CLINICAL PERSPECTIVES
A Support Group for Parents of Gender-Nonconforming Boys

https://doi.org/10.1097/00004583-200208000-00021Get rights and content

Section snippets

Child Focus

Gender Confusion. Parents often use cliched statements with the intention of encouraging the child to behave in a “gender-appropriate” way. These may confuse the young child, who is struggling to understand the meaning of his interests and identifications in the context of his biological sex. A young child may conclude that if he likes “girl's stuff” or if he does not like “boy's stuff,” he must be (totally or partially) a girl. In contrast, statements that point out that stereotypical female

Parent Focus

Grieving. In coming to terms with their child being different from what they had envisioned, parents go through a grieving process. They also grieve the loss of an idealized heterosexual marriage-and-family future for the child. Adoptive parents may recapitulate the grief they first faced when they dealt with their fertility problems. A mother reflected: “First you accept that you are not going to give birth, you give it up, you grieve over it and eventually accept it. Then you are hit again;

First page preview

First page preview
Click to open first page preview

REFERENCES (16)

  • American Psychiatric Association

    Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition (DSM-IV)

    (1994)
  • S Bloch et al.

    Humour in group psychotherapy

    Br J Med Psychol

    (1983)
  • G Falk

    Stigma: How We Treat Outsiders

    (2001)
  • A Faulkner et al.

    Correlates of same-sex sexual behavior in a random sample of Massachusetts high school students

    Am J Public Health

    (1998)
  • R Green

    The “Sissy Boy Syndrome” and the Development of Homosexuality

    (1987)
  • M Henning-Stout et al.

    Reducing harassment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning youths in schools

    Sch Psychol Rev

    (2000)
  • G Herdt et al.
  • J Perotti et al.

    When the Drama Club Is Not Enough: Lessons From the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students

    (2001)
There are more references available in the full text version of this article.

Cited by (81)

  • Mental Health Care for the Child and Adolescent Transgender Patient

    2019, Comprehensive Care of the Transgender Patient
  • Mothers of transgender youth experience stigma-by-association

    2024, Journal of Applied Social Psychology
  • Living in Pain and Stigma: A Look at Lived Experiences of Mothers with Transsexual Adult Children

    2023, Journal of Korean Academy of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing
View all citing articles on Scopus

The authors acknowledge group members who provided examples and supported the writing of this report.

View full text