Lift+Love podcast episode 65 - "Gender Diversity" with Dr. Lisa M. Diamond (part 1)

 

In this episode of the Lift+Love podcast, episode hosts Allison Dayton and Darice Auston welcome Dr. Lisa M. Diamond, professor of developmental psychology, health psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah. Her research focuses on sexual orientation development and sexual identity.

 

Diamond explains that the “right” term is what a family member prefers and describes why LGBTQ+ letters have expanded as cultural awareness and research have recognized more diversity. The conversation highlights how distress comes from societal expectations, how culture shapes brains through early learning and ongoing neuroplasticity, and why parents can add new understanding over time (including with pronouns). Diamond distinguishes assigned sex/gender at birth from complex biological sex, outlining multiple layers of sexual differentiation, and explains increases in Gen Z identification as a knowledge and category-expansion effect, accelerated by internet access, not “social contagion,” encouraging parents to learn with and from their kids.

 

Part 2 of this conversation (episode 66) is available now!

 

Find the video version and transcript of this podcast on the Lift+Love website www.liftandlove.org/podcast