Description
When Julie Tarney's only child Harry was two years old, he told her, "Inside my head I'm a girl." It was 1992. The Internet was no help, because there was no Internet. And bookstores had no literature for a mom scrambling to raise such an unconventional child. Terms such as transgender, gender nonconforming, and gender creative were rare or nonexistent.
There were, however, mainstream experts who theorized that a "sissy" boy was the result of a domineering mother. Julie didn't believe it. She didn't want to care what her neighbors thought, but she did care. "Domineering mother" meant bad mother.
Lacking a positive role model of her own, and fearful of the negative stereotype of an overbearing Jewish mother, Julie embarked on an unexpected parenting path as Harry grew up to be a confident and happily nonconformist adult. Harry knew who he was all along. Despite some stumbles, Julie learned that her job was simply to let her child be his authentic self.
About the Author
Julie Tarney is a board member for the It Gets Better Project, blogs for the Huffington Post's "Queer Voices" pages, and writes for TheParentsProject.com and the True Colors Fund. She volunteers for the PFLAG Safe Schools Program. A longtime resident of Milwaukee, she now lives in New York City.
Reviews
"A vivid, heartfelt, and ultimately joyful account of one mother's journey raising a son who did not 'do gender' by the books. Julie Tarney shows us that there is no right so precious as our right to be different, and no greater gift we can give to our children than loving them for who they are."-Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger
"This riveting account of parenting a gender-nonconforming child reminds us of how far we've come in the past twenty years, and also how far we have yet to go. Tarney shows us that, while there is no 'bubble of light' that can protect our children from all injuries, a parent's unconditional love is the most effective armor of all."-Jessica Herthel, coauthor of I Am Jazz
"Traditionally, mothers of gender creative children were totally silenced. No mother would ever come forward to tell her story, unless she wanted to be skewered publicly and morally condemned. In that historical light, My Son Wears Heels is both transgressive and transcendent."-Diane Ehrensaft, author of The Gender Creative Child, from the foreword
Book Information
ISBN 9780299310608
Author Julie Tarney
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint University of Wisconsin Press
Publisher University of Wisconsin Press
Weight(grams) 396g
There were, however, mainstream experts who theorized that a "sissy" boy was the result of a domineering mother. Julie didn't believe it. She didn't want to care what her neighbors thought, but she did care. "Domineering mother" meant bad mother.
Lacking a positive role model of her own, and fearful of the negative stereotype of an overbearing Jewish mother, Julie embarked on an unexpected parenting path as Harry grew up to be a confident and happily nonconformist adult. Harry knew who he was all along. Despite some stumbles, Julie learned that her job was simply to let her child be his authentic self.
About the Author
Julie Tarney is a board member for the It Gets Better Project, blogs for the Huffington Post's "Queer Voices" pages, and writes for TheParentsProject.com and the True Colors Fund. She volunteers for the PFLAG Safe Schools Program. A longtime resident of Milwaukee, she now lives in New York City.
Reviews
"A vivid, heartfelt, and ultimately joyful account of one mother's journey raising a son who did not 'do gender' by the books. Julie Tarney shows us that there is no right so precious as our right to be different, and no greater gift we can give to our children than loving them for who they are."-Harriet Lerner, author of The Dance of Anger
"This riveting account of parenting a gender-nonconforming child reminds us of how far we've come in the past twenty years, and also how far we have yet to go. Tarney shows us that, while there is no 'bubble of light' that can protect our children from all injuries, a parent's unconditional love is the most effective armor of all."-Jessica Herthel, coauthor of I Am Jazz
"Traditionally, mothers of gender creative children were totally silenced. No mother would ever come forward to tell her story, unless she wanted to be skewered publicly and morally condemned. In that historical light, My Son Wears Heels is both transgressive and transcendent."-Diane Ehrensaft, author of The Gender Creative Child, from the foreword
Book Information
ISBN 9780299310608
Author Julie Tarney
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint University of Wisconsin Press
Publisher University of Wisconsin Press
Weight(grams) 396g
