Author: Isaac Russell
Introduction
In a world that values and places at the top of a privileged social hierarchy a masculinity based upon specific narratives of relationships, social roles, personalities, and bodies, navigating ones often conflicting identity and lived experiences in contrast with the social norms imposed on masculine presentations can be a difficult experience for Trans-masculine people. The creation of a hegemonic masculinity is centered around heterosexual white men who take on roles of power, these “manly-men” are valued as contributors and leaders of the patriarchal society we live within, exerting their privilege onto the lives and bodies of marginalized communities. These ideas are often associated with the male body; height, a large penis, muscles, body and facial hair. Stemming from this, narratives surrounding the ideal hyper-masculine body are often imposed onto Trans-masculine people centering the desire for a medical transition onto a definition of what it means to be Transgender. As Amin (2022) discusses, these ideas of transness as an end goal, body, and identity rather than a desire and way of knowing imposes a new binary onto Trans people, those who are gender deviants due to their desire for a different body, and those who are gender deviants due to their lack of desire for a different body despite their gender identity, othering all Trans experiences. Within societies treatment of Trans-masculine people a similar binary is imposed, separating those who are perceived to be hyper masculine: expecting them to act within a white cis-het idea of masculinity, discounting their lives experiences and potential identification with femininity, and those who are perceived to be more feminine: often fetishized for their trans bodies and expected to behave in feminine roles in sexual and sport settings, discounting their masculine identities. Thus, forming a male/female – masculine/feminine binary that is continued to be placed upon the bodies of all trans-masculine people, demonstrating societies complete disavowal for gender variance.
Many people understand Transness as an identity of the gender someone was not born as, going through a medical transition to simply look more like the opposite sex, and nothing more. When the embodied experience of even those Trans-masculine people who desire medical transition, is largely defined by a desire for self comfort, which for some can be achieved without a desire for transition (Amin, 2022). As Patiño Rabines (2025) writes about in a case study surrounding the medical transition of a man in Peru, surgery can be an act of resistance in a place where transition is highly regulated, shaping a physical space for personal comfort and possibilities for joy and pleasure in a body that is becoming livable. Simply, Trans-masculine transition or lack thereof is more complex than the goal of becoming a peak figure of white patriarchal masculinity. Furthermore, a Transmasculine identity or “body” does not erase one’s experiences of a feminine socialization and lived experiences with childhood or adult girl/woman hood, instead they continue to shape Trans-masculine people’s interactions in queer spaces and their own self conceptualization of masculinity (Jourian & McCloud, 2020).
The existence of an identity that holds both the marginalization of transness and privilege of masculinity provides a lens for scholars to look at how experiences of privilege are shaped by race, Trans experience, and masculinity, as Trans-masculine people hold a unique positionality where they are able to critically reflect on their gendered experiences of femininity and masculinity within society in stark comparison to one another (Clements et al., 2021). These accounts of differences noticed in the way Trans-masculine people are treated presenting as feminine, masculine, or androgenous can demonstrate the unconscious and engrained notions of sexism existing within our society. As Clements et al. (2021) analyze using standpoint theory (the idea that ones viewpoint on the world is influenced by the identities and social roles that they hold), many trans masculine people observe that once they begin presenting as masculine they are more closely listened to and are less frequently asked/expected to prove their credibility while speaking in workplace and academic settings, an observation of a subtle assumption of women’s inferiority. They described how the expectations of beauty previously places upon them were removed, and once they began to present masculinely it was not only no longer expected of them to be put together but also hygienic, demonstrating how beauty standards for women are associated with ideas of cleanliness and purity and therefore a not “put-together” woman must therefore be dirty. Thus, these experiences provide insights that speak to how large societal issues of gender roles affect and are affected by all members of a society, compounding in unique ways on Trans-masculine individuals (Clements et al., 2021). Furthermore, those who are “nonpassing” or hold multiple marginalized identities recall less experiences of male privilege, if any. While a majority of the participants in the study who selected the option of “Male-privilege does not exist” were white and held binary identities, showing how the intersections of gender, race, and sexuality impact one’s understandings and experiences with male privilege (Clements et al., 2021). The only way to move forward towards justice when discussing the negatives effects of gendered norms on Trans-masculine bodies and identities, is to first begin to understand people’s experiences, as studies focused on Trans-masculine individuals aim to do.
These Studies surrounding Trans-masculinity demonstrate how the issues affecting cisgender people in a patriarchal society are often the same as the ones experienced by trans and gender diverse individuals, who continue to be policed for their interactions with femininity, masculinity, and androgyny. These observations hold importance for Trans justice efforts, as they provide a counter argument for the TERF logics that aim to further separate trans people from the “acceptable society”, demonizing Trans femininities and infantilizing and erasing Trans masculinities (Alexander, 2023). Forming further ideas of gender deviance that frame marginalized peoples as the aggressors against the white woman victim, used as justification for the further oppression and criminalization of Trans communities (Alexander, 2023). Through understanding the ways in which social roles are enacted upon and engaged with by all members of our society including those with “gender deviant” Trans-masculine identities, we can move towards research that aims to understand the Trans experience. Therefore, we can begin to apply a further intersectional approach to studying fields largely dominated by discussions of white cisgender subjects and begin to understand the complex binary nature of gendered experiences and roles, which’s effects are centered on those who hold marginalized identities, overall including more Trans voices in our activism surrounding gendered norms.
Recommended Readings
Jourian, T. J., & McCloud, L. (2020). “I don’t know where I stand”: Black trans masculine students’ Re/De/Constructions of black masculinity. Journal of College Student Development, 61(6), 733-749. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2020.0072
Jourian and McCloud use Quare theory (which explores the ways in which People of Colour survive and exist within a white supremacist society) and Blacktransfeminist thought to perform a secondary analysis on interviews of Black Trans-masculine college students, exploring their experiences with Black and Queer identity within their engagements with their community spaces. They discuss how these students must navigate the conflicting yet simultaneous encounters of being perceived as both feminine and masculine in different settings, with the stereotypes of both black women and men being imposed onto them. These experiences can often result in a silencing of self where the individuals in the study had to balance the desire to speak on feminist and activist topics within queer spaces, shaped by their experiences of femininity, with the expectation of stoic strong performances of black masculinity. This selfsilencing ensured deviance from the perceived role of black masculinity would not out them as Trans or portray them as the “angry black women” stereotype, allowing them to be accepted within white queer spaces but yet limiting their thoughts and expressions of self. Racialized stereotypes and experiences largely change how black Trans-masculine students navigate their school life, having to consider what portrayal or portion of their identity and personality will be most safe for them in a space. This source is included in my syllabus as it explores unique experiences of the intersections of transness, race, and gendered norms and how they co-exist within the lives and internal monologues of Black Trans-masculine individuals. It is impossible to not separate racialized experiences from gendered experiences in our understandings of social norms in attempts to understand Trans-masculinity when both are enacted upon individuals as simultaneously interconnected, culturally unique experiences.
Perry, A. Z. (2024). “I’m the kind of trans they don’t care about”: Experiences of transmasculine athletes in the national collegiate athletic association. Sociology of Sport Journal, 41(4), 388-396. https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2024-0008
Through interviews with trans-masculine athletes, Perry explores how they experience gender identity through team relationships and competitive sports in a area that heavily policies Transgender bodies. Many of the Trans-masculine athletes interviewed identified that they felt they had to choose between their sports career and their transition, as female bodies are viewed as weaker and less skilled than male bodies, and this narrative is continued to be used to look at Trans-masculine bodies during and post transition. Some participants believed playing on a male team would create a disadvantage for them either through height or Testosterone levels they had yet to catch up to, unconsciously adopting the idea of male athletes as better. Due to these ideas, it was perceived to be better for their sports careers to stay within their women teams and not lose the community they had already fostered within them, yet this comes at the expense of being able to begin a medical transition. Forcing a choice that either puts aside personal comfort within one’s body and the joy experienced through competition in a sport. Furthermore, Pre-transition Trans-masculine athletes playing on women’s teams identified that they still experienced demonization for their Trans identities, one person accounting that they were penalized more frequently than other teammates due to their height and masculine presentation, once again demonstrating how expressions of masculinity are viewed as superior and expressions of femininity are viewed as weak. I have chosen to include this source in my syllabus as it speaks to how the bodies of Trans-masculine people are highly focused on as a public entity, and continuously viewed as feminine and therefore weak by the sports industry; demonstrating how despite often gaining a male privilege through transition, out trans-masculine people are still subject to harmful stereotypes of women due to societies perception of them as inherently feminine, connecting to the TERF logics that portray Trans-men as confused girls lacking of agency.
Anzani, A., Lindley, L., Tognasso, G., Galupo, M. P., & Prunas, A. (2021). “Being talked to like I was a sex toy, like being transgender was simply for the enjoyment of someone else”: Fetishization and sexualization of transgender and nonbinary individuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(3), 897-911. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-01935-8
Through analyzing answers given to an open-ended question asking Transgender and Non-binary (TGNB) people to describe their experiences of being fetishized, Anzani et al. aim to understand how fetishization is a tool of dehumanization upon Trans bodies. While this article discusses the experiences of all TGNB people, not just Trans-masculine individuals, I have chosen to still include this paper in my syllabus as it mainly focuses on the encounters of fetishization of Transmasculine people, with 59% percent of participants identifying as Trans-masculine. Anzani et al. uncovered a large overall theme of Trans-masculine people being objectified for their different genitalia and bodies, being used as an experiment by straight men to have sex with a man without “disavowing their heterosexual identity”, thus viewing Trans-men as just their vaginas. Consistent with the patterns of Trans-men not being viewed as real men, participants in this study identified experiences of being referred to as “the best of both worlds” or being told by sexual partners that they are “the perfect partner because I am neither man nor a woman since I have a vagina”. This source demonstrates how these experiences show the dehumanization of Transmasculine individuals, who’s bodies and sexual possibilities for others are regarded as more important than their own sexual pleasure and preferences, let alone the respect for their gender identity and existence as humans outside of and within sexual experiences. Further speaking to the infantilization and objectification that reduces Trans-masculine people to their bodies.
Saeidzadeh, Z. (2020). “Are trans men the manliest of men?” Gender practices, trans masculinity and mardānegī in contemporary Iran. Journal of Gender Studies, 29(3), 295- 309. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2019.1635439
Saeidzadeh explores how Iranian Transexual men understand their masculinity through interviews, arguing that the specificity of gender location allows culture and tradition to shape ones on perception of masculinity. They explain that the main forms of masculinity in post revolution Iran are all hypermasculine and define this masculinity through “heterosexuality and access to women”. Saeidzadeh goes on to explains how most people are a product of the social norms in which they live, describing how these two ideas of masculinity shape the ways Trans men view themselves and other queer and trans identities. The lived experiences of femininity that shape and improve Trans men’s relationships with women form a key factor of the way they value and differentiate their masculinity from that of Cis men. Yet, in alignment with the hegemonic masculinity that values heterosexuality, many of the Trans-men interviewed describe themselves as prejudiced to homosexual people and Transgender women as they perceive them to be larger gender deviants as they do not aspire for the privilege that comes with a male heterosexual presentation. This article speaks to yet another way unique localized cultures of masculinity shape the ways Trans-masculine people interact with the world, it is important to acknowledge that all people can be and are contributors to harmful patriarchal systems, a marginalized identity does not absolve one of prejudice. Saeidzadeh’s exploration speaks to the positives and negatives of the unique ways Trans-men can interact with gendered norms, providing a unique voice to my syllabus.
Transrebelcowboy. (n.d). Trans Masc Diaries. Issue 1. Itch.io. https://transrebelcowboy.itch.io/trans-masc-diaries-vol-1#google_vignette (Pages 8, 9, 16, 26, 31, and 44)
The Trans Masc Diary Zine is a collection of artwork, consisting of photography, poetry, digital art, collage, and more, created by various Trans-masculine artists about their experiences, identity, and trans-masculine culture. Art can be a powerful way to convey embodied emotion surrounding identity and the joyful, difficult, and mundane aspects of the Trans experience in ways that words and pictures do not have the capacity to. I have selected 5 artworks that focus on experiences of the Trans body. Pages 8, 9, 16, and 44, include artworks that speak to the publicity and expectations surrounding Trans-bodies and Transition. Speaking to how Transgender people are not granted the basic respect of their bodies being treated as a personal and private elements of ones being, but instead one that is subject to strangers and medical systems questions and expectations, complicating ones view of themself. Pages 26 and 31 depict a different aspect of one’s experiences with a Trans-masculine body, sharing the joy of Transition. Trans bodies do not always have to be a challenge or battle ground for expectations and counterforces, transitioning bodies can be places of comfort, warmth, freedom, joy, and a return to oneself. It is these joys and relief that often shape the desire for transition. I have decided to include this source in my syllabus as it attempts to capture the complex emotions of Trans-masculine individuals through artwork in a way that research and papers can never fully convey, words alone cannot create a complete picture of experience and emotion. This source was important for me to include as it includes narratives of Trans-joy, and we cannot talk about the despair and tragedy surrounding Trans-masculine bodies without remembering the embodied joy of beginning to exist in ones own skin fully that transition can bring to many.
In Full View Focusing on Trans Mascs in Media. (2026, November 19). Trans joy: the beauty, the burden, and the backlash. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1323-in-full-viewfocusing-on-294556076/episode/5-trans-joy-the-beauty-308205136/
This episode of the In Full View Podcast – Focusing on Trans Mascs in Media, hosted by Avi Roque and Yas Modares Ghasiri, (both Trans-masculine people) discusses how Trans joy is depicted in representations of Trans-masculinity within media, writing, and acting. They acknowledge representation as an incredibly difficult topic, running danger in being harmful by only portraying negative portrayals of Trans life, but also dangers in the opposite of only sharing stories of joy that do not allow for the acknowledgment of challenges faced by trans people in the past and present. The intersection of these two extremes creates challenges in the writing and acting roles of the hosts, where they must navigate balancing their own personal comfort with participating in projects that convey important Trans-stories that can be difficult to exist as a part of, such as stories of Trans-masculine pregnancy and parenthood. Furthermore, they discuss how the balancing of joy and messy-ness of Trans-stories can be complicated in a writing space, and the larger implications of having Trans-masculine characters in stories that don’t center their transness; is a Trans masculine character in a thriller story a good representation of the mundaneness of the trans-experience within a larger life or a story that unconsciously continues to portray trans-ness within narratives of death? This source is important to my syllabus as its ideas surrounding Trans-ness are discussed by two Trans-masculine people whose personal experiences shape their understandings of representation and joy, giving an important voice to these narratives. Secondly, as I previously discussed, Trans challenges and joy are inherently interconnected ideas that cannot exist without consideration of each other, this podcast creatively explores the harms of doing so, creating room for further discussion surrounding these paradoxes.
Gender Spiral with Ally Beardsley and Babette Thomas. (2024, January 7). Thinking Outside the “Man Box” (w/Thomas Page McBee). https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinkingoutside-the-man-box-w-thomas-page-mcbee/id1686460014?i=1000660870576
In this podcast episode, Thomas Page McBee, a Trans man shares his experiences with masculinity, and the unique construction of what manliness looks like for Trans-masculine people. As the episode discusses, society defines man as opposite to women, therefore establishing all roles associated with masculinity in this supposed “man box” and all roles associated with femininity, including vulnerability and caretaking as outside of this box, creating a stark separation of these societal norms leaving no room for their interplay. McBee, who spent many years of his life as a queer woman and later non-binary person shares that he struggled with accepting his Trans identity as he felt so strongly tied to these expressions and cultures of femininity. For Thomas, the conceptualization of Trans men as simply men, while creating strides in its empowerment and validation of trans identities, did not encapsulate or make space for his relationship with femininity, and instead for him, reinforced a binary idea of transition. He goes on to discuss how his relationship with masculinity and understanding of himself as a Trans man is one that is shaped by his femininity, therefore defining himself as not “a man of trans experience”, but a Trans-man, highlighting the importance of his Trans identity to how he views himself. I have chosen this source for my syllabus as it delves into the idea of Transmasculinities and their relationships to femininity and past conceptualizations of oneself as feminine through the personal narrative of someone who has reflected on their Trans identity in a way that includes their prior-self, distinguishing their masculinity as no less valid, but yet, different from that of cis-masculinity.
Works Cited
Amin, K. (2022). We are all nonbinary: A brief history of accidents. Representations (Berkeley, Calif.), 158(1), 106-119. https://doi.org/10.1525/rep.2022.158.11.106
Alexander, Q. D. (2023). TERF logics are carceral logics: Toward the abolition of gender-critical movements or Black trans life as pedagogical praxis. Women’s Studies in Communication, 46(2), 230-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/07491409.2023.2193543
Clements, Z. A., Derr, B. N., & Rostosky, S. S. (2022). “Male privilege doesn’t lift the social status of all men in the same way”: Trans masculine individuals’ lived experiences of male privilege in the united states. Psychology of Men & Masculinity, 23(1), 123-132. https://doi.org/10.1037/men0000371
Jourian, T. J., & McCloud, L. (2020). “I don’t know where I stand”: Black trans masculine students’ Re/De/Constructions of black masculinity. Journal of College Student Development, 61(6), 733-749. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2020.0072
Patiño Rabines, P. (2025). Living a livable body: Trans masculinities, surgery, and resistance in the global south. International Journal of Transgender Health, , 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/26895269.2025.2547253
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