Subject Guide |
 Nora Gaines |
About this guide
“Our gender identity is something we feel in our soul.” (Dr. Robin Dea)
Many of us are so comfortable with our gender that we take it for granted.
For families of children who struggle with a different experience, we hope this guide will provide a few coordinates and some support in barely charted territory.
Rainbow Health Ontario Fact Sheet
Recommended Books and Publications
If You Are Concerned About Your Child's Gender Behaviors: A Guide for Parents
Children's National Medical Center, Outreach Program for Children with Gender-Variant Behaviors and Their Families.
ISBN: 978-1615190607
The Experiment, 2011.
ISBN: 9781573443180
Cleis Press, 2008.
ISBN: 978-0231157131
Columbia University Press, 2012
ISBN: 9780743236713
Scribner, 2012. Chapter 11 is devoted to transgender children and their families. See New York Times review under "Additional Resources."
Websites
- The Center: the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community CenterFor parents and family members.
- Trans Basics: Parents and FamilyAdditional resources for family members from the Gender Identity Project of The Center: the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.
- Ackerman Institute for the FamilyThe Gender and Family Project.
- TransYouth Family Allies: Understanding Through Education
- Stepping StonesNetwork of families embracing their children’s gender non-conformity; support/discussion group for parents, and playgroup for children. (Additional resources under 'Pages' and 'More' menus.)
- Gender SpectrumProvides education, training and support to help create a gender-sensitive and inclusive environment for all children and teens. Also offers parent-support groups, including a national call-in group.
- Children's National Medical CenterChildren's Gender and Sexuality Advocacy and Education Program.
- GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education NetworkFocuses on ensuring safe schools for all students of diverse sexualities and gender identities.
- Family Acceptance Project
- Far From the TreeWebsite for Andrew Solomon's Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, one chapter of which is devoted to transgender children and their families. Includes a page devoted to Community Voices, which invites readers to share their stories.
Bank Street Theses
Bridging the Gap: Exploring Transgender Identity Formation and Peer Relations of Upper Elementary Students Through the Medium of Story
Call Number: SBI 2011 A555b
Publication Date: 2011
(Site-Based Inquiry) Gender is a socially constructed binary, but what of those who don't fit neatly into male or female identities? Transgender identities are formed when biological sex, gender identity and gender expression do not conform to societal norms. This project presents research and a culminating children's storybook about a transgender child as she struggles with her identity in the face of her community.
Some Girls Play with Trains: Negotiating Gender in a Preschool Classroom
Call Number: T 2011 Z51s
Publication Date: 2011
This study examines children's understandings of gender roles within a classroom of three- and four-year-olds. At the end of a four-month period, the children were presented with a book that discussed gender norms. Using classic and current gender theory and research, the author analyzes these children's changing understandings and rationales concerning gender.
Film
Ma vie en rose
1997, Belgium, Alain Berliner, director.
Radio & Television
This American Life: Somewhere Out There. Act Two: Tom Girls.
"Lilly and Thomasina have a lot in common. They're both 8 years old. And they were both born boys, although it became clear pretty early on that they'd prefer to be girls. There aren't all that many kids in the world like them, but recently, at a conference in Seattle on transgender parenting, they met. And they immediately hit it off. They could talk about things with each other that they'd never been able to share with other friends back home. And that's comforting, even if they never see each other after the conference ends. Producer Mary Beth Kirchner tells the story. Rebecca Weiker is associate producer of the story." (17 minutes) Originally aired 13 February 2009.
In the Life: Becoming Me
"Eight families with transgender and gender non-conforming children ranging in ages from 5 to 25 share their stories. With the healthy development of their children at stake, parents must confront binary perceptions of gender, widespread transphobia and controversial parenting decisions." (28 minutes) 20th Season, 2012.
Additional Resources
"The 'Wrong' Sex: A New Definition of Childhood Pain"
New York Times, 22 March 1994
"About a Boy Who Isn't"
New York Times Magazine, 26 May 2002
"Supporting Boys or Girls When the Line Isn't Clear"
New York Times, 2 December 2006
"Young Children and Gender Choices"
New York Times, 7 December 2006
"Gender Identity"
New York Times, 9 December 2006
"A Boy's Life"
The Atlantic, November 2008
"You have to give them a place where they feel protected and safe and loved: the views of parents who have gender-variant children and adolescents"
Journal of LGBT Youth, vol. 6, nos. 2-3, 2009, pp.243-271.
(Online access available to Bank Street faculty, staff, and currently registered students.)
(Online access available to Bank Street faculty, staff, and currently registered students.)
"Homophobia, Sexism, and Early Childhood Education: A Review of the Literature"
Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, vol. 30, no. 4, 2009, pp. 385-403.
(Online access available to Bank Street faculty, staff, and currently registered students.)
(Online access available to Bank Street faculty, staff, and currently registered students.)
"What's So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?"
New York Times Magazine, 12 August 2012
ISBN: 9780743236713
New York Times, 13 November 2012
Review of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. Chapter 11 is devoted to transgender children and their families.
Review of Far From the Tree: Parents, Children and the Search for Identity. Chapter 11 is devoted to transgender children and their families.
Books for Children
Call Number: 813.54 P398a
ISBN: 1896781144
Toronto: Green Dragon Press, 2000.
Helpful in beginning to talk with young children about gender roles and gender-based stereotypes.
Helpful in beginning to talk with young children about gender roles and gender-based stereotypes.
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