An Analysis of Trans Men’s Conceptions and Navigation of Masculinity

Year 2020, Issue: 13, 103 - 132, 24.05.2020

L. Alp Akarçay

Abstract

The trans body in transition is a complex negotiation, a continual self-examination consisting of building and rebuilding of the self in relation to the transitioning body and to the social, cultural and linguistic structures of gender norms and binary differences. Ways in which trans men embody masculinity while renegotiating their transitioning bodies cannot be fully understood without considering the sociocultural parameters that define cisgender (not transgender) male characteristics, bodies, and masculinities which trans men knowingly or unknowingly may aspire to embody. Physiology or physical differences may become a salient factor in the perception, embodiment or selection of a normative masculinity. There may also be a sense of loss and a mismatch between the performative masculinity and the emergent masculinity, shifting as trans men relate to and/or choose to subvert the conceptions of the dominant societal characteristics of masculinity. This paper aims to gain insight on the specific social and affective factors that impact trans men’s definitions, performance and navigation of their own masculinity. The author will share findings from a qualitative study conducted using semi-structured interviews with trans men of different age groups. The research is driven by the following questions: What meaning do trans men ascribe to normative constructs of masculinity while constructing their body and in what ways does this meaning attach to and apply a given masculinity to the trans male body? What salient linguistic practices do trans men orient themselves towards to exercise or exert their own conceptions of masculinity? In what ways trans men’s self-identification and assertion of their masculinities dependent or independent of relational and social meanings, characteristics and perspectives ascribed to masculinity?

Keywords

Trans men, performativity, masculinity, gender identities, embodiment

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