Do you know the difference between sex and gender? Or what it means to be “gender nonconforming”? Trans or transgender? Genderqueer and gender non-binary? Our understanding and language around sex and gender has been rapidly expanding, and we don’t blame you if you’re not super familiar with it all.
In Episode 50,  Dr. Zhana and Joe talk to Dr. Seth Pardo about his research on the gender identity and gender presentation of 170 folks who were assigned female at birth but identify as gender nonconforming to some extent. From defining important gender terms to giving direction for the best way to ask about people’s pronouns, Dr. Pardo manages to inform and advise people like Joe, who are less familiar with the trans community.
We had so much to talk about with Dr. Pardo, that we decided to skip the foreplay this week and get right into it.
For more first-person narratives of trans lives, check out the memoirs Dr. Seth Pardo references in the episode:
Becoming a Visible Man – Jamison Green
The Woman I Was Not Born to Be – Aleshia Brevard
Stone Butch Blues – Leslie Feinberg
About our Guest

Seth Pardo, Ph.D. is currently a Lead Evaluator and Researcher with the San Francisco Department of Public Health. He has worked for over a decade to raise awareness about the various factors that facilitate healthy development of gender identity, sexuality, intersectionality, and medical decision making for people with trans and gender diverse identities. Specializing in both academic and public health settings, Dr. Pardo has conducted federally-funded research as well as hosted, developed and presented workshops on sexual health, HIV prevention, substance use and recovery, diversity, cultural humility, medical necessity of gender affirming surgeries, and predictors of healthy identity development. He is considered a subject matter expert on transgender health and has a long history of developing innovative ways to move cultural competence from abstract ideas to implement best practices.
Before Next Time…
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