Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion synthesizes the major themes and findings of the book, highlighting the limits as well as the great liberating potential of the trans-affirmative parenting phenomenon. All of these themes mark critical aspects of the new trans-affirmative parenting paradigm among twenty-first-century parents. They exemplify parents’ love and support for their children while at the same time troubling cherished LGBTQ paradigms, on several key fronts: Gender and sexuality do not necessarily present as inherently, disparate aspects of the precultural self, but are more fluid and open to reinterpretation, given new cultural contexts, opportunities, and awareness. “Gender-expansive” child-rearing often looks, fundamentally, very binary and gender-stereotypical, despite increasing visibility around nonbinary possibilities. And normalizing transgender experience, for many of these parents, often entails highly medicalized, potentially pathologizing frameworks for bodies and genders. All told, these families depart from conventional practices and understandings for sex, gender, and sexuality, but in ways that prioritize child-driven, child-rooted shifts and expressions, not necessarily LGBTQ politics. This proves new ground for understanding the mechanisms and parameters of the (trans)gender change afoot.