Giving Voice to a Gender-Fluid Teen

(Jeff Garvin)

Jeff Garvin was crammed in the backseat of a car when an acquaintance sparked the inspiration for his debut novel. She brought up a transgender high school student who was suing the local school district for her right to use the girls’ locker room. “It’s probably just a pervy boy trying to see some boobs,” the acquaintance concluded.

Garvin, a straight cis male, responded with what he describes as “self-righteous liberal rage.” He was distressed enough by the interaction to pitch a story about a gender-fluid teen to his writing group. Someone responded, “Is gender-fluid a real thing?” Symptoms of Being Human, out February 2, is Garvin’s response. The story is told from the perspective of Riley, a gender-fluid 16-year-old who listens to punk rock and forges a much-needed community online.

Garvin initially doubted his ability to authentically portray a teen with gender dysphoria, so he spent a year of research, consulting with a doctor who specializes in gender-nonconforming youth and scrolling through Tumblr to observe how gender-fluid teens engage. The resulting narrative feels hyper-modern, steeped in the young adult ethos of self-care, hashtags, and an absence of gendered pronouns.

Once he finished the book, Garvin was struck by similarities between Riley and himself; both were high school misfits who suffered from anxiety, got bullied, and started rock bands—“though we were not called Fluorescent Sunburn,” Garvin says. “But I could go home from school. Riley can’t go home from being gender-dysphoric. I had to come to terms with privilege I’ve taken for granted my whole life.”