Gender Explained

A Finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Nonfiction

Now in paperback: A world-leading expert and clinical psychologist team up to explain everything you may not know about gender: what it is, where it came from, and why it’s changingGender is everywhere. Politicians argue over it, educational systems strugg 

Gender is everywhere. Politicians argue over it, educational systems struggle to define it, and our friends, neighbors, and children explore it. More than ever before, young people are questioning their gender identities and redefining the role of gender in their lives. How should our society―and we as individuals―respond?

In Gender Explained, Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, and Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD, separate medical fact from fear-mongering falsehoods and answer these questions: What should parents do when their child starts experiencing gender dysphoria? Which sports teams should transgender youth play on? How should schools teach young people about gender? And most important: What is gender-affirming care, and when should an individual have access to it?

With clear, expert guidance, this book is a safeguard against political vitriol and offers urgent protection for those among us who are transgender and/or nonbinary. Far more than an introduction to gender creativity, it is an invitation to develop compassion for everyone along the gender continuum.

Diane Ehrensaft, PhD, is a developmental and clinical psychologist, the author of The Gender Creative Child and Gender Born, Gender Made, and coauthor, with Michelle Jurkiewicz, of Gender Explained. At the University of California, San Francisco, she is the cofounder and director of mental health at the Child and Adolescent Gender Center and a professor of pediatrics. She has been featured on the Los Angeles Times online and WIRED online and has appeared on Anderson Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and the Today show.

Michelle Jurkiewicz, PsyD, is a licensed clinical psychologist and gender specialist in private practice in Berkeley, California. She has been providing therapeutic services to children, youth, and families since 2003. Dr. Jurkiewicz was an early pioneer working with transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive youth. In addition to providing psychotherapy for people of all ages, she trains newer clinicians in using the Gender Affirmative Model.

Stephen M. Rosenthal, MD, is cofounder and medical director of the multidisciplinary UCSF Child and Adolescent Gender Center (CAGC), where he cares for young transgender clients. He also cares for pediatric clients with endocrine disorders, such as abnormalities involving thyroid function or growth and puberty. Dr. Rosenthal is one of four principal investigators for the Impact of Early Medical Treatment in Transgender Youth, a multicenter study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. He is currently a member of the board of directors of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health.