"American masculinity is being critiqued, questioned, and reinterpreted for a new era. In Men in Place Miriam J. Abelson makes an original contribution to this conversation through in-depth interviews with trans men in the U.S. West, Southeast, and Midwest, showing how the places and spaces men inhabit are fundamental to their experiences of race, sexuality, and gender.

Men in Place explores the shifting meanings of being a man across cities and in rural areas. Here Abelson develops the insight that individual men do not have one way to be masculine—rather, their ways of being men shift between different spaces and places. She reveals a widespread version of masculinity that might be summed up as “strong when I need to be, soft when I need to be,” using the experiences of trans men to highlight the fundamental construction of manhood for all men.

With an eye to how societal institutions promote homophobia, transphobia, and racism, Men in Place argues that race and sexuality fundamentally shape safety for men, particularly in rural spaces, and helps us to better understand the ways that gender is created and enforced."

https://www.upress.umn.edu/9781452959634/men-in-place/

#transmasculinity #transmascstudies

"Patriarchy attempts to enclose masculinity, rigidly define it, tie it to domination and control, and punishes all unsanctioned expressions of it. This capture is not inherent nor is it complete. Trans and gnc people have been undermining that project since it began! Many of the positions explored above take for granted that masculinity is a real and consistently definable phenomena: invented, made material, and defined by patriarchy alone. They assume that patriarchy’s word on masculinity has been the only real word, cis men’s understanding of it the only real understanding of it, its deployment in rigid gender roles its only possible manifestation. Cis men have been at the wheels of centralized power and thus have had more means to make their own voices drown out the rest of us, but subversive masculinities have always been here, have always been a threat to the patriarchal narrative."

-- Lee Cicuta, "Masculinity: Contested Territory." https://butchanarchy.medium.com/masculinity-contested-territory-ad94621032b

#transmasculinity

"If you make a sweeping claim about masculinity as a whole, assert that claim as inherently true in all cases, and then acknowledge that there are also entire social groups who are made more vulnerable to patriarchal violence because of their masculinity/perceived masculinity, it has come time to acknowledge that something about your theory is flawed and that there is something more complex happening than masculinity=patriarchal."

-- Lee Cicuta, "Masculinity: Contested Territory." https://butchanarchy.medium.com/masculinity-contested-territory-ad94621032b

#transmasculinity

Stanley’s Deadname Is Stacey.

🏳️‍⚧️

#DrSTONE #StanleySnyder #Transgender #Trans #Transmasculine #Transmasc #Transmasculinity #FemaleToMale #FTM #Headcanons #Headcanon

"Materialist transfeminism has to theorize Anti-transmasculinity."

This is the end sentence of this brilliant brilliant text by Nsámbu Za Suékama, which, in detail and by showing the many ways in which Racial paternalism and Patrirachal hegemony try to recapture struggles against them, describes why we need to take anti-transmasculinity serious as transfeminists.
"Racial-Class Paternalism and the Trojan Horse of Anti-transmasculinity"
https://en.theanarchistlibrary.org/library/nsambu-za-suekama-racial-class-paternalism-and-the-trojan-horse-of-anti-transmasculinity/

Here a thread with some quotes from it (if the quoting feature didnt work):
https://social.treehouse.systems/@auriblackcat/ 114724501453649382

#transfeminism
#anarchafeminism
#transmasculinity
#feminism
#neocolonialism

We made a zine about transphobic interactions as a transmasculine person. It's lightly pornographic and quite angry.
I made words and photos, and @supernovacircus provided illustrations.

How to interact with transmasculine people without being fucking transphobic - Volume 1

https://voidkvlt.itch.io/how-to-interact-with-transmasculine-people-without-being-fucking-transphobic-vol

#transmasculinity #transmasc #zine #zines #transphobia

That feeling when you find out that a transmasc was instrumental in the Stonewall Riots 🥹

#transmasculinity #trans #pride #alt4me

Earlier today, @carasutra shared this excellent article from her site:

How I Dominate My Slaves: A Domme Point Of View
https://carasutra.com/2019/08/how-i-dominate-my-slaves-domme-point-of-view/

"This makes female dominance something of an oddity, when it comes to many people’s opinion of this area of BDSM. Even for many people within the BDSM sphere."

I did femdom and pro-domination about a dozen lifetimes ago, and Cara's observation is definitely one I could have signed off on (among a lot more in there). But in terms of my present experiences, her article started a train of thought that reminded me of something else:

Transmasc dominants appear to be vanishingly rare.

Which is interesting, because D/S doesn't necessarily even have the potential technical/dysphoria issues that go with topping vs bottoming for many transmasculine people (sex is optional, straps and hands and toys exist, surgical modifications can be functionally amazing, and, and for all of that, a bottom can be a potent dominant - I'll refer you to my last fic drop).

And okay, I'm pretty strongly dom-leaning† and have been for a long time, but the surging emotionality and power that go with testosterone, not to mention the sheer urge to fuck something, anything; the shades of physical transcendence; of overturning and imposing one's will upon the limitations of mere biological chance...

....it all feels like exactly the kind of thing to make you want to put someone in their place, whimpering at your feet for a taste of your boot, of the lash, for the opportunity to worship you, to be stripped of autonomy and shown the intimacy of the most exquisite and loving pain and debasement.

There are some strong Do Unto vibes to be found in that little glass vial††.

So, I'd be expecting a lot of transmasc doms, in both T4T pairings and those that involve cis people.

Honestly, I have no answers here, but I'm at this point determined to continue finding transmascs to dominate, take apart, and explore the inner workings of, even to train into dominance themselves, until I get my fucking answers.

I wonder if something that might factor into my experience is that, for quite a while before transition (before the aroace period that preceded it) I moved in predominately lesbian spaces, where - obviously - female and female-adjacent dominance is the norm (although there are interesting things to say about butch/femme archetypes), and it was thus normalised to acquire that skillset and a specific self-image as a dominant if you were at all that way inclined.

Is this a matter of access?
That trans guys, especially those who moved and move in more androphilic circles lacked for opportunities to express and embody dominance, weren't encouraged to hone a razor's edge onto their affection, to place a gentle guard on weaponised vitriol sufficient to make it safe to inflict on others?

Is it simply a matter of submission being easier if - even if you are not subconsciously feminised - you are generally perceived as smaller, as a thing that gets fucked, as archetypally breedable†††?

Because, my beautiful, fucked-up boys, some of you could be so good at dominance. And will be if I get half a chance to influence you.

† which makes it all the more fun when I don't

†† humming "Zytrate comes in a little glass vial. A little glass vial? A little glass vial .. and the Zytrate gun goes somewhere against your anatomy"

††† don't get me fucking started on this one. It's definitely fun to play with psychologically, but also, I've literally bred, and kink-breedability and sexual reproduction feel like they exist in very different spaces.

#BDSM #transmasculinity #dominance

This, actually!! I'm not a Blues Clues enby lol, but yeah: nonbinary transmasc. The transmasc is just the flavor, it's not the whole story.

#transmasculinity

Tamara Blake Chapman: The Layers of Love. Early Healing (Copyright © Tamara Blake Chapman, 2022)

Source: https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/tamara-blake-chapman-the-layers-of-love-project-photography-211122

#transmasculine #transmasculinity

7 #books about #transmasculinity to #read this #LGBTHistoryMonth

From #prize-#winning #novels to revealing #nonfiction, here are our top picks of #books about the #transmasc #experience

#TransMen #Transgender #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #Entertainment #TheArts #Literature #Books #Reading #Representation #Culture

https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/61980/1/7-books-about-transmasculinity-to-read-this-lgbt-history-month

I assume that the person who is disgusted that men are daring to (gasp!!) wear nail varnish isn't on Mastodon, but I will say that I've painted my nails more in last few years since stepping into my gender as a trans guy than I did in the first two decades of my life combined.

#TransMan #TransMasculinity #RedefiningMasculinity #NoTransphobiaOnTheDanceFloor

One of the big things I talk about over on my Tumblr is the fact that feminism is for men too, and that in fact many men are oppressed based on the fact that they are men and how their manhood intersects with their other identities.

For example, the way a trans man is oppressed is due both to the fact that he is trans AND the fact that he is a man.

Race, religion, socioeconomic status, disability, body size... many identities intersect with manhood to form unique forms of oppression.

In all of these cases you cannot separate these people's manhood from their oppression; the ways they are oppressed are inherently linked to their gender. If you try to remove their gender from the equation, you are going to miss many of the ways they are mistreated and marginalized. You are going to do them a disservice.

#feminism #transmasculinity #SocialJustice #Intersectionalism

That sixth form boy you have a crush on... 👔

#trans #transmasc #transmasculinity #nonbinary #enby #genderqueer

Transmascs rly out here having the most insane erotic charisma you've ever experienced

#tboy #tboys #trans #transguy #transguys #transguythings #transman #transmen #transboy #transboys #transsexual #transgender #LGBT #lgbtq #lgbtplus #transmasc #transmascs #transmasculine #transmasculinity #rizz #charisma #charismatic #charm #charming #gay #queer #t4t #traggot

Thinking more on the #dysphoria discussion, one of the things transfeminine people seem to forget is that, no, #TransMen and #TransMasculinity was not visible until very, very recently.

My experience of not knowing that it was possible to "be a dude" is a direct result of that invisibility. Meanwhile, trans women have been in the public awareness for decades. It was a last option for many, but still an option. A big part of the trans masc experience of dysphoria is/was that namelessness.

#VisualDiet is important. We are bombarded with images of skinny, white, youthful cis folk in media and advertising, often sexualised women. I don't want it on social media as well. I want to see people who look like me: #trans and non-binary, chubby, 40ish. I want to see #fat #androgyny and #transmasculinity. I want to see #diverse genders and skintones.