Big Tech claims to have seen the light, so why is Amazon still banning Ryan Anderson’s book?
The vibes have shifted, and Big Tech is shifting with them. Elon Musk took the lead (and the risks) in moving to the right, but other tech overlords are following — cozying up to Trump, ditching DEI, and promising to ease up on censoring conservatives. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has made anti-woke moves, and Jeff Bezos of Amazon conspicuously restrained The Washington Post (which he currently owns) from endorsing Kamala Harris. And there are rewards; these tech titans were “given prime positions at Donald Trump’s inauguration.”
But if Bezos is serious about serving all Americans, rather than a small cadre of woke activists, then, again, why hasn’t Amazon lifted the ban on Anderson’s 2018 book, When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment?
Anderson’s book was prophetic; he calmly and compassionately explained the evils of gender ideology back when most people were still trying to wrap their minds around Bruce becoming Caitlyn. However, his book was also prophetic in that taking a stand against gender ideology was risky. Not only did both The Washington Post and The New York Times take extremely dishonest shots at Anderson by lying about his book, but few allies had his back. Most Republican politicians were afraid of the issue because they thought that the same forces that had propelled same-sex marriage to victory would quickly do the same for the trans agenda.
At first it seemed like they were right; the pressure to bend the knee to the trans agenda intensified, especially after Democrats took power. Thus, in early 2021, shortly after Biden took office, and as Anderson became the leader of the Ethics and Public Policy Center (which, full disclosure, he subsequently invited me to join), Amazon banned his book.
The reason given for the ban was false, repeating the same claims that The Washington Post had to correct, and the immediate effort to silence Anderson’s work failed as the controversy drew attention to his book and many voices were raised in his defense. Nonetheless, Anderson’s dissenting opinion disappeared from Amazon, and a message was sent to other authors and publishers: don’t cross the LGBT activists, lest they get you banned from the largest bookseller in the world, with no guarantee of a controversy-induced sales bump of your own.
Years later, When Harry Became Sally is still banned on Amazon, even as the vibes have shifted and Trump returns to the Oval Office after campaigning against gender ideology. It’s time for Amazon to change that. Restoring Anderson’s book would show that Bezos is serious about a level playing field for cultural and political debate, rather than one run by woke activists. And it would reaffirm the value of a culture of free speech, a culture that is all the more important to maintain given revelations about the Biden administration’s efforts to pressure Big Tech into further censorship. If the government is going to try to skirt First Amendment protections by getting the private sector to do the dirty work of censorship, it is critical to have a robust culture of free speech that encourages business leaders to condemn, rather than collude with, would-be government censors.
But the most important reason to reverse the ban is that Ryan Anderson was right. Amazon won’t admit this even if it puts the book back on the digital shelves, but we all know it. After years of trans activists having it all their way, it is obvious that their movement was evil and destructive — just look at their policies of “transitioning” kids, putting rapists in women’s prisons, and destroying female sports and privacy.
The “transgender moment” was built on lies and junk science that have discredited gender ideology and vindicated Anderson. He got it right when the culture was going along with crazy because he remained grounded in a right understanding of human nature — and he had the courage to proclaim it.
Humans are made male and female, a differentiation that is responsible for bringing all of us into being. We are embodied, and our bodies are essential aspects of who we are, rather than accidental; they are not fully customizable VR avatars, or “meat Legos” to break apart and rebuild at will.
At its root, gender ideology is an immiserating revolt against existence itself, whereas accepting the embodied reality of human nature is essential to happiness. We can only be happy if we accept the limits of our being, recognizing that we are finite and contingent and that existence, including our male or female nature, is given to us.
The alternative is personally and socially destructive — a rebellion against reality that is futile and therefore endless. This is why the demands of the transgender activists kept becoming more radical; they cannot restrain themselves from even the most obvious absurdities and injustices, such as allowing men into women’s sports, amputating the breasts of troubled adolescent girls, or forcing women to share prison cells with male rapists.
Rebellion against reality breeds injustice, whereas real social justice must be based on the truth of human nature, including our existence as male and female. This is why gender ideologues have to rely on intimidation and repression. Their war against reality requires that they suppress anyone who dares to speak the truth about human nature.
It is time for Amazon to stop doing trans activists’ dirty work for them. If Amazon wants to serve all Americans, it needs to stop banning Ryan Anderson.
Nathanael Blake is a senior contributor to The Federalist and a fellow in the Life and Family Initiative at the Ethics and Public Policy Center.
