Gender: A Wider Lens
EPISODE 48 – When Adults TransitionGender: A Wider Lens
Originally aired: November 5, 2021
Looking back over this episode from November 2021, it remains one of the most layered and emotionally charged in the Wider Lens archive.
and I explore what happens when an adult - often a son, daughter, spouse, or friend - announces a gender transition.We examine the impact of these decisions on family dynamics, particularly when the shift comes suddenly or without open discussion. What appears to the individual as freedom or self-actualisation may feel, to others, like an abrupt erasure of a shared history.
The episode touches on everything from middle-aged male transitioners and postpartum envy, to adult children who cut off contact to protect a fragile new identity. There’s also discussion of parents who feel blindsided, isolated, or even emotionally “abused” by the rigidity that can follow.
As always, the through-line is connection: how families can try to stay engaged without pushing too hard, when to reach out, when to let go, and how to centre the relationship, even when it’s under enormous strain.