This book focuses on resiliency among gender expansive young people in different cultures, exploring how they engage with and leverage school, media, and religious contexts.
The contributions in this volume advance the scholarship regarding the health and well-being of gender expansive young people, at a time where a plethora of recent legislation has limited and removed sundry rights of transgender individuals. While previous scholarship identified disparities among transgender youth, this book approaches resiliency from multiple lenses – from school-based clubs as tools for engagement in advocacy, to proactivity and self-care as strategies to mitigate struggles. These empirical chapters focus on diverse contexts across different countries including Canada, the USA and Australia. The book also includes important commentaries from leading scholars in the field debating the controversial issue of transgender youth "desisting" (to no longer be transgender).
This book will be of interest to those studying recent legislation on transgender rights, as well as to those with a broader interest in studying gender in different contexts. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Transgenderism.
Table of Contents
Introduction – Transgender youth are strong: Resilience among gender expansive youth worldwide 1. Discussing transgender topics within gay-straight alliances: Factors that could promote more frequent conversations 2. Supporting families of transgender children/youth: Parents speak on their experiences, identity, and views 3. I’m more driven now: Resilience and resistance among transgender and gender expansive youth and young adults experiencing homelessness 4. Non-binary youth: Access to gender-affirming primary health care 5. Disrupting the trans-versus-Catholic dichotomy: An example from a Canadian elementary school policy 6. Digging beneath the surface: Results from stage one of a qualitative analysis of factors influencing the well-being of trans youth in Quebec 7. Bullies, blades, and barricades: Practical considerations for working with adolescents expressing concerns regarding gender and identity 8. A critical commentary on follow-up studies and "desistance" theories about transgender and gender-nonconforming children 9. A critical commentary on "A critical commentary on follow-up studies and "desistence" theories about transgender and gender non-conforming children" 10. The myth of persistence: Response to "A critical commentary on follow-up studies and ‘desistance’ theories about transgender and gender non-conforming children" by Temple Newhook et al. (2018) 11. Learning to listen to trans and gender diverse children: A Response to Zucker (2018) and Steensma and Cohen-Kettenis (2018) 12. Prepubertal social gender transitions: What we know; what we can learn—A view from a gender affirmative lens
Ryan J. Watson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Connecticut, USA. He studies the health and well-being of sexual and gender minority youth.
Jaimie F. Veale is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. She specializes in the health, human rights, and sexuality of gender diverse individuals.