A sex of one's own: Childhood and the embodiment of (trans)gender

This paper draws on psychoanalytic theories of embodiment to theorize the child's creative use of objects and signs to represent a gendered sense of self. Turning to Winnicott's concept of "true self," we extend this symbolic labour to the transgender child to illustrate the psychic processes of embodiment that contribute to a meaningful gendered existence otherwise obstructed by social hatred and transphobia. Through a reading of the film Tomboy, we discuss the conditions needed to support the child's representation of transgender as creative, which, while unique, is also a human act of symbolization.