You and Your Gender Identity Read online

  To Emma Sweet, Mike King, Amy Bremser, J. Warren, R. Baptist, and M. Jones for their creative contributions. Additional thanks go to S. L. Miller, Mari Lee, Kat Love, Matthew L. Schneider, Brannen Clark, and Janet Pasewark-Duncan.

  To Julia Citrin and Leah Zarra and everyone else at Skyhorse Publishing, thanks for helping to make this book the best it could be.

  To my dad, author and publisher Barry Hoffman: his guidance and encouragement has made this experience all the more meaningful and I look forward to us working together more in the future.

  To Kate Bornstein, whose publication My Gender Workbook (1998) was groundbreaking in its approach to gender identity. I am humbled in my attempt to follow in her footsteps.

  To my wife, Lauren: your belief in me has played one of the biggest parts in my discovering and pursuing this life purpose of mine. You epitomize the definition of life partner and I am so grateful we found each other.

  To my daughter, Tyler, and my stepdaughter, Catalina: you both impress me so much by how you stand up for those who are LGBTQ in your schools, your peer groups, and our society.

  To my mom, my brother, David, and my sister, Cheryl: for your continued curiosity and openness about what it is that I do as a gender therapist, educator, and advocate.

  To Joan Hood, Julie Norris, Emily Carney, Twyla Gabbard, Rhonda Strouse, Dr. Alan DeSantis, Dr. Terry Jones, Dr. Dennis Duffin, Dr. Cathy Calvert, Matt Kailey, and Ryan Acker—teachers and mentors who all played an instrumental part in my becoming who I am today as a gender therapist, writer, and advocate.

  To the thousands of adults and teens who learn about my work through the magic of the Internet: it is because of your feedback, questions, and insight that I am able to answer the all-important question, “How can I help?” This book is a direct result of the communication that exists between you and me. Your refusal to give up your search for the truth is my inspiration to continue doing what I do.

  Contributors

  Zinnia Jones is a trans feminist writer, video blogger, and activist based in Florida. Her web series, Gender Analysis, offers a research-oriented and experience-based inside look at issues of gender in society and their impact on trans people. She focuses on topics including community outreach, gender self-realization, health care, and the history of trans science. You can find her videos, publications, and media appearances at zinniajones.com.

  Sam Dylan Finch is a transgender writer, activist, and editor living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sam is the founder of Let’s Queer Things Up!, a blog examining the intersections of mental health and queerness; he is also an editor at the magazine Everyday Feminism. He is best known for his powerful narratives about his life as genderqueer and bipolar. Find him on social media @SamDylanFinch, or on his website, samdylanfinch.com.

  Zander Keig, LCSW, is a clinical social work case manager serving transgender active duty military personnel in the San Diego area. He is the coeditor of the 2015 Lambda Literary Transgender Nonfiction Nominee Manifest: Transitional Wisdom on Male Privilege, coeditor of the 2011 Lambda Literary Transgender Non-fiction Finalist Letters for My Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospect, coeditor of the 2015 Lambda Literary Transgender Nonfiction Nominee Manning Up: Transsexual Men on Finding Brotherhood, Family & Themselves, coauthor of “Transgender Veterans Are Inadequately Understood by Health Care Providers” (Military Medicine, 2014), and is featured in the 2014 award-winning illustrated documentary Zanderology. Zander’s website can be found at zanderkeig.net.