Rylan Jay Testa - The Gender Quest Workbook: A Guide for Teens and Young Adults Exploring Gender Identity

We invite youth today to embark on their own unique gender journey. But imagine hiking into the wilderness without a map. Now, with the publication of The Gender Quest Workbook, Rylan Jay Testa, Deborah Coolhart, and Jayme Peta have provided just such a detailed topographical map for gender exploration. The Gender Quest Workbook is an invaluable resource for any youth wanting to explore their gender, and for the professionals and family members accompanying the youth on their venture. Just a generation ago, youth gender quests remained a topic of which we did not speak. The Gender Quest Workbook has broken that sound barrier by giving youth a place for their voice, inviting them to put words to their own journey as they engage in the exercises so brilliantly laid out by Testa, Coolhart, and Peta.

Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, director of mental health at the Child and Adolescent Gender Center, associate professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, and author of Gender Born, Gender Made and The Gender Creative Child

This workbook is an important resource for the transgender community. I wish Id had something like it when I was coming out to myself.

Greta Gustava Martela, cofounder and executive director of Trans Lifeline, the first national crisis line for transgender people

Informative, supportive, and fun. These playful and engaging exercises are powerful tools for self-discovery. I wish Id had this guide as a teenager. Any young adult exploring gender will find freedom in these pages.

Nick Krieger, author of Nina Here Nor There

The only book of its kind, The Gender Quest Workbook is an invaluable resource for transgender and gender-questioning youth, their families, the professionals in their lives, and anyone who is interested in undoing gender brainwashing.

Zander Keig, LCSW, coeditor of Letters for My Brothers and Manning Up, and featured in the documentary Zanderology

The Gender Quest Workbook is a wonderful new resource for exploring the evolving landscape of gender. Providing a road map for young people of any gender to examine their own experiences and understanding of this core aspect of self, this important tool also affirms the authenticity of individuals who find themselves in the less crowded terrain somewhere along the gender spectrum. Whether cisgender or gender expansive, more and more young people are personalizing their gender stories. The Gender Quest Workbook will play a critical role in shaping the narratives they create.

Joel Baum, MS, senior director of professional development and family services at Gender Spectrum, and founding member and director of education and advocacy at the Child and Adolescent Gender Center at the University of California, San Francisco

The Gender Quest Workbook is the perfect answer for anyone who is tired of textbooks and looking for a little fun! What better way to explore this topic than to get a chance to think about all the aspects of your gender in a step-by-step book.

Laura Erickson-Schroth, MD, MA, psychiatrist and editor of Trans Bodies, Trans Selves

The Gender Quest Workbook took me, a well-balanced adult transsexual, on a journey of gender discovery, showing me parts of myself I did not know existed. The overwhelming benefit of this kind of self-examination for our transgender youth is an utmost necessity for early identification. A positive future for our transgender children is greatly enhanced by teachers, clinicians, and parents utilizing this outstanding resource.

Rachael Rose Luckey, filmmaker and transgender rights advocate

The Gender Quest Workbook is an excellent resource for any young person who would like to explore gender. The authors really cover all the bases and bring to life the process by which a person can feel supported in bringing self-determination and creativity to expressing their gender. The language used is clear and user-friendly. I would absolutely recommend this to my clients. Testa, Coolhart, and Peta make excellent tour guides through this journey!

Sand Chang, PhD, clinical psychologist and gender specialist in the Kaiser Permanente Multi-Specialty Transitions Department, chair of the American Psychological Association (APA) Committee on Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity (CSOGD), and coauthor of the APA Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Transgender and Gender Nonconforming People

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Publishers Note

This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books

Copyright 2015 by Rylan Jay Testa, Deborah Coolhart, and Jayme Peta

Instant Help Books

New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

5674 Shattuck Avenue

Oakland, CA 94609

www.newharbinger.com

Cover design by Amy Shoup

Illustrations by Katja Tetzlaff and Julie Olsen

Cover photo by Ryan Donahoo @FreakMighty

Acquired by Tesilya Hanauer

Edited by Melanie Bell

All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Testa, Rylan Jay, author.

The gender quest workbook : a guide for teens and young adults exploring gender identity / Rylan Jay Testa, PhD, Deborah Coolhart, PhD, Jayme Peta, MA, MS ; foreword by Ryan K. Sallans, M.A. ; afterword by Arlene Istar Lev, LCSW-R, CASAC.

pages cm. -- (Instant help books)

ISBN 978-1-62625-297-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-298-1 (pdf e-book) -- ISBN 978-1-62625-299-8 (epub) 1. Transgenderism--Juvenile literature. 2. Gender identity--Juvenile literature. 3. Sex differences (Psychology)--Juvenile literature. I. Coolhart, Deborah, author. II. Peta, Jayme, author. III. Title.

HQ77.9.T47 2015

306.768--dc23

This book is dedicated to all of those who embark on a Gender Quest. Your courage, creativity, and vision are changing how the world understands gender and creating pathways for transgender and gender expansive young people in the future.

What is gender, anyway?

To give a very complicated question a simple answer, gender is both (1) how you express masculinity, femininity, or for most people, some mix of the two and (2) how your identity, or sense of self, relates to masculinity and femininity. Gender can be expressed in how you style your hair, what clothes you wear, how your voice sounds, or even through what hobbies you choose. In our view, there are about as many different gender identities as there are people. The options are infinite. It seems that even the people who appear most comfortable in their gender still have their own nuanced feeling for what it means to be them. And figuring that out, well, thats a Gender Quest.

Gender is a confusing topic for most of us. Here are just a few of the questions the authors have answered over the years: