To read this content please select one of the options below:

Examining the Family Transition: How Parents of Gender-Diverse Youth Develop Trans-Affirming Attitudes

Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth

ISBN: 978-1-78714-614-3, eISBN: 978-1-78714-613-6

Publication date: 23 November 2017

Abstract

Purpose

The emergence of gender-nonconforming behavior in a child presents an opportunity and, often, significant pressure for parents to question the gender beliefs they have taken for granted. The purpose of this research is to examine how parents of gender-diverse youth respond to such pressures and ultimately come to understand and support their children’s gender identity.

Methodology/approach

This research is guided by Ridgeway’s theoretical concept of gender as a primary frame for coordinating social life. Using in-depth interviews with 36 supportive parents of gender-diverse children, the author details the process by which parents developed a critical consciousness of gender and subsequently adopted trans-affirming beliefs in response to their children’s gender-nonconformity.

Findings

Findings illustrate the power of gender as a primary frame for organizing life within the family as well as the circumstances under which hegemonic gender beliefs can be disrupted and alternative beliefs can be formed. The analysis shows that the process of making space for gender diversity within the home, which is taken on almost exclusively by mothers, invokes competing maternal mandates of raising “proper” children versus modeling selfless devotion to children’s happiness and well-being. As mothers navigate these conflicting requirements to create greater gender freedom for their children, they reinforce and perpetuate gender stereotypes that cast women as natural caregivers. Ironically, the work of intensive mothering is also the mechanism through which women come to develop alternative gender beliefs that they then use to expand gender possibilities for their children.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to the parents who shared their experiences so candidly for this research. I also thank Kimberlee Shauman, Vicki Smith, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions.

Citation

Ryan, K.N. (2017), "Examining the Family Transition: How Parents of Gender-Diverse Youth Develop Trans-Affirming Attitudes", Gender, Sex, and Sexuality Among Contemporary Youth (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 23), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 67-96. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120170000023005

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited