On this page you’ll find resources that may help help you learn more about what your child may be experiencing and how you might support them.
We’ve selected some documentaries, articles and books that parents have found useful.
Please have a look around the site for other more general resources – and you may find connecting to support groups in your state or territory useful too as you figure out how best to support your child.
Interesting articles and Webpages:
We trust children to know what gender they are – until they go against the norm – Early Childhood Australia’s Blog, May 27th 2015
‘What’s so bad about a boy who wants to wear a dress?’, New York Times, Aug 2012
Understanding Gender – This page is from a US based site with a page offering resources for Gender Diverse Families
Gender is all around us. Like water surrounding creatures in the sea, we are often unaware of its ever-present nature. Gender is actually taught to us from the moment we are born. Gender expectations and messages bombard us constantly. Upbringing, culture, peers, schools, community, media, and religion are some of the many influences that shape our understanding of this core aspect of self. How you learned and interacted with gender as a young child directly influences how you view the world today. Gendered interactions between parent and child begin as soon as the sex of the baby is known. In short, many aspects of gender are socially constructed, particularly with regard to gender expression.
Gender Born, Gender Made: Raising Healthy Gender-Nonconforming Children
Diane Ehrensaft, PhD. The Experiment (2011)
A groundbreaking guide to caring for children who live outside binary gender boxes
We are only beginning to understand gender. Is it inborn or learned? Can it be chosen—or even changed? Does it have to be one or the other? These questions may seem abstract—but for parents whose children live outside of gender “norms,” they are very real.
No two children who bend the “rules” of gender do so in quite the same way. Felicia threw away her frilly dresses at age three. Sam hid his interest in dolls and “girl things” until high school—when he finally confided his desire to become Sammi. And seven-year-old Maggie, who sports a boys’ basketball uniform and a long blond braid, identifies as “a boy in the front, and a girl in the back.” But all gender-nonconforming children have one thing in common—they need support to thrive in a society that still subscribes to a binary system of gender.
Documentaries/videos that feature children :
Being Me – 2014, Four Corners Special. Age groups:
Click this link to watch this excellent Australian documentary: http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2014/11/17/4127631.htm
I am Jazz – Age at time of interview:
The Light –
Being Emma (The Project, approx 4 minutes, Australia, 2015): click here to see video
Avery’s Story – USA
‘That’s Good Enough’ Powerful speech by Avery’s mum, Debi Jackson
Books
The Transgender Child – A Handbook for Families and Professionals
Stephanie Brill and Rachel Pepper, Cleis Press (2008)
My Princess Boy
Cheryl Kilodavis, Aladdin (2010)
I am Jazz
Jazz Jennings & Jessica Herthal, Dial Books (2014)
The story of a child based on the real-life experience of Jazz Jennings, who has become a spokesperson for transkids everywhere