Trans Kids: Being Gendered in the 21st Century

In this groundbreaking new book, sociologist Tey Meadow depicts the intricate social processes that shape gender acquisition.

Where once atypical gender expression was considered a failure of gender, now it is a form of gender. Engaging and rigorously argued, Trans Kids underscores the centrality of ever more particular configurations of gender in both our physical and psychological lives, and the increasing embeddedness of personal identities in social institutions.

Trans Kids: Being Gendered In the 21st Century by Tey Meadow draws from sociology, philosophy, psychology, and sexuality studies to offer a new insight to gender-diverse youth.

Trans Kids: Being Gendered In the 21st Century by Tey Meadow is an ethnographic and interview-based study of the first generation of families affirming and facilitating gender nonconformity in children.

Earlier generations of parents sent gender-expansive children for psychiatric treatment aimed at a "cure," but today, many parents agree to call their children new names, allow them to wear whatever clothing they choose, and approach the state to alter the gender designation on their passports and birth certificates. What are the effects on these children?

Trans Kids: Being Gendered in the 21st Century. Tey Meadow. Paperback. 320 pages.

• Distinguished Scholarly Book Award 2020, American Sociological Association
• C. Wright Mills Award 2018 Finalist, Society for the Study of Social Problems
• CHOICE Book Award, Choice

“Meadows is a superb scholar and storyteller and, with this work, makes a critical contribution to family and gender studies. Everyone should read this book.”—CHOICE

“Trans Kids is excellent work that combines compelling narratives with extensive ethnographic descriptions of parents’ and children’s experiences.”—ForeWord

Tey Meadow is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Columbia University. Meadow is coeditor of Other, Please Specify: Queer Methods in Sociology with D'Lane Compton and Kristen Schilt.