A very important analysis of modern thinking and behavior. Using Charles Taylor, Alistair MacIntyre, Philipp Rieff, Freud, Rousseau, Nietzsche, New Left, Frankfurt School, Surrealism, Romantic poetry, etc. the author offers an explanation to why there are people who think they are a woman trapped in a man’s body. "The changes we have witnessed in the content and significance of sexual codes since the 1960s are symptomatic of deeper changes in how we think of the purpose of life, the meaning of happiness, and what actually constitutes people’s sense of who they are and what they are for".
The book works with the concept of psychological man. The author explain: "institutions cease to be places for the formation of individuals via their schooling in the various practices and disciplines that allow them to take their place in society. Instead, they become platforms for performance, where individuals are allowed to be their authentic selves precisely because they are able to give expression to who they are “inside. That which hinders my outward expression of my inner feelings—that which challenges or attempts to falsify my psychological beliefs about myself and thus to disturb my sense of inner well-being—is by definition harmful and to be rejected.”
The book offer also some ideas about how one can respont politic identities. Very recommended book for those who want to understand this times.