Join us online as we explore family romance fantasies in trans children as emergent experiences of gender confront societal expectations!

The Queerness of Psychoanalysis: Trans Childhoods and the Family Romance

Welcome to the second online event in a series celebrating The Queerness of Psychoanalysis!

Join author M.E. O’Brien and editor Vanessa Sinclair for a thought-provoking discussion delving into “Trans Childhoods and the Family Romance,” as we explore the role of fantasy among trans children, particularly of belonging elsewhere, as a form of what Freud called “the family romance.”

Using material from first person accounts by trans and gender non-conforming people with a focus on the experimental memoir of the late trans activist and writer Cecilia Gentili, to whom this book is dedicated, the essay explores the use of family romance fantasies in trans children reconciling their emergent experiences of gender with conflicting social expectations. O’Brien posits that the family romance offers a way of theorizing the subject’s encounters with the symbolic order as articulated in questions of sexual difference and biological origins.

This essay links three moments of provisional transition: in Freud’s evolving theories of childhood sexuality, in these children’s changing and conflicted knowledge of gender and sex, and in this essay’s partial theoretical contribution towards an adequate account of sexual difference. In this way, Freud’s conception of the family romance may contribute to understanding the self-articulation of trans childhood experience and the complexities of gender identification.

Don’t miss out on this unique opportunity to engage with groundbreaking ideas and connect with like-minded individuals. Register now to secure your spot!

This is the second event in a series exploring the various contributions to the edited collection The Queerness of Psychoanalysis: From Freud and Lacan to Laplanche and Beyond (Routledge, 2025). Hosted by Rendering Unconscious Center for Psychoanalysis: https://rucenterforpsychoanalysis.substack.com