Trans Kids by Tey Meadow - Paper - University of California Press

About the Book

Trans Kids is a trenchant ethnographic and interview-based study of the first generation of families affirming and facilitating gender nonconformity in children. Earlier generations of parents sent such children for psychiatric treatment aimed at a cure, but today, many parents agree to call their children new names, allow them to wear whatever clothing they choose, and approach the state to alter the gender designation on their passports and birth certificates.

Drawing from sociology, philosophy, psychology, and sexuality studies, sociologist Tey Meadow depicts the intricate social processes that shape gender acquisition. Where once atypical gender expression was considered a failure of gender, now it is a form of gender. Engaging and rigorously argued, Trans Kids underscores the centrality of ever more particular configurations of gender in both our physical and psychological lives, and the increasing embeddedness of personal identities in social institutions.

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Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures
Acknowledgments

1. Studying Each Other
2. Gender Troubles
3. The Gender Clinic
4. Building a Parent Movement
5. Anxiety and Gender Regulation
6. Telling Gender Stories
7. From Failure to Form

Appendix A: A Note on the Language of Gender
Appendix B: Methodology
Appendix C: List of Interviewees

Notes
Glossary
References
Index

Reviews

“Meadows is a superb scholar and storyteller and, with this work, makes a critical contribution to family and gender studies. Everyone should read this book.”
— CHOICE

"Invites readers — and anyone genuinely interested in studying or understanding gender-nonconforming people — to ask questions that reach beyond readily available vocabulary, arguing that that's the next right, respectful thing to do.”
— Bay Area Reporter

“Trans Kids is excellent work that combines compelling narratives with extensive ethnographic descriptions of parents’ and children’s experiences.”
— ForeWord

"Clearly, more information is urgently needed to counteract ignorance, and one hopes, accordingly, that this fine book will be enlightening.”
— Booklist

“[A] landmark study."
— Public Books

“A vital and necessary read. . . . Beyond the daring of its title, this is a book whose depth and sensitivity pull you in throughout.”
— PopMatters

“Presents an important sociological snapshot of the experiences of parents and guardians of transgender and gender nonconforming children and youth. . . . The stories of individuals' interactions with the medical industry, parent-support groups, child-protection services, and the anxiety produced in these navigations provides valuable information for social and moral analysis.”
— Hypatia: A Journal of Feminist Philosophy

"Meadow captures the rapidly changing and charged social landscape of trans and transitions. . . . Today trans childhood represents one iteration by which gender is done."
— Contemporary Sociology

“An incisive assessment.”
— Seattle Gay News

“Current, typically salient, personally informative, [and] lively in style. . . . The exemplary fieldwork vignettes and case studies are abundant, rich, vivid, and experientially resonant. At the same time, [Pascoe] has thoroughly theorized her narrative, providing a fine conceptual vocabulary, a probing critical framework, and a set of intelligent practical recommendations.”
— General Anthropology Bltn

“Intriguing and at times disturbing to read. [This book] is well written and is suitable for a wide range of readers.”
— Metapsychology Online Review

“Introspective, fascinating, consistently interesting.”
— Bay Area Reporter

“This insightful peek into the realities of high school should be read by researchers, administrators, teachers, and parents. . . . Pascoe’s analysis is sophisticated, mapping the intricacies involved in the relationships between sexuality, gender, race, and class. Yet, her work is clean-cut and difficult to argue against.”
— Men & Masculinities

"Altogether, Trans Kids advances our understandings of gender in critically important ways and will stand as an important text for future generations of scholarship."
— American Journal of Sociology

“Trans Kids shows us how stories are social actions and how description can let us understand the lived struggle of trans kids as they find themselves defined within any number of social forms. In this book, new stories make for new knowledge and new forms of care. This thoughtful work helps bring an expansive sensibility into the world.”—Judith Butler, author of Gender Trouble, Bodies that Matter, and Undoing Gender

“This is the leading edge of trans today.”—Kate Bornstein, author of Gender Outlaw

“A major, clear-eyed, and beautifully written contribution to thinking intelligently and empathetically about gender today.”—Don Kulick, author of Travesti

“Carefully researched, deeply thoughtful, and beautifully written. This book captures the fear, love, and hope that swirl around these lives and tells us something important—and new—about gender itself.”—Raewyn Connell, author of Masculinities

Trans Kids