When a Daughter Becomes a Son: Negotiating Gender, Identity, and Ambiguous Loss in Families

Abstract

It’s 4:00 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon at the O’Hara house. Anne, a college freshman who attends a school a short drive away, is home for the family’s weekly Sunday dinner. This week Anne, her mother, Catherine, and her sister, Maureen, will be joined by Maureen’s new boyfriend. Anne has been meaning to have an important conversation with her mom for some time now, but has been struggling to work up the nerve. Knowing there won’t be an opportunity over dinner and that it will be time to get on the road back to school after that, Anne decides now is the time.