b'It\\u2019s hard to think of anything changing more quickly in our society right now than our understanding of gender. There\\u2019s an explosion of young people identifying as gender nonconforming in some way or another, and others are coming out as transgender or nonbinary throughout their lives, from childhood to old age. But this sea change has brought with it an enormous amount of confusion and resistance. As of July, lawmakers in 21 states had introduced bills that focus on restricting gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth, such as hormone blockers, and 29 states had introduced bills banning transgender youth from sports. But we also know that the degree of support a young person receives when coming out \\u2014 or doesn\\u2019t \\u2014 can have profound consequences for their mental health.\\n\\nHow should we process and understand this moment in gender? Kathryn Bond Stockton is a distinguished professor of English focusing on gender studies at the University of Utah and the author of the book \\u201cGender(s).\\u201d She is incredibly skilled at explaining the fundamentals \\u2014 and complexities \\u2014 of what gender means and how people, including Stockton herself, have wrestled with it. In this conversation, we discuss:\\n\\n- Why and how Stockton has always felt out of place as a woman\\n- How her entry to the evangelical church actually advanced her acceptance of her gender\\n- Why gender is \\u201cqueer\\u201d for all of us, regardless of how we identify or how much we think about it\\n- The ways that we perform our genders without even knowing we\\u2019re doing it\\n- How the choices parents make concerning things as seemingly banal as clothing and toys shape children\\u2019s gender identities\\n- How an expanded sense of gender can bring pain as well as pleasure and playfulness\\n- What Stockton has learned from discussions about gender roles with Mormon students in her Utah classrooms\\n- What we would gain \\u2014 and possibly lose \\u2014 if we were to loosen social categories of gender\\n- Why Pride celebrations can be so utopian\\n\\nAnd much more.\\n\\nMentioned:\\n\\nDetransition, Baby by Torrey Peters\\n\\nButch Queens Up in Pumps by Marlon M. Bailey\\n\\nBook Recommendations:\\n\\nHistories of the Transgender Child by Jules Gill-Peterson\\n\\nBrilliant Imperfection by Eli Clare\\n\\nAsegi Stories by Qwo-Li Driskill\\n\\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\\n\\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\\n\\n\\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin and Rog\\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Sonia Herrero and Isaac Jones; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin, Kristina Samulewski and Rollin Hu.'