Simona Giordano: Children with Gender Identity Disorder: A Clinical Ethical Legal Analysis

Children with Gender Identity Disorder: A Clinical, Ethical, and Legal Analysis written by Simona Giordano is a very comprehensive, easy to read description of what Gender Identity Disorder (GID) and transgenderism are, how it effects the individual and society, and many of the ethical implications associated with treatments for transgenderism. Giordano heavily advocates that GID is not a disorder, but rather that gender is a continuum and normal for there to be genders other than male and female. Each chapter tackles a different topic of GID, ranging from its origin and what it is and isn’t, to treatments and ethical and legal issues. It is written for the general population; although it has clinical, ethical, and legal information, it is written in such a way to give the reader a thorough understanding of the many angles of transgenderism and gets the information across in a manner to reach a broader audience. By incorporating well known fairy tales into the introduction, Giordano’s first goal is to provide a familiar feel to this seemingly taboo topic, and invite the reader to realize it is actually common and around us. In addition to the fairy tales, there are also case histories of real people, which adds yet another angle to build empathy for what many transgenders go through. Reading first hand accounts of people’s experience personalizes the so-called disorder. This book is very reader friendly for those looking to get a comprehensive understanding of GID; with introductions that clearly lay out what will be discussed in the chapter to chapter summaries with key points, the reader should feel confident in their new knowledge by the end of the book. Especially lately, several celebrity individuals have been highlighted for their mismatched gender association; Angelina Jolie’s daughter ‘John’, age 8, openly dresses and relates as a young boy. Bruce Jenner has begun his transformation to associating with a woman. Much support has been raised for these two, and it is beginning to raise awareness of GID and the continuum that gender is. Therefore, this book is especially relevant for its readers. The first chapter begins the framework for the rest of the book. It’s tone is different from that of much else of the book in that it is more explanatory and light. It provides examples of some of the earliest cases of transgender individuals and how famous literary works hint at or outright portray transgenderism. For example, The Mermaid and Pinocchio are both tales of not being who one feels they really are and their transformation to fit their true identity. This chapter highlights on what transgender means, and what it is and is not. Giordano explains the differences between homosexuality, transgender, cross dressing, and transvestites. It is essential to understand the differences and how it is presented, because treatment for both adults and children hinges on the comprehension of the facts surrounding each unique gender or sexuality. Giordano effectively discriminates between them and in this chapter, she puts transgenderism in a more socially acceptable light that strays from the taboo, wrong light it is often in. Western society has a very binary view of sex and gender: male and female. Because of this view, anything that deviates from the two is abnormal. Giordano argues that this is wrong and gender is on a continuum, it is intricate, and difficult to understand fully. Chapter two delves into this more. Giordano discusses in chapter two the many different ways gender can vary and change depending on which context it is in. This ties in nicely with the legal definition & Kait Flederbach kflederb@umail.iu.edu