by Stephanie King, Psy.D.

I always marvel at the ways in which nonwhite children survive a white supremacist US culture that preys on them. I am equally in awe of the ways in which queer children navigate a homophobic public sphere that would rather they did not exist. The [psychic] survival of children who are both queer and racially identified [as nonwhite] is nothing short of staggering.

— J. E. Muñoz

As someone who works with transgender and gender fluid adolescents, Munoz’s quote is quite poignant. Furthermore, as someone who uses a psychoanalytic framework while working with the transgender population, I am aware of the psychoanalytic intergenerational trauma that has been committed unto this population. Our field, and theory in particular, has done tremendous harm by pathologizing gender. Psychoanalytic psychology has some reckoning to do with the queer community.

This month I’m excited to announce a very exciting event entitled, Mirroring and the True Gender Self. Our guest speaker and instructor, Dr. Diane Ehrensaft, Mental Health Director of the UCSF Child and Adolescent Gender Center, will discuss work with transgender and gender fluid children and adolescents that incorporates a psychoanalytic lens. I have long been aware of the difficulty that psychoanalytic theory has in holding both the complexities and the complications of gender. Dr. Ehrensaft will share her thinking with us to help clinicians hold these in mind so we can straddle the proverbial fence of both/and. Whether you work with transgender or gender fluid children and adolescents or not, this event will provide an interesting interrogation of how our theory has harmed, and how it can also help. I hope to see you there!