Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families

by Arlene Istar Lev

Explore an ecological strength-based framework for the treatment of gender-variant clients

This comprehensive book provides you with a clinical and theoretical overview of the issues facing transgendered/transsexual people and their families. Transgender Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families views assessment and treatment through a nonpathologizing lens that honors human diversity and acknowledges the role of oppression in the developmental process of gender identity formation.

Specific sections of Transgender Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and Their Families address the needs of gender-variant people as well as transgender children and youth. The issues facing gender-variant populations who have not been the focus of clinical care, such as intersexed people, female-to-male transgendered people, and those who identify as bigendered, are also addressed.

The book Complete with fascinating case studies, a critique of diagnostic processes, treatment recommendations, and a helpful glossary of relevant terms, this book is an essential reference for anyone who works with gender-variant people. Handy tables and figures make the information easier to access and understand.

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Genres: Gender, Nonfiction, Psychology, Social Work, Transgender, LGBT, Feminism

500 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2004

About the author

Arlene Istar Lev is a North American clinical social worker, family therapist, and educator. She is an independent scholar, who has lectured internationally on topics related to sexual orientation and gender identity, sexuality, and LGBTQ families.
She has been a lecturer at the School of Social Welfare at the State University of New York at Albany since 1988, and is the founder and Project Director of its Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity Project. Additionally she has been an adjunct professor at Smith College of Social Work, Empire College, Rockway Institute, California School of Professional Psychology at Alliant International University, Excelsior College, Vermont College, and the Union Institute and University.
Arlene Lev has been a practicing psychotherapist and family therapist, and is the founder and Clinical Director of Choices Counseling and Consulting in Albany, New York. She is the author of the groundbreaking book Transgender Emergence: Therapeutic Guidelines for Working with Gender-Variant People and their Families, as well as The Complete Lesbian and Gay Parenting Guide.

Reviews

[Tierney]

I'm halfway through this book, and how far both clinical assessment and treatment have come, and how far we need to go, are so apparent. I find it to be well written and informative. Did anyone know that "...when all causes of intersex are considered, approximately 1.7 percent of all births are affected."? That's not a bad little army! Not that I'm organizing an uprising.....but get in touch with me if interested. Just saying.

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely excellent. Besides a handful of odd grammar episodes and the controversy over intersexuality being in a transgender book and historical examples of transgenderism before the term was coined, this book was just about perfect. Beautifully researched and well expressed.

[Mona Rae Mason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read 'Transgender Emergence', twice, and reference it often. Aimed at clinicians and other therapists, but in lay terms which makes it a valuable tool and resource for anyone interested in transgender. Part primer for the curious.

[Andrew]

Cited in Transgender 101: A Simple Guide to a Complex Issue.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a helpful starting point, though it's definitely an older book. I'll be on the lookout for more updated books with similar focuses

[Zoom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped me understand the kinds of things that transgender people deal with. It also made me realize that it's practically impossible to generalize about transgender people, since generalizing would require making assumptions that are most likely untrue of any given individual. For many people, gender is not binary, it's fluid or it's on a spectrum or it's standing on its head or it's complicated. Transgender people endure a great deal of misunderstanding, hostility, ridicule, stigma and discrimination. They stand where gay and lesbian people stood a generation or two ago. I think this is one of those cases where 'if you're not part of the solution, then you're part of the problem,' so I would recommend it to anybody who wants to be part of the solution.

All that being said, the book's target audience is people who work in a therapeutic capacity with transgender people, which is not me. I learned a lot from it, but would have preferred a book with a more sociological slant. I also think the book, which was published in 2004, could use an update.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm glad I have this, but sad about the circumstances that brought it to me. My brother gave me a copy when he came out as transsexual, and it provided a lot of useful information that I have used as a therapist. I still miss my brother, and wish I could make him more a part of my life. I probably have more contact with him than my other siblings, and though I would like to have more contact with him, I worry about how it would affect my children.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read it all, but it's very well written and one of the more complete looks at transgender life that I could find.

[Caitlin Cantor · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must read for therapists working with gender-varient clients.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs to be updated, but still am amazing resource.