By Brian Prowse-Gany

What defines gender? Is it biology, the heart and mind, or some combination of both? As the debate surrounding transgender children swirls, one girl is sharing her personal story in the hope that she can help others.

Jazz Jennings was born a boy, but started to show leanings toward a feminine side at only 15 months old. By age 2, Jazz started to verbalize her feelings that "she was a girl," and by 5 she was one of the youngest people ever to be diagnosed with gender dysphoria ― a persistent unease with the characteristics of one's gender, accompanied by a strong identification with the opposite gender.

After the diagnosis, Jazz's incredibly supportive family decided to embrace her inner feelings and allowed her to start transitioning from male to female while she was only in kindergarten. Although she was teased on occasion, Jazz maintained her outgoing personality and never let anyone stand in the way of her confidence about her gender identity.

Now, at 14, Jazz has co-authored an illustrated memoir aimed at children called "I Am Jazz." The book chronicles the early years of Jazz's life, from her diagnosis to her struggles at school, and it's not just for kids in the LGBTQ community but for anyone who feels like they don't fit in. 

As the country struggles with how to accommodate transgender students in the public school system, Jazz continues to be an important advocate for young people with gender dysphoria as she tries to facilitate fair treatment for other children in her situation.

Just weeks after being named one of Time magazine's "25 Most Influential Teens of 2014," Jazz sat down with Yahoo Global News Anchor Katie Couric to discuss the challenges she faced while growing up and the motivation behind her new book.

--http://news.yahoo.com/the-new-face-of-transgender-youth-231106807.html 

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性别到底是什么呢？是关于心脏或大脑，抑或是两者结合形成的生物学上的概念吗？随着人们关于变性人的热议，一个变性女孩希望通过分享她自己的故事，来帮助其他的变性人得到其他人的认可。

Jazz Jennings出生时的性别为男，但仅15个月大的时候，“他”就显现出倾向女性的一些特征。2岁时，Jazz开始用言语表达“他”自己的意愿，说“他”自己是女生，到了5岁时，“他”被确诊为患有性别焦虑症，一种对自己天生的性别感到持续的不认同，同时，强烈的认同自己是属于相反的那类性别。

在诊断之后，难以确信地是，“他”的家人决定尊重他自己的意愿，也同样让他接受变性手术，虽然那时候，他还在上幼儿园。虽然有时候“她”会被人嘲笑，但Jazz保持了“她”活泼开朗的性格，也从未让任何人妨碍到“她”对自己是女性的认可。

现在，14岁的Jazz与人合著了一本回忆录,名为I Am Jazz（《我就是我》），这本书记录了儿童时期的Jazz的生活，从“他”被诊断为性别焦虑，到“她”在学校时受到嘲笑等经历，这本书不仅仅面对跨性别的读者群体，而且也适用于那些感觉自己在某些方面是“格格不入”的人们。

美国也正在努力使变性学生更好的适应公立教育。Jazz一直支持那些患有性别焦虑症的年轻人，她也尽力去帮助那些与她有着类似情况的孩子们争取让他们得到更公平地对待。

Jazz被美国《时代》杂志评为“2014年最具影响力的25位青年”之一后，在雅虎全球新闻主播Katie Couric的采访中，Jazz谈论了她在成长中的一些挑战，也说起了她写那本书的目的和动力。

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Kylie & Kendall Jenner, Lorde & More: TIME Names Most Influential Teens of 2014

Jazz Jennings has written I am Jazz for transgender children like herself (a similar report)