emotional informative slow-paced

An interesting reckoning with masculinity from the perspective of a trans man. 

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced
inspiring reflective medium-paced
challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense fast-paced

McBee does a nice job narrating his own audiobook, but there were a few times I wished I was reading in print because a line was so stunning or well crafted that I wanted to highlight and capture it. Through his story of becoming an amateur boxer to compete in a charity match — in the process becoming the first transgender man to box in Madison Square Garden — McBee explores the idea of "masculinity" and the extent to which he is or is not able to define it for himself. Even having experienced sexist patterns of behavior from the other side, he finds he can't always stay aware of his own talking over female colleagues or notice the experience a woman around him is having. In the boxing gym, he finds the paradox that, while men police each other's adherence to the cultural expectations of masculinity, the fact that they're already "proving" their manliness through boxing allows them to be physically affectionate with each other in ways not found in other areas of life.

I'm not sure McBee shared any truly new ideas in this book, but he did a nice job of weaving interviews with researchers into his own personal experiences and bringing it all together. He's a journalist by trade, so it's not surprising that he can write well. This was a quick listen (under 4 hours) that would be valuable for anyone to read. Content warning for his experiences of childhood sexual abuse, as well as a mention of being mugged as an adult.

I think every man should read this. Especially those of us who consider themselves ‘good men‘. There is still so much to learn. This story is not really about boxing, it is about how masculinity shapes us.

Solo un 15% leido. No entro en él...es un compendio de pensamientos sobre la masculinidad que en este momento no era lo que estaba buscando...quizás en otro momento
ledia's profile picture

ledia's review

3.0
emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

What a raw and beautiful story of masculinity in slow bloom. McBee claims his own history and trans becoming with power and honesty. Considering the current social rise of male, American identity and its worship of violence, I hope we can welcome more narratives like McBees. Narratives that seek to wade through the muck of testosterone to ask: how are we upholding the status quo; how can we bring the fight to uncover silent complicity; how can we listen and not stay silent? …. and it’s about boxing.
dark informative reflective fast-paced