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1-Page Summary of Becoming Nicole

Overall Summary

Wyatt and Jonas Maines are identical twin boys born in upstate New York. Their biological mother is a 16-year-old girl named Sarah, who contacts her cousin Kelly and Kelly’s husband Wayne to see if they’re interested in adopting the twins because she can’t raise them on her own. The couple had been married for five years but hadn’t been able to have children yet so they jump at the chance to adopt Wyatt and Jonas. It turns out that Kelly was raised by her biological mother’s sister Donna while Wayne grew up in upstate New York and looks forward to being an adoptive father with his two sons.

In the beginning, Wyatt and Jonas have very different personalities. Wyatt loves Barbies and dresses, while Jonas likes Power Rangers and playing “boy” characters in pretend scenarios. Wyatt also really likes The Little Mermaid. Wayne is fixing up the bathroom when he lets Wyatt help him with his toolbox. He’s happy to spend time with his son but then gets a shock when Wyatt tells him that he hates his penis because it doesn’t look like Ariel’s (the heroine of The Little Mermaid). Wayne comforts him but is disturbed by this statement about body image issues at such an early age.

Wyatt is growing up and refuses to wear the masculine clothing that Kelly buys for him. She starts buying him more feminine clothes, researches what Wyatt might be experiencing, and thinks he might be transgender. Wayne doesn’t stop her from buying girls’ clothes or letting Wyatt grow out his hair. Wyatt becomes adamant that he’s a girl.

Before Wyatt and Jonas start first grade, the family moves to Orono, Maine. At their housewarming party, Wyatt appears in a pink princess dress, which upsets his father. Kelly is frustrated at her husband’s intolerance of Wyatt dressing as he chooses; she thinks that it is not fair for him to have such strong feelings about something so minor while he does not even notice the bigger issues going on around them. Meanwhile, Wyatt starts feeling depressed and anxious because of Wayne’s reaction towards his choice of clothing. His friends at school accept his gender identity but some older students start bullying him and making fun of him because they do not understand what transgender means or how it applies to children like himself. His mother follows news stories about transgender people online and watches interviews with them on TV in order to learn more about this issue; she becomes horrified by all the discrimination and violence faced by transgendered children/teenagers (including Jazz Jennings). She also realizes that there are many other role models out there whom her son can look up to instead of just one person (Jazz).

Nutt briefly explains the biological factors of sexual anatomy and gender identity. She mentions that both sex and gender are influenced by genes and hormones, which can sometimes interact with each other in different ways. Her ultimate conclusion is that neither sex nor gender is binary, as there are many variations on these two things. When doctors try to “correct” a child’s ambiguous sexual anatomy with surgery, they often remove agency from the child in question or make mistakes about their own conclusions regarding the child’s gender.

Kelly also realizes that it is time to find someone to help Wyatt with his transition. She seeks out pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Norman Spack, who helps the family understand the process of transitioning, which involves taking puberty suppressants and then female hormones at age 18.

At the same time, Wyatt starts fifth grade. In fifth grade, students are required to use separate bathrooms based on their gender. The officials at Asa C. Adams Elementary School allow Nicole to use the girls’ bathroom because she feels more comfortable there and has started using feminine pronouns since starting school. However, when Paul Melanson hears that Nicole is using the girls’ bathroom he argues that if she can do it then so can Jacob who follows her into the girls’ bathroom calling her a “faggot.”