Charlie McNabb - Queer Adolescence: Understanding the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual Youth

Queer Adolescence

Understanding the Lives of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual Youth

Charlie McNabb

ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

Lanham Boulder New York London

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: McNabb, Charlie, 1983 author.

Title: Queer adolescence : understanding the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual youth / Charlie McNabb.

Description: Lanham : Rowman & Littlefield, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: In this book, personal accounts mingle with factual information and sensitive analysis to provide a snapshot of the joys and concerns of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual adolescents.Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2020013024 (print) | LCCN 2020013025 (ebook) | ISBN 9781538132814 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 9781538132821 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Gay youth. | Sexual minority youth. | Adolescence.

Classification: LCC HQ76.27.Y68 M36 2020 (print) | LCC HQ76.27.Y68 (ebook) | DDC 306.76/60835dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013024

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020013025

TM The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

To my love Erin, and to all queer youth
past, present, and future.

Charlie McNabb and I met as masters students in the folklore program at the University of Oregon, where we were both interested in research with queer populations. In the decade since, weve continued to pursue work and research that affirms queer identities. Over the years weve kept in touch, and Charlie helped me by providing feedback for a guide for teachers on working with LGBTQ+ youth and has spoken to my undergraduate folklore course on how folklore training informs their current work. I am delighted to see some of Charlies important research on queer and transgender people in a book that can serve as a resource for queer youth as well as those who work with these populations. And by that, I mean all teachers and care providers, as we never know what identities the youth we work with may grow into.

In recent years LGBTQ+ people have become more visible, and social media is more prominently used among LGBTQ+ youth, causing some adults to have the mistaken assumption that youth do not need queer-inclusive curricula and care. But this is not the case, as young people still need guidance evaluating and finding accurate information about queer identities. They may also not have private internet access at home, or they may live in communities where queer people are only discussed in whispers, and never in a positive light. In the absence of mirrors

This book can provide a necessary mirror for adolescents who are queer, nonbinary, transgender, and asexual. As the participants in McNabbs study narrated, having representation in school and the media when they were young would have helped them realize their identities earlier and begin living a fuller life at a younger age. This is also true of more inclusive medical care, as some transgender and nonbinary adults (such as Seren in this volume) noted they wish they could have taken hormone blockers and received hormone replacement therapy (HRT) at puberty so their body would have developed in ways that better suited their gender identities. By sharing the narratives in this book with youth, teachers, parents, and care providers can allow questioning youth to see more possibilities for both their gender identity and their sexual orientation. Without these possible mirrors, it can be difficult to imagine a future outside of heteronormativity. Something like this would have benefited me as an adolescent; though I went to high school in a relatively liberal area of the country, I assumed I was straight because I did not see any alternatives. Compulsory heterosexuality affects everyone and can be harmful to queer youth who are only presented with options of being in relationships with the opposite sex. Youth who do not identify as a man or a woman at all, who identify differently from the gender they were assigned at birth, who do not desire a sexual or romantic relationship, and/or are not interested in heterosexual relationships need visible examples of the possibilities for different queer lives.

However, it is not only queer youth who benefit from the narratives and suggested actions within this book. Heterosexual and cisgender youth need windows into the lives of those who are different from them and sliding glass doors that allow them to visit these lives in their imaginations. Books allow us to learn from and about others, and as the participants voices are shared directly here, readers gain firsthand accounts from people with a variety of queer identities. As an English educator, I have witnessed how reading about a person outside of your community and experiences can have a profound effect on a reader. Many of my college students tell me they did not read, learn, or talk about queer experiences in their K12 classes. Gaining exposure to queer differences earlier will be a benefit to everyone, as it allows these readers to recognize queer people they meet in life and have positive and accurate language to describe them, rather than slurs and stereotypes.

As I wrote when describing training for educators on queer issues, There are many ways to be an advocate for queer students, but to go beyond inclusion and move into positive action, this advocacy must stem from knowledge of how society and our schools function within and through heteronormativity. This book provides the necessary knowledge for action through McNabbs research with queer adults whose voices are missing from even queer-inclusive mainstream media, as well as the comprehensive suggestions that can apply to many care and service professions. In turn, their narratives can help all of us create more inclusive and welcoming spaces for youth. As an educator, I do not always know my students identities, but I do not assume they are all (or even mostly) straight, cisgender, and allosexual. The stories in this volume can give me a reference point for students whose queer experiences are different from my own as a cisgender lesbian woman. Lastly, as a new parent, I hope that my childs future teachers and other caregivers will provide an open and inclusive environment so that children have multiple models for their future family life, not just one that includes an assumption that one must have a gender within the binary of male and female, have a romantic partner to be fulfilled, and only a partner that is of the opposite sex. Teachers, medical professionals, and other youth service providers will benefit from reading this book and implementing and adapting the strategies for their particular work environments.