Episode 1509: Abigail Shrier | The Brogan Report

A Three-Hour Platform for Anti-Trans Pseudoscience

In this episode, Joe Rogan hosts Wall Street Journal opinion writer Abigail Shrier to promote her book Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters. The conversation centers on the discredited concept of “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD) and presents gender-affirming care for trans youth as a dangerous social contagion.

TL;DR: Rogan amplifies a non-clinician’s anti-trans book built on a retracted-in-press-release study, methodologically rejected by every major medical body, with no pushback and no expert counterweight.

Who Is Abigail Shrier?

Background: Opinion journalist for the Wall Street Journal. Law degree from Yale.
NOT a clinician. No medical, psychological, or pediatric training.
NOT a researcher. Her book is journalism, not peer-reviewed science.
Her central thesis relies almost entirely on a single 2018 study by Lisa Littman that has been heavily criticized and corrected.

The Core Problem: “Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria” Is Not a Real Diagnosis

Shrier’s book and the episode treat ROGD as if it were an established clinical phenomenon. It is not.

No major medical organization recognizes ROGD as a diagnosis. The American Psychological Association, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), and more than 60 other professional bodies have called for its elimination from clinical use. APA / Coalition for the Advancement and Application of Psychological Science statement
The original Littman (2018) study surveyed parents — not trans youth — recruited from websites openly hostile to transgender people (4thWaveNow, Transgender Trend, YouthTransCriticalProfessionals). Wikipedia: ROGD controversy
PLOS ONE issued a major correction to Littman’s paper, reclassifying it as merely “descriptive, exploratory” and noting it had not been clinically validated. Brown University retracted its press release about the study. Retraction Watch coverage
A 2022 peer-reviewed study in Pediatrics directly tested the ROGD hypothesis and found no evidence for it. Trans youth were not, in fact, “suddenly” identifying as trans due to peer contagion. Bauer et al., Pediatrics (2022)

Specific Claims Made on the Episode

Claim 1: “Most kids with gender dysphoria desist — around 70%.”

This is a recycled, misleading statistic Shrier repeats throughout her press tour.

The studies behind this number used the old DSM-IV diagnosis of “gender identity disorder,” which had much looser criteria. A child could meet that diagnosis without being transgender. Science-Based Medicine review
The DSM-5 diagnosis of gender dysphoria is significantly more specific. Studies of children who actually meet modern criteria show persistence rates dramatically higher than 30%.
Citing the old desistance number to argue against affirming today’s trans youth is statistical sleight of hand.

This is the “social contagion” hypothesis — which is the ROGD claim under a different name.
The 2022 Bauer et al. study found no peer-contagion pattern. Trans youth were as likely to be the only trans kid in their friend group as not.
The largest meta-analysis of de-transition rates puts the number at roughly 1%, and most of those cite external pressure (family, discrimination) rather than no longer being trans. Bustos et al., Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (2021)

Claim 3: Doctors are rushing kids into irreversible medical interventions.

No reputable clinic prescribes hormones or surgery on a first visit. WPATH Standards of Care require sustained, persistent dysphoria, comprehensive psychological assessment, and (for minors) parental involvement.
Puberty blockers — which Shrier conflates with permanent intervention — are reversible. Stopping them allows endogenous puberty to resume. Endocrine Society clinical practice guideline
Gender-affirming care is associated with significant reductions in suicidality and depression among trans youth. Tordoff et al., JAMA Network Open (2022)

Claim 4: Trans-identifying girls are mostly autistic or mentally ill girls being misdiagnosed.

This collapses correlation into causation. Autistic youth do appear to be somewhat more likely to be gender-diverse — which the autism research community attributes to authenticity, not confusion.
Reframing trans identity as a symptom of another condition is the kind of reasoning that historically pathologized gay people. Strang et al., Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders

Joe Rogan’s Role: Enabler, Not Interviewer

This episode is a textbook example of Rogan failing his platform’s responsibility.

He brings no counter-expert. A three-hour episode about pediatric medicine and adolescent psychology features zero clinicians, zero researchers, zero trans people.
He repeatedly affirms Shrier’s framing, using phrases like “this is crazy” and “it’s a fad” rather than asking what the medical consensus actually is.
He uncritically accepts the “social contagion” frame, comparing trans identity to fashion trends and TikTok crazes.
He platforms Shrier specifically because she was being deplatformed — framing scientific criticism of her book as censorship rather than legitimate methodological pushback.
He volunteers his own uninformed takes about hormones, surgeries, and “what’s happening to kids today” — speaking with confidence on topics where he has no expertise.

This is not a “just asking questions” interview. It is a friendly promotional appearance for a book the medical establishment regards as misinformation.

Real-World Harm

This episode did not exist in a vacuum.

It coincided with — and amplified — a wave of state-level legislation restricting gender-affirming care for minors. Shrier’s book is routinely cited in legislative testimony despite its lack of scientific grounding.
Trans youth denied access to gender-affirming care show significantly elevated rates of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Turban et al., Pediatrics (2020)
The “social contagion” narrative directly fuels family rejection — itself one of the strongest predictors of poor mental health outcomes in trans youth. Family Acceptance Project research
Misinformation about trans healthcare contributes to a climate in which anti-trans hate crimes have risen sharply year-over-year since the late 2010s. FBI Hate Crime Statistics

Why It Matters

Rogan reaches tens of millions of listeners per episode. Giving a non-clinician three uninterrupted hours to attack pediatric medical standards — without a single qualified rebuttal — is not neutrality. It is amplification of misinformation that affects real families and real children.