The Boston Globe & Harvard Book Store

The week before I read at Harvard Book Store, the Boston Globe ran a great profile focused on the new edition of Being Emily, which you can find on their site. Here’s my favorite quote:

Echoing [Stephanie] Burt’s introduction, Gold added, she intends the new edition to be a book “where trans girls really see themselves, see themselves being loved, see themselves in a positive light, overcoming problems. I think there’s still not enough of that in the world in terms of trans identity…”

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My gender presentation

Below you’ll find a PDF of the presentation “Gender in 50 Min or Less” that I delivered at the Golden Crown Literary Society annual convention in early July. I’ve also tried to list most of the papers, articles and books that I read while thinking about my gender presentation.

I probably forgot some resources, so this list might expand later. At some point I hope to add my notes or a link to the video if it’s public (apologies to people who weren’t at the conference if the PDF doesn’t entirely make sense without the notes).

Thanks to the Golden Crown board for inviting me to speak, and to my audience for laughing at all my jokes!READ MORE

The science behind the new Being Emily

Because I like science, I read a lot of it while updating Being Emily. This ended up with many books and studies turning into only a few sentences on the page, but hopefully they’re the right, impactful sentences.

Here are some of the core concepts I heightened or added in the new edition of Being Emily:

  • Being transgender (and gender identity in general) is influenced to some degree by genetics, hormones and hormone receptors.
  • It’s unclear whether gender identity is also influenced by the shape of your brain or your gender identity shapes your brain.
  • Kids learn gender early and begin to have a gender identity at young ages.
  • Many trans girls know they’re girls at early ages both consciously and subconsciously.
  • Trans kids who can socially transition young are not at high risk for depression and anxiety.

Here’s some of the science behind that understanding:READ MORE

Previews from the New Being Emily

We’re less than two weeks to the launch of the new edition of Being Emily! I’m super excited. I got to add about 25% more content to the original story, plus there’s a whole new epilogue (set 10 years after the original story), and there’s a great intro.

You can pre-order the new Being Emily from the Bella Books site:

You can start to preview the new content now on these sites:READ MORE

Study expands understanding of nonbinary identities

A recent study displays the variety, diversity and wonder of gender identity among nonbinary people. As someone who struggles to describe my own sense of gender (when I have one), it’s deeply life-affirming to see other people say a lot of the same things I’ve said.

Often when I’m trying to explain nonbinary genders to people, I have to start by explaining what binary means: “Woman/man, you have to pick from one of two categories, that’s the binary. Some people don’t fit neatly into those categories, they’re nonbinary.” After I say that, I often still get blank looks—because woman/man is so ingrained in our culture it doesn’t make sense to a lot of people (who fit inside that binary) that there are experiences outside of what feels to them like natural categories.READ MORE

Buckle up, you’re blessed

Antidotes to the “Nashville Statement”

If you missed it in the midst of the hurricanes, a bunch of fundamentalist Christians put out the “Nashville Statement” at the end of August, attacking LGBTQ people. This is nothing new, but it comes at a time when other attacks have been leveled against the LGBTQ community—and this can make it particularly scary and damaging.

(If you’re not a reader of long blog posts, please scroll to the video below in the seat belt section and watch that. It will make you smile and feel wonder, joy, blessing or all three.)READ MORE

Being Emily discussion questions and resources

Thanks to the wonderful people over at RECLAIM for coming up with these questions and providing a training for their book circle facilitators. Please check out RECLAIM’s website and don’t hesitate to contact them with questions or support if you want to host a book circle in your community. RECLAIM works to increase access to mental health support so that queer and trans youth may reclaim their lives from oppression in all its forms.READ MORE