Might Trauma Affect Gender Identity?

Another month, another social milestone. On June 27, Kataluna Enriquez became the first transgender woman in history to be crowned Miss Nevada USA, thereby qualifying to compete in November’s national Miss USA contest. But like other recent “firsts,” Enriquez’s story tacitly excavates a question that some want to leave buried: might there be a relationship between trauma and gender self-reassignment?

As Enriquez was the first to note, the new Miss Nevada has a troubled past. Both parents left the future beauty pageant winner behind in the Philippines with friends as they emigrated elsewhere to find work. In one interview, Enriquez “disclosed that she is a survivor of physical and sexual abuse.”