Advice to Parents of Transgender Children: strategies of Affirmation, Questioning, and Disaffirmation

Over the past decade, the U.S. has hosted a new set of ‘culture wars’ that have targeted trans youth and their families. Transgender children and their families have been increasingly subjected to political speech and laws that attempt to define and limit them and their lives. While progressive groups have countered with support and visibility, the climate for trans youth and their families remains difficult. How do families find their way through such unsettled cultural terrain? When parents look for support and advice about caring for trans children, what range of framings of transgender identities and people are they likely to encounter? What cultural stories, symbols, and world views are part of the cultural offerings for parents seeking advice? To answer these questions, this paper uses a sample of 17 advice books aimed at parents of trans children to discern what kinds of advice, support, nonsupport, definitions, and shaping of meaning parents might encounter when they seek advice or support in parenting transgender children. We find that readers are presented with three different strategies—affirming, questioning, and disaffirming—each of which has consequences for how parents try to make sense of a transgender child’s identity.