March/April 2016

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Editor's Note

Rich Simon

I found talking to the transgender kids and their parents that I interviewed for this issue not only enlightening and educational, which I expected, but also viscerally moving. I was bowled over by the stubborn integrity of young kids who would insist upon being who they feel themselves to be, regardless of what anybody thought. Where, I wondered, did they find that spirit, that audacity, that sheer heroism, and at that age? But, then, talking to the parents of these kids, I began to understand a bit better.

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Male and female symbols attached by handcuffs

The Great Escape

Welcome to the World of Gender Fluidity

Margaret Nichols

As cultural attitudes about gender variance have undergone a profound shift, much of what therapists believed about what it means to be transgender is now hopelessly outdated. But how do people know that they’re the wrong gender? And what does that kind of knowing mean for our assumptions about males and females as “opposite sexes”? Read More
Transgender Child

The Transgender Journey

What Role Should Therapists Play?

Jean Malpas

Parents typically view their children in the largely gendered terms society lays out for them. Rearranging that internal mind map requires tremendous effort and adjustment. Given the alarming suicide rates for transgender children, it can also be a matter of life and death. Read More
A young child holds hands with two adults

It Takes A Tribe

What It's Like to Raise (or Be) a Transgender Child

Marian Sandmaier

Until very recently, most families with transgender children had never met another family like theirs. Now parents and children from the trailblazing Ackerman Institute’s Family & Gender Project talk about their experience of joining a healing community that offers acceptance and a validating mirror of their own experience. Read More
A crumbling iceberg

When Seismic Change Becomes the Norm

The Therapist in the Real World

Jeffrey Kottler

There was a time, not long ago, when all therapists needed to begin practicing their craft was a quiet room, an appointment book, a phone, and an answering machine. Since then, our field has gone through some truly seismic shifts. Read More

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