Today we’re exploring the word “gender.” What does gender mean to you?
Today we’re exploring the word “gender.” What does gender mean to you?
A Kids Book About: The Podcast, Episode 35, Dale Talks About Gender
https://a-kids-book-about-the-podcast.simplecast.com/episodes/dale-talks-about-gender
Do you have a word you’d like us to consider for a future episode? Email us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. And check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
SIO, Ep 12
“Gender”
[INTRO]
Cat: Hi! This is Cat Petru and you’re listening to Sound It Out: A Kids Podcast About Words.
Today’s word is “gender.”
What do you think gender means? What images or feelings arise when you hear the word gender?
[DISCUSSION]
Today, we’re going to hear Dale Miller, author of A Kids Book About Gender, share their ideas.
Dale: Hi, I'm Dale Miller. Um, I use they/them pronouns. I'm a nonbinary trans person. And I'm the author of A Kid's Book About Gender.
Cat: Dale describes themself as nonbinary and trans. What do these words mean?
When we’re born, we’re typically assigned a sex based on our body. Doctors in the U.S. will say we’re “male” or “female” (and sometimes “intersex” if our body doesn’t fit in the male or female categories), and then grown ups usually decide to call us a “boy” or a “girl.” This is how we’re often assigned a gender.
Being trans or transgender means you don’t identify with the gender you were assigned at birth. And being cisgender means that you do identify with the gender you were assigned.
A binary is when we’re only given two options! Like “yes” or “no,” “large” or “small,” and “girl” or “boy.” So someone who is nonbinary has a gender that is something other than only “girl” or “boy.”
[EXPERIENCE & MEANING]
Dale: Gender is just an idea. And, and so it resonates with different folks different ways.
Gender can be really complicated. Um, and, and really, if I'm talking to somebody who's, you know, thinking about their own gender, It's really about what feels right to you. Um, like what, what to different identifying words mean to you? So does, does male feel right? Does nonbinary feel right? Does no word feel right?
And you're like, gender's an idea that doesn't resonate with me and like, that's fine too, you know? So I think that ultimately it's it's most important to find a gender identity or ways you identify around the idea of gender that, that feel comfortable to you. Know that those things might change.
That's really normal. Like it's really normal to feel like, “Hey, this expectation that's been put on me, doesn't it doesn't really fit. It doesn't feel like it fits.” Yeah. Like who I am as a person, people are very nuanced and complicated. Right. There's a lot of different sides to people. And also people are constantly changing and whether those are little changes or big changes, or those changes take 10, 20 years, you know, everybody is, is reacting and growing and changing all the time.
[CLOSING]
Cat: What does gender mean to you? Share your ideas by writing to us at listen@akidspodcastabout.com.
And learn more about gender from Dale and host Ari in A Kids Book About: The Podcast, episode 35.
I’ve been your host, Cat Petru. This show is produced by me, with support from Matthew Winner. Our executive producer is Jelani Memory. And this show is brought to you by A Kids Podcast About.
You can check out other podcasts made for kids just like you by visiting akidsco.com.
And remember, what we say, and how we say it, matters. Is there a word you’d like us to explore together? Have a grown up send us an email at listen@akidspodcastabout.com. Thank you, so much, for listening.