Boys play with trucks. Girls love the color pink. These cliches have dissolved into stereotypes, but most parents would still put their child into one of two categories: male or female.
For some kids, it's just not that simple. There's a growing transgendered youth movement which encourages children as young as elementary school to live their innate gender.
In this week's episode of This American Life, independent producer Mary Beth Kirchner documents one weekend in the lives of two families grappling with the reality of raising a girl who was born a boy.
Kirchner's documentary is sensitive and honest, allowing the 8-year-olds to speak for themselves. They giggle and gossip, but are far more self-reflective than your average second graders.
You may doubt their parents' motives. You may wonder how their lives will change once puberty hits. But no matter how you feel about the issue, you will leave this piece with a much better understanding of what it's like to grow up transgendered. That's the mark of a true documentary.
(photo by dodidoune)