Gender Unburdening: Using Internal Family Systems to Heal from Gender Socialization (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780996730587)

"Kirin Alolkoy's Gender Unburdening is a book for anyone who's ever felt the constraints of gender socialization. In other words, it's for all of us." -Kimberly Daniels, PsyD, Clinical Psychologist

Have you ever objected to the gender norms you're "supposed" to conform to? This isn't about whether you're cisgender, transgender, or nonbinary-it's about the rules ALL of us are expected to follow depending on the type of body we inhabit.

We've all been swimming in the soup of a highly gendered culture our entire lives, and we've acquired beliefs about how to behave as well as, most likely, a heaping dose of distress. The good news is that we're not stuck with either the beliefs or the distress. This book offers you a front-row seat to a lab for healing from gender socialization.

Review terms and concepts that enhance gender literacy.Read about Internal Family Systems (IFS), a powerfully effective approach to personal growth and healing.Learn about cross-cultural gender diversity and the origins of gender rules.Explore the connections between gender, race, and sexual identity as social hierarchies used to marginalize.Follow along as the author, an IFS life coach and former therapist, sheds gender burdens and reclaims a sense of empowerment.

Each person's journey to wholeness is unique-there's no formula to follow or cookie-cutter result to aim for. Free of constraints, this exploration holds tremendous promise for expanding our lives by healing parts of us that carry personal and cultural burdens about gender. Gender Unburdening is for anyone seeking freedom from distress connected to gender socialization as well as therapists, coaches, and other professionals who support them in their quest.

"In this fascinating, timely, and well-written book, Kirin Alolkoy not only discusses the topic of IFS and gender but also takes us along on a powerful journey of using IFS to heal the wounds produced by family and culture around gender." -Richard Schwartz, PhD, founder of Internal Family Systems

"Kirin Alolkoy has written a superb account of using IFS to understand the wounds of societal and familial expectations about gender and one's body. Whether you are new to or familiar with IFS and the multidimensional aspects of gender, Kirin offers an inspirational model for exploring and overcoming long-standing inner pain." -Larry Rosenberg, psychologist