

How do you understand your gender identity? How do others expect you to act because of your gender? Imagine a world in which one element of your identity was changed (can be gender, race, socioeconomic status)-what would be different? How would you be different? How would others regard you? What activities interested you? What were your toys? How do you judge how boys and girls act? Briefly reflect on gender. How important is gender to your identity? Does your gender inform your actions or do you act independently from your gender identity? Consider how you have been treated since you were a child. For a complete discussion of the topic and education, see the chapter “‘Trans’ Young Adult Literature for Secondary English Classrooms: Authors Speak Out,” in sj miller’s forthcoming Teaching, Affirming, and Recognizing Trans and Gender Creative Youth: A Queer Literacy Framework (Palgrave Macmillan).Įnglish, health, art, social studies, science Some chapters are more graphic than others, but the subject is too important to ignore. Teachers will want to vet each chapter carefully and consider their students and their community. Beyond Magenta offers the reader, whether familiar with LGBTQ issues, a thought-provoking source to gain understanding of what it means to be transgender and provides special attention to appropriate pronoun usage, gender identification, and the process of transitioning. Through interviews dispersed with her own comments, Kuklin carefully depicts each young person with authenticity, respect, and care. The first five chapters of the book articulate the individual stories of five teenagers and young adults and explain what it means to be trans these stories depict case studies of experiences couched in sometimes brutal reality.

Luke’s story begins with poetry, the outlet that gives him the security and space to explore his identity outside of society’s constructs. Whereas the first five stories in the book share experiences of coming out as trans and relationships with family, friends, guardians, and teachers, the concluding chapter, the “lifeline,” tells the story of Luke, who found compassion and acceptance in his community through theater.

In Beyond Magenta, a Stonewall Honor Book,Susan Kuklin offers a “spectrum” of transgender and gender-neutral teens as told through the words and photographic images of six individuals. Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out.
