Julie’s life turned upside down after COVID hit. Barely ten, and physically isolated from much of the world, in early 2021 she installed TikTok and began spending hours online, falling down social media rabbit holes. She eventually “discovered the LGBTQ+ community” and started questioning her identity.

“At first, it was only my sexuality: pansexual, lesbian, maybe bi?” she later wrote in a personal essay. Eventually, videos asking viewers whether they were “anxious and uncomfortable” in their own bodies triggered her to question her gender identity.