Juno Roche - Gender Explorers

2020, English, Interview, Juno Roche,

Full title: "Gender Explorers: Our Stories of Growing Up Trans and Changing The World" by Juno Roche.

Juno Roche’s Gender Explorers: Our Stories of Growing Up Trans and Changing the World is one of those rare books that feels like both a mirror and a window. It is a mirror for young trans people who have rarely seen themselves represented with such honesty, joy, and hope, and it is a window for everyone else to see what is possible when children are supported in their gender journeys instead of being stifled by fear or prejudice. The book opens with a striking belief that sets the tone for everything that follows: children who are questioning and exploring their gender are the gender bosses we so desperately need, they are our future. In this spirit, Juno offers a collection of interviews that let trans children and young people speak in their own words, not as case studies or statistics, but as whole human beings with dreams, fears, humor, and a vision of their lives.

 

The structure of the book is deceptively simple. Juno sits down with trans children, teenagers, and their families, and together they talk about the things that matter most to them: what it feels like to come out, what kinds of support have been essential, what makes them hopeful, and what worries they carry with them. The voices of parents and carers are included as well, showing the way love and acceptance from family can transform what might otherwise be a hostile world into a place where flourishing is possible. The result is a moving chorus of voices, each one unique, but together painting a picture of resilience and joy. These are not tragic tales of suffering that dominate so much of mainstream media when it comes to trans lives. Instead, they are affirmations of existence, proof that with love, recognition, and space to explore, trans children live fully and dream boldly.

 

What makes Gender Explorers particularly powerful is Juno Roche’s approach. With trademark candor and empathy, Juno does not push these young people into a narrative of justification or defense. They are not asked to explain why they exist, or why their identities are valid. Instead, they are simply given space to be. As Fox Fisher notes in praise of the book, Juno presents these children as themselves, with aspirations, hopes, and dreams, and in doing so reveals a more accepting world that we should all be striving to build. Travis Alabanza has also praised Juno’s ability to combine razor-sharp intellect with open-hearted accessibility, writing that Juno’s books both affirm and challenge, always leaving readers wanting more.

The heart of the book lies in its insistence that children are not only capable of understanding their own gender but are also leading the way toward a freer and more creative understanding of what gender can be. These “gender explorers” are reshaping the conversation, moving it away from rigid binaries and toward a landscape where authenticity is what matters most. For many adult readers, especially trans adults who grew up without the language or support that these young people are now beginning to find, the book is bittersweet. As Meg-John Barker points out, the interviews serve as a kind of time travel, the conversation with one’s younger self that so many of us wish we could have had. It is a book that validates the struggles of trans youth while also illuminating their joys, making clear that affirmation and support change everything.

 

Reading Gender Explorers alongside Juno Roche’s wider body of work makes the book even more profound. In my 2017 interview with Juno for The Heroines of My Life, Juno spoke about their journey from teaching into activism, about the difficulties they faced when they came out as a trans woman in a school environment, and about their refusal to retreat when institutions resisted their presence. They told me that they wanted their community to be part of their process, to see them, to understand them. That same spirit of openness and inclusion flows through Gender Explorers. Just as Juno once said that if they had been able to see someone like themselves at the front of a classroom, smiling and thriving, it would have changed everything, this book offers trans children that same recognition. It says: you exist, you matter, and you have a future worth fighting for.

 

Juno’s activism has always combined the personal with the political. As a long-term thriver living with HIV, she has spoken openly about the intersections of health, gender, and inequality, calling for structural investment in communities too often ignored. In her interview for Heroines of My Life, she expressed anger that while up to 19 percent of trans women may be living with HIV globally, less than 1 percent of research funding is dedicated to addressing this crisis. That refusal to shy away from hard truths is also present in Gender Explorers. While the book is overwhelmingly hopeful, it does not erase the challenges trans children face. Instead, it balances the reality of struggle with the insistence that struggle does not have to define them, nor does it rob them of joy.

Ultimately, Gender Explorers is a book about possibility. It is a reminder that childhood should be a time of exploration, not suppression, and that when society chooses to honor and support trans children, we all benefit. It shows us a future that is kinder and more expansive, a future led by children who have been trusted to know themselves. For anyone who cares about trans lives, this is an essential read. For trans children and adults alike, it is a beacon of hope. Juno Roche has once again given us a book that is not only unputdownable but transformative, a celebration of resilience and humanity that challenges us to imagine a world in which every child can grow up as their authentic self.

Available via Amazon

Photo via Heroines of My Life

 

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