Complicating constructions: middle-class parents of transgender and gender-diverse children
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Date
2021
Authors
Neary, Aoife
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Volume Title
Publisher
Routledge
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Abstract
Recent years have seen an increase in the visibility of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) children in the public sphere. Jack Halberstam [(2018). Trans: A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability (Vol. 3). University of California Press] is very critical of middle-class parents of TGD children, arguing that much of their activism is based on a normalizing model of individual rights as opposed to a more transformative activism that might de-stabilize gender-power systems that are restrictive for everyone. Following this pronouncement, this paper takes up the opportunity to inquire further into the everyday negotiations of middle-class parents of TGD children. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twelve middle-class parents of TGD children aged 5–13 in Ireland, this paper provides in-depth insight into the classed, precarious, gendered, disruptive and arduous nature of parents’ work as they negotiated schools and laboured to follow a child-led parenting philosophy amidst the judgement of others and rigidly gendered worlds. Ultimately, this paper’s argument is two-fold–it alerts us to social class inequality in parenting TGD children but it also complicates the figure of the middle-class parent of a TGD child, offering in-depth insight into the shape and effects of child-led parenting with TGD children. © 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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Keywords
Child-led parenting , Children , Gender non-conforming , Gender-diverse , Parents , Schools , Social class , Transgender
Citation
Neary, A. (2021) 'Complicating constructions: Middle-class parents of transgender and gender-diverse children', Journal of Family Studies, 27(4), pp.506-522. https://doi.org/10.1080/13229400.2019.1650799