Plenary Panel — Transformations — March 30, 2019

ABSTRACT

The plenary session on the afternoon of the conference was an intergenerational, gender-diverse panel with ages that spanned 60 years. These included our two youth members Esme and Bryce, as well as Julien Loreno, Kim Watson, Pauline Park, PhD, and Jameson Green, PhD. Our intention was to explore how one feels and understands one’s gender internally and within different social contexts. It was also a discussion of how context and life span effect our conceptions of gender. We had a full house for the plenary, almost 300 people. There was a real spirit of interest and respect for the panelists, who were generous enough to share their experience and knowledge. The young people on the panel have their identifiers disguised to protect their privacy, and everyone gave consent to be on the panel and then again for it to be published. One participant did not want to be included in the published version, which we honored. Other than that, the following transcript is complete.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

S. J. Langer

S. J. Langer, L.C.S.W.-R. is a writer and psychotherapist in New York City, where he maintains a private practice. He is on the faculty at the School of Visual Arts in both the MPS Art Therapy and Humanities & Sciences departments. His article “Trans Bodies and the Failure of Mirrors” was the co-winner of the Symonds Prize from Studies in Gender and Sexuality. His first book, Theorizing Transgender Identity for Clinical Practice: A New Model for Understanding Gender, was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award in 2020.