Amateur

As a trans guy, you can imagine that I relate very well to this book. (A conversation between me and a friend who is non-binary who read this book on my recommendation). “But its the same time, being non-binary, the pressure is always not necessarily to be “man” enough but to be “trans” enough”. Personally, I have so much insecurity about doing the “right “thing even something as silly as an exclamation point because of the pressure to be seen as “one of the guys” Slowly through experiencing the world as a trans guy I am being seen more and more as just one of the guys so that pressure is lessening BUT I don't EVER want to take away the pride I have in being a trans guy too.

This book gives insight into the many questions trans men like myself consistently wonder about. I loved that there was finally a book about the space man take up in the world And masculinity that was complex and diverse enough to accurately portray experiences of trans men. Some of my favourite quotes that I will remember for a lifetime:

“People sometimes think that being trans means I live “between” worlds, but that's not exactly true. If anything, it has just created within me a potential for empathy that I must work every day like a muscle, to grow” (p. 110)

“The more I how much I had to appear “real - real as if I knew the language of fathers and sons - to survive in a boxing gym” (p. 40)

“I understood that I was, finally, being seen. But seen as what? Though it was a relief to no longer experience at the sight of my own face, moving through the world in my “before body” had grooved my brain and operating as if that weren't so....There was no language to describe my whole self that didn't put me in danger. I passed in that I allowed others to believe I had sprung, fully formed, into the man that stood before them. (p. 61)