A new picture book by Sarah and Ian Hoffman, Jacob’s New Dress (Albert Whitman, 2014), is welcome addition to the small but growing number of books for and about young gender nonconforming and transgender children.
Two recent stories show parents supporting their gender nonconforming children in pretty awesome ways. One will infuriate you with the bias the mom and her child had to face; both will inspire you with the strength of the moms.
Katie Couric did a show yesterday on “Transgender Youth,” which was really rather good, and reminded me I’d never posted about these two children’s books by author, theater artist, and parent S. Bear Bergman. Last year, Bergman launched a Kickstarter project to produce “books and more for gender-independent kids and families.” The first two picture books from the resulting micro-press, Flamingo Rampant, are colorful, fantastical tales.
There’s a new place online for families with gender non-conforming and transgender children to share their stories and experiences: the Gender Spectrum Lounge. The Gender Spectrum organization has been around for a number of years now, and also runs the yearly Gender Spectrum Family Conference.
Parents of transgender children “are the best parents ever. They unconditionally love their children, even when they don’t completely understand what their child is going through,” writes mom Tracie Stratton (herself such a parent) in Transitions of the Heart: Stories of Love, Struggle, and Acceptance by Mothers of Transgender and Gender Variant Children, edited by Rachel Pepper. That lesson of acceptance and love, conveyed through the 32 essays in the collection, make Transitions of the Heart a valuable read for any parent, regardless of the gender identity of their children.
I mentioned a few weeks ago that children’s books dealing with issues of gender identity are still few and far between. A colleague of mine, however, recently recommended Andrea U’ren’s Pugdog, a picture book about a gender nonconforming dog.
Some of the parenting-related stories that caught my eye this week, including a few items showing that more countries are protecting the legal relationships between children and their parents in a variety of family forms—but that many jurisdictions are still grappling with the issues raised by assisted reproduction and same-sex couples:
Children’s books with gender nonconforming/transgender protagonists are rare, but over the past year or so there have been some encouraging signs of progress.
The media has been full of stories about bullying and its damaging effects—but most stories have centered around middle-school and high-school students. Less has been said of bullying in elementary schools. A new study from the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), however, shows that such bullying does exist—including bullying and teasing based on homophobia and gender-nonconformity. Those
A few days ago, I asked if Showtime’s new House of Lies series, premiering tonight at 10p.m. ET, would give a positive and unoffensive portrayal of the gender variant child of the lead character. Early indications are that they have done so. Diane Anderson-Minshall at the Advocate says, “For all the reasons other shows fail
