wrote The Trans Train from a place of love as I craved an understanding of the forces that prompted my daughter to say she was born in the wrong body. I needed to know from various viewpoints what transgender ideology was about and why a medicalized pathway of hormones and surgery is often presented as the fix to one’s pain or gender confusion.

The result of my “mom investigation” is that such drastic measures may cause more harm than help. I also share insights from industry insiders and those who have de-transitioned back to their natal sex. Gender ideology has far-reaching ramifications, including diminished women’s rights. The book offers solutions to avoid irreversible damage to the health and well-being of our young people.

Shepherd is reader supported. When you buy books, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters

Lisa Shultz Why did I love this book?

This is the first book I discovered that helped me understand what was happening to my daughter after she told me she identified as “trans.” I learned about the vulnerability of girls to social contagions by peers and social media influencers.

Although I was baffled by reading that gender-affirming care doesn’t address the root cause of a girl’s distress and instead helps her rush into a medicalized model with long-term, adverse health effects, it confirmed my family’s experience.

This book boosted my confidence to advocate for young people to address and heal what lies beneath the proclamation that they were born in the wrong body, and it also helped me understand the potential damage caused by gender drugs and surgeries.

By Abigail Shrier,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Irreversible Damage as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

NAMED A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST AND ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF 2021 BY THE TIMES AND THE SUNDAY TIMES

"Irreversible Damage . . . has caused a storm. Abigail Shrier, a Wall Street Journal writer, does something simple yet devastating: she rigorously lays out the facts." —Janice Turner, The Times of London

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…


Book cover of Lost in TransNation: A Child Psychiatrist's Guide Out of the Madness

Lisa Shultz Why did I love this book?

As a mom who found herself in deep grief from losing a daughter to trans ideology, I connected with this book because it was the first to acknowledge the trauma I experienced as a mom.

In Chapter 10, Mourning the Living, I felt understood by a medical professional for the first time. To have the author acknowledge parental devastation helped me feel seen and less alone.

Reading about the multiple layers of loss: daughter, family relationships, friendships, and the trust of institutions, organizations, and community validated my grief and provided the support I desperately needed in my darkest hours of despondency. 

By Miriam Grossman,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Lost in TransNation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Throughout our country, atrocities are taking place in doctor's offices and hospital operating rooms. Physically healthy children and adolescents are being permanently disfigured and sometimes sterilized. Those youth say they're transgender, and we-their parents, teachers, therapists, and doctors-are supposed to agree with their self-diagnosis and take a back seat as they make the most consequential decision of their lives: to alter their bodies in order to, we are told, "align" them with their minds.

Medical, educational, and government authorities advise us to support the "gender journeys" of still developing kids, including medical interventions with poor evidence of long-term improvement.

This…


Book cover of Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans: Tales from the Home Front in the Fight to Save Our Kids

Lisa Shultz Why did I love this book?

After my daughter identified as trans, I devoured this book, craving a wider understanding of trans identification from other parents. This book contains 75 stories written by parents about the effects of “trans” in their family life. This large swath of narratives also gave me a better understanding of different age groups of kids influenced by gender ideology.

My trans-identifying daughter is in her late twenties, so I learned a lot from parents about school-aged kids and how medical professionals often disregard the parents of minors. My perspective grew significantly when I read these heartfelt, honest accounts of parental loss and learning. 

By Josie A. (editor), Dina S. (editor),

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A medical scandal is currently unfolding across Western liberal countries. As Parents with Inconvenient Truths about Trans reveals, the primary victims are vulnerable, socially-awkward kids with normally developing bodies who fall for the Internet-fuelled promise that they can solve their emotional, psychological, or physical discomfort by adopting an opposite-sex identity.

With deep reservations about the new gender orthodoxy that informs this promise and the one-size-fits-all medical prescription that comes with it, the parent contributors to this volume share deeply personal stories about transition and desistance that won't be told at the gender clinic.

They also offer practical advice based on…


Book cover of The Detransition Diaries

Lisa Shultz Why did I love this book?

I read this book because I was curious about the detransition experience. I wanted to know the perspective of kids who chose to both transition and detransition. I felt compelled to hear their own words about what moved them to go in either direction. I also desired to learn about their lives as older adults and how their health and perspectives evolved with time.

I found each of the seven kids’ stories to be of value in growing my understanding beyond the parent perspective. As a mom of a daughter, I was also interested in learning why adolescent girls are more likely to become involved in the trans trend. 

By Jennifer Lahl, Kallie Fell,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Detransition Diaries as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

We live in unprecedented times, when what was known for thousands of years, that we are created male and female, is now up for debate.  It is now controversial to see that sex is binary, that a man can never become a woman, nor a woman a man, and that men should not enter women's sports, women's bathrooms, and women's prisons, merely for saying that they are a woman. We are witnessing a rapid rise in gender confusion among young people, especially among young women and girls.

The Detransition Diaries is both personal and historical. It is personal in that…


Book cover of The Abolition of Sex: How the “Transgender” Agenda Harms Women and Girls

Lisa Shultz Why did I love this book?

This book appealed to me so I could better understand the ideological agendas affecting women and girls. As a woman and a mom of daughters, I feel troubled by what I have been witnessing as the sex category of “female” is eliminated in certain contexts.

The author politically leans left, so I learned from her perspective about how our society is being shaped by new ideologies that affect the future of women’s rights, safe spaces, and fairness in sports. I felt alarmed when I read about what is happening but also grateful to the author for shedding light on the topic so I could be more observant and empowered when my safety and rights as a female are being infringed upon.

By Kara Dansky,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Abolition of Sex as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

As seen on Tucker Carlson Tonight!

"Dansky’s book, The Abolition of Sex, isn’t written in the same kind of fulminating, entertainingly rageful prose, but it is a persuasive exercise in no-bullshit argumentation. I recommend it even to people who are inclined to disagree with her." —Matt Taibbi, Meet the Censored: Kara Dansky

The so-called “transgender” agenda is a misogynistic assault on the rights, privacy, and safety of women and girls—and is being fueled by a massive, vicious, and well-funded industry.

Most Americans do not understand the real threat that the “transgender” agenda, or the so-called “gender identity” movement, poses to…


You might also like...

What You Do To Me: A Novel

By Rochelle B. Weinstein,

Book cover of What You Do To Me: A Novel

Rochelle B. Weinstein Author Of When We Let Go

New book alert!

Why am I passionate about this?

Not only am I the author of seven women’s fiction novels, I’m a voracious reader who believes she was raised by Judy Blume and Sidney Sheldon. In our broken home, reading was an escape, a salve for the wound, a place where I felt heard and understood. My novels touch on deep emotions—real and relatable. If I don’t capture that feeling when I’m reading through my drafts, I dig deeper. And that’s the thing about a great book, that gut punch, that slide under my skin, I get you. There’s no better read than the one that pulls the heartstrings and gives you all the feels.    

Rochelle's book list on tugging on every one of your heartstrings

What is my book about?

What You Do To Me follows Rolling Stone reporter Cecilia James on the hunt to find the muse behind a famous love song, all while managing an estranged relationship with her father and boyfriend Pete.

Inspired by Hey There Deliah, the dual timeline stretches across the sunny beaches of 1970s Miami with star-crossed lovers Eddie and Sara, to the glittery music industry of 1990s LA. For music lovers and fans of that first, unforgettable love, What You Do To Me is the story of a love song with equal parts heart and harmony.

What You Do To Me: A Novel

By Rochelle B. Weinstein,

What is this book about?

From the bestselling author of This Is Not How It Ends comes a moving novel of two unfinished love stories and the music and lyrics that bring them together.

Journalist Cecilia James is a sucker for a love song. So when she stumbles across a clue to the identity of the muse for one of rock’s greatest, she devotes herself to uncovering the truth, even as her own relationship is falling apart.

While writing an article for Rolling Stone, Cecilia works to reveal the mystery that has intrigued fans and discovers a classic tale of two soulmates separated by fate and circumstance. Rock…


5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in topics and characters, gender identity, and gender variance?

10,000+ authors have recommended their favorite books and what they love about them. Browse their picks for the best books about topics and characters, gender identity, and gender variance.

Topics And Characters Explore 110 books about topics and characters
Gender Identity Explore 71 books about gender identity
Gender Variance Explore 21 books about gender variance