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<\/a><\/p>\nDocumentation of Plagiarism for<\/p>\n
Who Are You? the kid\u2019s guide to gender identity<\/span><\/u><\/strong> and<\/p>\n The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids\/ A Guide to Exploring Who You Are<\/span><\/u><\/strong> This is a follow-up discussing the specifics of the plagiarism.<\/p>\n It is worth noting that there is also distortion of my non-Western framework when used in a Western context. In the case of Who Are You? The Kid\u2019s Guide to Gender Identity<\/u> (Brook Pessin-Whedbee, Jessica Kingsley Publishers<\/strong>), the text on and describing The Gender Wheel is written in a particularly white and Western way. As Chicanx, drawing from my experience and studies outside of a Western frame, this not only distorts and damages The Gender Wheel<\/a>\u2019s origins and core meaning, it fully erases me as the creator.<\/p>\n by Brook Pessin-Whedbee published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2017. Age 3 and up.<\/p>\n In my Gender Now Coloring Book<\/u><\/a>\u00a0published in 2010 and again as a School Edition<\/u><\/a> in 2011, the Gender Wheel<\/a> is on 31 of the 52 pages, including the cover. Due to the importance of The Gender Wheel to my work Matthew and I listed The Gender Wheel as a trademark of Reflection Press, our independent press, on the copyright pages.<\/p>\n In the interior pages of the story of Who Are You? the kid\u2019s guide to gender identity<\/u> there is no mention of anything related to circles or wheels, only a spectrum in the text. On the very last page and without context, “The Gender Wheel” appears in a heading with a brief intro and description of the three circles in reference to a take-out wheel in a plastic sleeve inside the back cover.<\/p>\n After much back and forth with the publisher (Jessica Kingsley Publishers)\u00a0<\/strong> and confronting Brook in person, they acquiesced to change the name to \u201cThe Interactive Wheel\u201d at their next reprinting. They maintain they did nothing wrong and would not take action to address the plagiarism or the damage done or that continues to be done.<\/p>\n by Kelly Storck, published by Instant Help Books, an imprint of New Harbinger Publications in 2018. Age 5-12.<\/p>\n When Kelly Storck first reached out to me, she shared that my Gender Now Coloring Book<\/u><\/a> was the book she pictured herself with while writing her book and that many of the activities created inspiration for her book. She also indicated that it was the one book that she could find that provided active conversation starters.\u00a0But the emails between her and her editor, that she accidentally shared with me, appear to indicate that she had no intention of reaching out to me or crediting her “inspiration” prior to finding out that I was releasing two new children’s books about gender.<\/p>\n The bulk of my Gender Now Books’<\/u><\/a>\u00a0scholarship and fundamental frame is lifted and placed throughout The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids\/ A Guide to Exploring Who You Are\u00a0<\/u>(Kelly Storck, New Harbinger Publications<\/strong>). It has a considerably different tone to any of Storck\u2019s other exercises.<\/p>\n I asked Kelly and her press to please remove or significantly modify the exercises that replicated my work prior to publishing so that our books could stand separately.\u00a0I wrote, \u201cWith 38 activities the exclusion of mine should make your original work stand out uniquely as your own.\u201d<\/em> Their response was to justify why they were making minimal changes and taking my work without credit. Kelly and her press\u2019s responses were polite, but perfunctory.<\/p>\n By their own admission, a significant portion of Kelly Storck\u2019s book was not original work that just happened to be similar<\/em>. Despite what the press would like to imagine, it cannot be treated the same as original work. The fundamental frame and format was consciously plagiarized. The most disconcerting piece is that it was not in part, but all of the fundamentals of my gender work while never offering to acknowledge or uplift\u00a0Gender Now<\/u> as the source in any way.<\/p>\n The only acknowledgement in the book is to Diane Ehrensaft who wrote the introduction, and is given credit for her \u201cApples and Oranges\u201d Exercise.<\/p>\n There\u2019s much more I could share about both of these books<\/strong>\u00a0regarding the distortion of my work in a Western frame but I\u2019ve focused on the plagiarism to begin. Bringing awareness to these two books is important, but it\u2019s also about the larger conversations regarding plagiarism, power dynamics, inclusion, and first\/own voice for the LGBTQI2S+ community<\/a>, especially Indigenous and POC.<\/p>\n
\nby Brook Pessin-Whedbee published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2017<\/p>\n
\nby Kelly Storck, published by Instant Help Books, an imprint of New Harbinger Publications in 2018.<\/p>\n
\nWho Are You? the kid\u2019s guide to gender identity<\/u> <\/strong><\/h4>\n
“Who Are You”\u00a0<\/em>Plagiarism:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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\nThe Gender Identity Workbook for Kids: A Guide to Exploring Who You Are<\/u><\/strong><\/h4>\n
“The Gender Identity Workbook for Kids”<\/em> Plagiarism:<\/strong><\/h5>\n
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\n<\/em>– Given these numerous similarities, it also calls into question:<\/li>\n
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