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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
challenging
reflective
fast-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
reflective
slow-paced
A few interesting reflections on what masculinity is, but nothing too special. Maybe recommendable for young transmasc adults.
inspiring
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
A lot of rich thinking about violence, tenderness, & who we let ourselves be.
As a transmasculine person, reading this gave me so much to think about. My transmasc partner also read it and so we had so much to discuss.
This book is 1 of several helping fill the transmasc gap in trans* literature. He analyses the impact his transition has had on how he exists & operates in the world around him and especially in male-dominated spaces.
This book is 1 of several helping fill the transmasc gap in trans* literature. He analyses the impact his transition has had on how he exists & operates in the world around him and especially in male-dominated spaces.
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Amateur is a beautiful book. There really is no better word for it. An exploration of masculinity and what it means to be a man under the looming influence of societal expectations, the title has dual meaning. The narrative follows author Thomas Page McBee as he prepares for a charity boxing match and struggles with questions of how to be a good man, having finally become who his heart and mind have long insisted he is.
McBee speaks with clarity and eloquence on the inequity inherent in the ways in which women and men are treated in professional environments. A trans man who transitioned at 30, he has ample experience of the bias directed towards women, describing his astonishment at the rapid acceptance and assumed superiority when his voice and appearance began to change.
Unflinchingly honest about his realization of his own misogyny, McBee struggles with how to avoid falling into the pitfalls of toxic masculine socialization he finds himself suddenly surrounded by. He describes the moments where he fails to be brave enough to share vulnerability and transparency with other men and expresses the sadness and regret he feels when realizing he’s done so. He reveals the shame and horror he feels when he realizes that he has thoughtlessly disregarded the expertise of women he cares for and respects in an unguarded assumption of bias, and the efforts he makes to ensure that he doesn’t repeat such mistakes. He talks openly about the difficulty of reconciling toxic masculinity with the kind of man he is working so hard to be.
I chose this book because I was intrigued by the story of a man struggling to reconcile the man he knew himself to be and had finally become with the woman he had previously lived as and the lives of the women he loved, particularly when confronted with the expectations of a toxic form of masculinity perpetuated by a failing patriarchy.
I am two-spirit. I’m not trans, I am nonbinary. My gender is ambiguous, and I have never felt a strong attachment to either of the choices defined by the binary. I lean more towards masculinity, but I do not want to be a man and aspire to a tender, nurturing form of masculinity that makes those I care for feel safe and supported and heard. Among my people, to be two-spirit – a designation which includes both trans and nonbinary identities – is to be honored, because it is believed that we see through a dual lens and are granted greater wisdom as a result. In Amateur, McBee illustrates with full clarity why indigenous peoples believe this to be true.
In a world that is increasingly choosing hate and intolerance, it is ever more important that we find reflections of ourselves in books. It is ever more important that books like this exist, written by authors brave enough to expose themselves, to help us to understand that we’re all of us just people trying to find the best parts of ourselves.
medium-paced
Strengths:
Great descriptions, smoothly connected experiences with reflections and conclusions
Weaknesses:
N/A
Great descriptions, smoothly connected experiences with reflections and conclusions
Weaknesses:
N/A
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Wayyyyy too much Brené Brown talk (it happened twice)