I was reading a young adult novel recently about a transgendered kid and my 7 year old saw it and asked what it was about. I told her that it was about a kid who was born into a boy’s body, but felt like a girl inside. She told me that she didn’t get it, so I told her to close her eyes.
“Now,” I said, “Are you a boy or a girl?”
“A girl,” she answered definitively.
“How do you know? You can’t see yourself.”
“I just know.” she replied.
“Okay,” I said, “What if you opened your eyes and you were in a boy’s body? How would you feel?”
“That would be awful!”
“Well, that’s how this kid in the book I’m reading feels all the time. She looks down at her body and it doesn’t feel like hers. She doesn’t understand why she’s in a boy’s body and not a girl’s.”
My daughter replied, “I feel so sad for her. Is there any way for her to get a girl’s body?”
My point is that if a 7 year old can understand it, then anyone can. I think my daughter would be happy for these women who finally have a body that matches who they are on the inside.
--Stacey, responding to News Blog article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.
1 comment:
I found that quite memorable, too.
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