Little Oases

About Little Oases

In September 2015, twins Jamie and Zack started school: they were not quite five years old. The same month, Carol Ballantine began a PhD in the sociology of gender and violence against women. Although the twins were identical, their gender identities were anything but. Little Oases is the story of what Jamie and Zack taught Carol, an Irish feminist sociologist, about gender and sex. 

As the twins grow, doubt and uncertainty are present through every step of Carol’s parenting journey. Observing her children’s developing identities, she allows new questions to arise. Does it really matter what the sex or gender of a child is? What would it be like not to know, and not to need to know? To hold the idea of gender lightly? Little Oases draws on personal experience and academic expertise to playfully explore questions about gender identity in early childhood. 

About the author

Carol Ballantine researches and teaches gender, sexualities, inequality and violence, working across academic, government and non-profit settings. 

Her creative writing and criticism has appeared in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly and Banshee.  Little Oases is her first book.

She lives in Dublin with her family.