Raising children who don’t fit neatly into male or female boxes brings a wealth of questions and uncertainties. Here you will find information and support to assist you in your search for answers. Also take a look at our Resources section and the Ways We Can Help.
Gender Spectrum Events
Stay tuned for more information about the 2012 Gender Spectrum Family Conference.
The Transgender Child
A Handbook for Families and Professionals
Gender Spectrum Board Member Diane Ehrensaft Has a Great Article in the Huffington Post
"Look at Him, He's Sandra Dee: What House of Lies' Roscoe Can Teach Us About Gender-Nonconforming Children"
Girl Scouts on Gender: Friend or Foe?
Consider a recent example of this scenario--Bobby’s story. Last month, a Denver CNN affiliate ran an article headlined “Boy wanting to join the Girl Scouts told ‘no.’” It’s the story of a child with a loving, supportive family being treated poorly by a local troop leader. Strictly speaking, this is accurate - but the headline, and those in other publications like the New York Daily News and Times NewsFeed, mistakenly imply that the Girl Scouts of Colorado is a non-inclusive organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If you read the whole story, you find Girl Scouts of Colorado’s statement regarding its approach for working with transgender and gender nonconforming children, and the action they took in this instance:
"Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members. If a child identifies as a girl and the child's family presents her as a girl, Girl Scouts of Colorado welcomes her as a Girl Scout. Our requests for support of transgender kids have grown, and Girl Scouts of Colorado is working to best support these children, their families and the volunteers who serve them. In this case, an associate delivering our program was not aware of our approach. She contacted her supervisor, who immediately began working with the family to get the child involved and supported in Girl Scouts. We are accelerating our support systems and training so that we're better able to serve all girls, families and volunteers."
In fact, Girl Scouts of Colorado has worked with Gender Spectrum for the past year, requesting advice on how best to accommodate the increasing number of transgender and gender nonconforming children interested in their organization. When the media flurry dissipates, they will continue to collaborate to identify how best to make their organization responsive to the gender diverse girls who approach them, and conduct the necessary training to implement these approaches. It seems unfair that an organization that has explicitly taken steps to be fair and accepting should be slammed for being inflexible on the very same issue. Here is a perfect example of an organization’s thoughtful and intentional efforts to respond to complex issues being misrepresented by simplistic media coverage.
Such simplistic coverage is problematic in and of itself, but when it is used to promote intolerance, it becomes dangerous. Many organizations cynically count on readers to accept without question the story as misrepresented. It is so much easier to decry “boys” being allowed into a girl’s organization; attempting to be accepting of any child who identifies as a girl requires a deeper level of thinking. Unfortunately, those who oppose the action count on such effort not taking place.
Actions such as those opposing the courageous stance of the Girls Scouts of Colorado require more than shaking our heads in frustration. When organizations put themselves out there, when they assert just but controversial practices, they need more than unspoken appreciation. It matters that we not only speak out against what we see as wrong in the world, but speak up for what we see as right. If you support the Girl Scout’s forward thinking stance, please let them know - email Girl Scouts of America president Anna Maria Chavez (amchavez@girlscouts.org).
And we should remember that media coverage is a wonderful way to find out what issues and ideas we should be asking questions about, but it rarely provides us with complete or unbiased answers.
New SOC from WPATH
This fall, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) released a new set of recommendations for the Health of Transsexual, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People. Called the Standards of Care (SOC), this latest edition is the seventh version of this critical guidepost for professionals supporting gender-diverse people. While these new recommendations offer a more nuanced understanding of gender and children, some troubling stances remain.
WPATH is an international, multidisciplinary, professional association whose mission is to promote evidence-based care, education, research, advocacy, public policy, and respect for transgender health. The vision of WPATH is to bring together diverse professionals dedicated to developing best practices and supportive policies worldwide that promote health, research, education, respect, dignity, and equality for transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people in all cultural settings.
The new SOC builds upon the important declaration by the WPATH Board of Directors in spring 2010 that “the expression of gender characteristics, including identities, that are not stereotypically associated with one’s assigned sex at birth is a common and culturally-diverse human phenomenon [that] should not be judged as inherently pathological or negative.” In explicitly declaring that gender diversity is a natural aspect of human development, WPATH has created a context in which such diversity in children can be considered by families and professionals alike in a more balanced and healthy way.
A second critical difference is a clear statement about the danger of “treatment aimed at trying to change a person’s gender identity and expression to become more congruent with sex assigned at birth.” SOC7 goes on to recognize the negative long term consequences of such approaches, concluding, “Such treatment is no longer considered ethical.”
What else is different about these new standards? There is a greater focus specifically on the needs of children and adolescents. With a more thorough consideration of the issues faced by gender diverse children and adolescents, SOC7 emphasizes the importance of supporting families “in managing uncertainty and anxiety about their child’s or adolescent’s psychosexual outcomes and in helping youth to develop a positive self-concept.”
However, there remain some aspects of the new SOC that are troubling. One is the overall emphasis on gender dysphoria being a prerequisite for treatment of gender diverse youth. Defining gender dysphoria as “discomfort or distress that is caused by a discrepancy between a person’s gender identity and that person’s sex assigned at birth,” many of the recommendations for professionals begin with an assumption that such discomfort or distress need be present in order to provide support. Yet, as families all over the world are discovering, when children are in fact allowed to authentically explore their own gender in a safe and supportive setting, little or no distress is demonstrated. Quite the contrary, many young people see such distress reduce or disappear once their own sense of self is recognized and affirmed by those around them.
A second area of concern is the language regarding social transitions in young people. While not discouraging parents entirely, the document reflects on data showing “relatively low persistence rates of childhood gender dysphoria,” before chillingly suggesting that, “a change back to the original gender role can be highly distressing and even result in postponement of this second social transition on the child’s part.” The conclusion: “Mental health professionals can assist parents in identifying potential in-between solutions or compromises (e.g., only when on vacation).”
What this line of reasoning fails to recognize is that much of the data regarding “persistence of gender dysphoria” comes from studies that failed to effectively assess the roots or depth of the child’s gender nonconformity, therefore failing to distinguish children presenting a true sense of a transgender identity from those who were simply expressing gender in atypical ways. Further, referencing the “distress” of “a change back,” without at the same time naming the alleviation of stress that may also result seems disingenuous at best and potentially manipulative. While of course families considering social transitions must weigh many factors, not the least of which is a child’s safety, the message in SOC7 seems to caution against such transitions without weighing the possible trade-offs of such a course.
What do these new guidelines mean for families? Overall, they offer a more affirmative view of gender diversity in children. The document calls for supportive stances and interventions by professionals and greater acceptance of a child’s professed sense of their own gender. Yet unfortunately, they also continue to imply that a child’s gender should be gauged against a supposed norm, with the implication that typical experiences of gender are inherently healthier. As the world’s leading body focused on the health and well being of transgender and gender diverse people, it is unfortunate that these troubling aspects remain, despite an overall positive message. Find out more about SOC 7 at: http://www.wpath.org/
