Becoming Nicole

Becoming Nicole is a work of narrative nonfiction by Amy Ellis Nutt, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist then working as a health and science reporter at The Washington Post. The English original is Becoming Nicole: The Transformation of an American Family. The story centers on an ordinary American family in Maine: one of a pair of twin boys, Wyatt, insists from a very young age that he is a girl, loves pink and dresses, and repeatedly asks his mother, "When can I be a girl?" His parents, Kelly and Wayne, initially know nothing about this and go through a long process of confusion, research, seeking professional help, and self-education, ultimately choosing to respect and support their child's gender identity. The child later changes her name to Nicole, and the family embarks on a path of contending with their surroundings, the school system, and even state legislation, including a legal battle over bathroom access at school—a case that became one of the landmark events in the American transgender rights movement. The author conducted roughly four years of tracking and interviews, drawing on family diaries, home videos, news reports, and legal documents, and explains in accessible prose the scientific difference between biological sex and gender identity. The book is both a record of a child becoming herself and a piece of public writing about parental love, family resilience, and social inclusion.