OpinionCulture This article is more than 5 months oldI’m a trans person who edits children’s books. The culture wars engulfs me on all sides
This article is more than 5 months oldAlex DiFrancescoEditors like me are accused of ‘brainwashing’ children. But I simply strive to bring books into the world that let trans children know they aren’t alone
Every day, there’s a new, terrible development from those attempting to restrict trans life. From laws in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia that are denying trans-related healthcare to minors (and in some cases, adults), to federal laws restricting trans inclusion in sports, to a law in Tennessee that’s expected to be replicated in other states, which would charge publishers with a class 3 felony for publishing books for children that they deem “obscene” (which probably means having queer- and trans-related content, in their eyes), one doesn’t have to look far to see the actions of those who would bar trans people from public life, or any kind of life.
At the center of a lot of the LGBTQIA+ debates have been books that introduce young people to the ideas of queerness and transness. These books have been banned in some states, taken off library shelves in others, decried by rightwing pundits who think teaching children about natural variations in life such as transness is “corrupting” them.
As all this goes on, I walk into work every day and commission books for young people that might help keep queer and trans children alive.
I am a transgender person, and I’ve known this since I was five years old. In the absence of books or media or openly lived lives that normalized who I was, I went into the closet for nearly 25 years, only coming out as transgender when I was nearly 30.
What I would have given for a book that taught me (and the people who raised me) that I wasn’t an aberration, that there were people like me all over the world and all throughout time. Every day, I strive to bring books into the world that will give children like I was the knowledge that they are not alone, that what they are is not wrong, and that they will be accepted.
Some of the kids’ books I’ve helped bring into the world since starting my job with Jessica Kingsley Publishers as an editor of gender and sexuality books are Cassandra Corrigan’s The Gender Book, which introduces children to the idea of various genders, and the same author’s My Culture, My Gender, Me, which shows that genders beyond the binary are not a “fad” based in the US, but a worldwide phenomenon that crosses borders and cultures.
A driving factor in the books I commission is that they are books that would have helped me as a trans child. These are books that explain difficult concepts to both children and the adults reading to them – books that spread knowledge and understanding, a vital thing for trans kids, the adults who raise them, and kids who want to grow up to be accepting adults.
Some people call the work the authors of these books and I do part of the “culture wars”, and there is a sense, every day that I go into my job, that I am fighting back against the forces of ignorance and hate that would have us all sequestered from one another, mistrustful and filled with disdain. I don’t buy into the idea that what our authors and I do is an attempt to “brainwash” children.
Children want to learn about lives beyond their own, and they want to accept. And for the children who already understand very well what it’s like to live the lives the characters in these books do, it’s more a matter of mirroring, of seeing someone like oneself filled with joy and thriving – something everyone deserves.
Our books have sometimes come under fire from the right. One of our authors, Rachel Simon – who wrote an LGBTQIA+ inclusive guide to gender, bodies and sex for young people called The Every Body Book – was targeted after an appearance at the Philadelphia Trans Wellness Conference. Rachel was doxxed and threatened, called a “groomer” and worse. Simon, who is Jewish, was told she should “be killed in a new Holocaust”. The backlash against Simon was led by the likes of Matt Walsh, Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Simon described it as a “terrifying time with little support from local authorities”.
However, Rachel noted, some of this backlash got the book to families with LGBTQIA+ children.
“Some of the press made my book MORE available to families, schools, libraries and institutions, and I’ve gotten amazing feedback from that as well. My communities really showed up, rallied and spread the word, so I’m very grateful that The Every Body Book is still getting into the hands of folks that need it.”
While it can be dangerous for all involved to bring LGBTQIA+ books for young people to the public, my work as an editor also gives me quite a bit of hope. Our kids’ books on gender and sexuality are some of our bestsellers.
The hope this gives me, as I watch terrible laws accrue on the news, is that your everyday person does not agree with the powers that would ban trans people from living their lives. Your everyday person wants to read a book to their kids that will help them understand themselves, or those around them. Your everyday person is not opposed to trans rights, no matter how loud the voices that are may be.
Alex DiFrancesco is an editor of gender and sexuality books for Jessica Kingsley Publishers, as well as the author of several books
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