2019-07-01_Discover

14 DISCOVERMAGAZINE.COM

A psychologist studies kids who have transitioned between genders.

Q&A

TransYouth Movement

RESEARCHERS HAVE LONG STUDIED TRANSGENDER PEOPLE — those who don’t

identify as the gender that aligns with their biologically determined sex at birth. But until

recently, most of the research has focused on adults. Kristina Olson, a psychologist at the

University of Washington, is helping to change that.

Since 2013, she’s spearheaded the TransYouth Project, a 20-year study following kids

who have socially transitioned, a process that effectively transforms them into their self-

identified gender. This often includes using pronouns that correspond to their identified

gender, and altering fashion and hairstyles to match as well. More than 300 children

from the U.S. and Canada are participating, all between the ages of 3 and 12 when

they started the study.

Already, Olson and her team have found that the kids’ gender development — activities

traditionally ascribed to a particular gender, like girls preferring to play with other girls

— is on par with their non-transgender peers, both in terms of timing and behavior.

Olson spoke with Discover about the study, how it’s evolved and what its larger

goals are. — LACY SCHLEY

Q

What inspired you to

start this project?

A

I had a friend who was

trying to decide if their kid

was going to socially transition

or not. I thought, “Oh, I’ll just

read all of the literature about

social transition.” I learned that

actually, we know surprisingly

little. There had never been a

study on kids who had socially

transitioned. At first, I was

like, “Well, someone else will

do it.” But at some point, I just

decided, somebody’s got to do

it, so I guess maybe I’ll try.

Q

What have been some of

your biggest challenges

with this work?

A

Kids don’t have as many

words to explain their

experience and are still

developing. Sometimes when

I talk with people who work

with adults, they’ll say, “Oh, we

found this way to ask people

how they feel about things.”

But for us, it’s really hard

because there’s no easy way

you can adapt that to ask a

4-year-old.

Also, society is changing

all the time, and subsets

of society are changing at

different rates. Our older

kids — teens and college

students — are coming up

with new terms to describe

themselves and new ways of

thinking about themselves.

We’re studying a moving thing,

basically. But that’s also what

makes it really exciting.

Q

What do you hope

to accomplish?

A

When I started this project,

tons of people didn’t

even know what the word

trans meant. I still know lots

of people who, for example,

confuse transgender with being

gay. So I think my number

one goal for the project is just

knowledge — having some

facts on the table. I think out

of that comes awareness; and

with more awareness, more

understanding; and with more

understanding, tolerance

hopefully, and having better

support for young transgender

and gender-diverse people.

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THE CRUX

Kristina Olson

leads the 20-year

TransYouth Project.