Gender Explained: A New Understanding of Identity in a Gender Creative World

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.

About the Author

Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, is a developmental and clinical psychologist, the author of The Gender Creative Child and Gender Born, Gender Made, and coauthor, with Michelle Jurkiewicz, of Gender Explained. At the University of California, San Francisco, she is the cofounder and director of mental health at the Child and Adolescent Gender Center and an associate professor of pediatrics. She has been featured on the Los Angeles Times online and WIRED online and has appeared on Anderson Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the Today Show.Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and gender specialist in private practice in Berkeley, California. She has been providing therapeutic services to children, youth, and families since 2003. Dr. Jurkiewicz was an early pioneer in the work with transgender, nonbinary, and gender expansive youth. In addition to providing psychotherapy for people of all ages, she trains newer clinicians in using the Gender Affirmative Model.