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An essential primer on gender literacy from leading experts on the front line of the cultural and political debate
Gender as we used to know it is being upended, and no more dramatically than in the hands of the youngest generation—from children aged two to young adults just old enough to vote. There has been an explosion in the number of people who are saying they are not the gender everyone thought they were or who do not want to follow the rules of gender inscribed in the patterns of our society. As this phenomenon has unfolded, some people have celebrated, others are alarmed, while many are confused.
Gender, Explained is the complete road map to understanding what is going on—and how gender continues to evolve today. Armed with the latest research, psychologists Diane Ehrensaft and Michelle Jurkiewicz help readers understand today’s gender phenomenon, dispel myths, and answer the most common questions that appear in their clinical practice.
- Why are so many kids today playing with gender?
- What does it mean that gender is on a spectrum?
- How should a parent respond to their gender creative child?
- How can we support those who are exploring gender?
This book advocates for gender affirming care and highlights the importance of listening to what young people are trying to teach us about gender amid conflicting social and cultural norms. It features personal stories from both gender creative children and adolescents as well as parents whose children are playing with gender.
Gender, Explained pulls back the curtain on how and why the youngest generation is “doing” gender in new and different ways and outfits all of us with the gender literacy to understand gender and move freely in this new world.
“The authors thoughtfully examine how and why gender has become a pressing concern for today’s youth. . . . A thorough, evenhanded illumination of a contentious topic imbued with compassion and cleareyed data.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Gender Explained is the perfect antidote to the current state of widespread confusion about gender. Ehrensaft and Jurkiewicz’s careful, thoughtful, and well-researched approach to the topic of gender cuts through a sea of misinformation. In this widely accessible book, the authors help us make sense of the complexity of gender. They also lay the groundwork for a clear path forward to understanding and celebrating gender in all its infinite forms.”—Sabra L. Katz-Wise, PhD, associate professor at Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health
“The continent's greatest clinical psychologist, Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, working in pediatric gender issues in an academic research setting, has added to her two previous groundbreaking books, now with colleague Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD. Gender Explained reveals how our thinking about gender has changed through the lens and voices of patients, parents, and those who care for gender creative children. In addition to their clinical expertise, Dr. Ehrensaft also draws on her participation in two NIH-funded longitudinal studies of transgender children and adolescents, in collaboration with three other major pediatric academic hospitals.”—Norman Spack, MD, endocrinologist at Boston Children’s Hospital
