What do you think?
Rate this book
[ Self-Organizing Men: Conscious Masculinities in Time and Space[ SELF-ORGANIZING MEN: CONSCIOUS MASCULINITIES IN TIME AND SPACE ] By Sennett, Jay ( Author )Aug-01-2006 Paperback
The roles of paradox and incoherence in the construction and maintenance of the masculine self remains unexplored in both gender and men's studies. Self-Organizing Men - through poetry, visual images, prose and humor - seeks to understand how paradox and the failure to cohere to a unitary self creates opportunities for sustained connections to sexual love, the penis, childhood, and vulnerability as well as disrupts traditional transsexual narratives of masculinity and the gendered body. Contributors Eli Clare, Scott Turner Schofield, Tim'm T. West, Dr. Bobby Noble, Nick Kiddle, Eli VandenBerg, Jordy Jones, Doran George, Aren Z. Aizura, and Gaylourdes. Editor Jay Sennett is an award-winning author, screenwriter and filmmaker.
Paperback
First published August 1, 2006
1 person is currently reading
76 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 30, 2008
Sexuality is fluid and in constant motion
Sexuality is a powerful force within us and to fight against our feelings will bring much pain
Jay Sennett has chosen to use his journey from f2m to look at herself/himself and all the bits in between in a study of masculinity, whiteness, privilege. It is a journey I would like to take maybe one we should all take. By that I mean a journey through out inner most selves to discover what really lies below and a journey through the overt parts of our lives such as race, whiteness, blackness, privilege.
There is so much to say about Self - Organising man - liberating, courageous, honest, challenging, brilliant. `Have you ever yearned for the impossible or even the possible. To be someone else, to be somewhere else in mind and body, in sexuality, in life? To be in a different psychological and physical space?
The book raises so many questions about gender about identity and signifyers of gender. Is the penis the primary defining factor of maleness or gender constitution. What is sex? Is it simply penetration and how does that penetration take place? How gendered are we in our identities. When gender is dichotomies as simply female/male we restrict ourselves,our thoughts and our actions. Are you happy in your body? What does your body mean to you and how does it influence your identity. Self-Organising Men is a journey for the writers and the readers. A liberating self-discovery analysis of the self and moving deep into that place - is it the heart or the soul, where ever it is it is hard to find and not often found.
The honesty of the testimonies reach out to the reader and contribute to the liberating nature of the book, the journey. One final note. As I read the testimonies and journeys of the contributors I felt that the discourse on gender and sexuality raised in the book are entirely western and to largely white. (Jay’s publishing house, Homofactus Press is presently calling for submissions for an anthology of Trans communities of colour - “Tinting the Lens in Trans Communities”.) How should we in Africa engage in this discourse when we are still at a point of battling with LGBTs being illegal people. So much pain - so much hatred.
Sexuality is a powerful force within us and to fight against our feelings will bring much pain
Jay Sennett has chosen to use his journey from f2m to look at herself/himself and all the bits in between in a study of masculinity, whiteness, privilege. It is a journey I would like to take maybe one we should all take. By that I mean a journey through out inner most selves to discover what really lies below and a journey through the overt parts of our lives such as race, whiteness, blackness, privilege.
There is so much to say about Self - Organising man - liberating, courageous, honest, challenging, brilliant. `Have you ever yearned for the impossible or even the possible. To be someone else, to be somewhere else in mind and body, in sexuality, in life? To be in a different psychological and physical space?
The book raises so many questions about gender about identity and signifyers of gender. Is the penis the primary defining factor of maleness or gender constitution. What is sex? Is it simply penetration and how does that penetration take place? How gendered are we in our identities. When gender is dichotomies as simply female/male we restrict ourselves,our thoughts and our actions. Are you happy in your body? What does your body mean to you and how does it influence your identity. Self-Organising Men is a journey for the writers and the readers. A liberating self-discovery analysis of the self and moving deep into that place - is it the heart or the soul, where ever it is it is hard to find and not often found.
The honesty of the testimonies reach out to the reader and contribute to the liberating nature of the book, the journey. One final note. As I read the testimonies and journeys of the contributors I felt that the discourse on gender and sexuality raised in the book are entirely western and to largely white. (Jay’s publishing house, Homofactus Press is presently calling for submissions for an anthology of Trans communities of colour - “Tinting the Lens in Trans Communities”.) How should we in Africa engage in this discourse when we are still at a point of battling with LGBTs being illegal people. So much pain - so much hatred.
November 22, 2011
This anthology is a really creative, artistic, internal trip into the world of female to male transsexuals, as well as men whose gender identities don't necessarily fall anywhere on the gender scale that our society has started to define as true and real. There were some familiar names and some unfamiliar names, and it was interesting to move from piece to piece and feel the emotions involved in each. A really fantastic read.
July 3, 2023
I really love Jay Sennett's work. I feel like his simple, funny cartoons bring so much humor and life to my own understanding of my trans experience that I couldn't help but express some gratitude and pick up his book.
I've now read what feels like a million ftm-specific trans anthologies. This one is no different in that there are many good essays, but only a few great ones. A lot of them are written by older transmasculine (etc) folks grappling with their past lesbian identity, their place in the cis gay community, ideas of gender (+gender fluidity), what I lovingly term 'penis intellectualization', and often there is some activist scholarship thrown in the mix.
As a younger trans man, who began his transition at 17, and has now spent almost a quarter of his life in the space of being perceived as both trans and a man, I grapple with some different problems, though certainly not all.
The beautiful, satisfying factor that I find in Jay's cartoons is the absurdity. It is so easy to be so serious about what being trans 'means'. To totally dissect the shit out of everything. And that dissecting tendency often makes up the essays which exist in these anthologies: suffering, searching, and full of dysphoric pain. And I have been reading and looking for someone who dissects the shit out of the trans identity in a way which I finally agree with, in a way which begets dignity to us once and for all. That makes it supremely, unquestionably okay that I am (to myself) all the things which encompass being transgender- but it's never quite worked out that way.
But as the good Carl Rogers has said, people are not often served by conclusions. About their identities, about who they're capable of being. The precise wording I am looking for may never exist. And the methods of acceptance which I've found most meaningful for myself as a trans person, are often extraordinarily general- devoid of dissection.
One of the last essays, by Bobby Noble, who challenges us to be 'incoherent'. To be woman and man, a queer identified heterosexual man, to be uncontrollably perceived as trans (butch, woman, etc) and a man, too, with all the privileges that do not encompass our marginalized identity (previous or not).
We cannot, cannot, cannot make sense. We do not make sense. It is the grating tolerance of what seems unacceptable. In my pursuit, by reading a million ftm-specific trans anthologies, instead of finding what makes this particular identity acceptable amongst all the others, I've found imperfection, I've found open-endedness, and I've found the perpetual, continuous work of accepting myself and others like me. Of reading more, again.
Thanks Jay.
I've now read what feels like a million ftm-specific trans anthologies. This one is no different in that there are many good essays, but only a few great ones. A lot of them are written by older transmasculine (etc) folks grappling with their past lesbian identity, their place in the cis gay community, ideas of gender (+gender fluidity), what I lovingly term 'penis intellectualization', and often there is some activist scholarship thrown in the mix.
As a younger trans man, who began his transition at 17, and has now spent almost a quarter of his life in the space of being perceived as both trans and a man, I grapple with some different problems, though certainly not all.
The beautiful, satisfying factor that I find in Jay's cartoons is the absurdity. It is so easy to be so serious about what being trans 'means'. To totally dissect the shit out of everything. And that dissecting tendency often makes up the essays which exist in these anthologies: suffering, searching, and full of dysphoric pain. And I have been reading and looking for someone who dissects the shit out of the trans identity in a way which I finally agree with, in a way which begets dignity to us once and for all. That makes it supremely, unquestionably okay that I am (to myself) all the things which encompass being transgender- but it's never quite worked out that way.
But as the good Carl Rogers has said, people are not often served by conclusions. About their identities, about who they're capable of being. The precise wording I am looking for may never exist. And the methods of acceptance which I've found most meaningful for myself as a trans person, are often extraordinarily general- devoid of dissection.
One of the last essays, by Bobby Noble, who challenges us to be 'incoherent'. To be woman and man, a queer identified heterosexual man, to be uncontrollably perceived as trans (butch, woman, etc) and a man, too, with all the privileges that do not encompass our marginalized identity (previous or not).
We cannot, cannot, cannot make sense. We do not make sense. It is the grating tolerance of what seems unacceptable. In my pursuit, by reading a million ftm-specific trans anthologies, instead of finding what makes this particular identity acceptable amongst all the others, I've found imperfection, I've found open-endedness, and I've found the perpetual, continuous work of accepting myself and others like me. Of reading more, again.
Thanks Jay.
August 26, 2020
understandably dated, but valuable as a document of the recent past revealing the root of much current discussion about masculinity, identity, appearance, and belonging
there's a bit more equation of phallus/penis and masculinity than i think would be tolerated today. there is significant variation between authors' quality of writing, which is to be expected in collections like this but remains distracting.
I loved the section written by Eli Clare, but that was expected. Final reflection was provoking and illuminating irt how language has evolved about trans identity even in the last decade (also, even if this author seems to be aligned with early anti transtrender sentiments)
there's a bit more equation of phallus/penis and masculinity than i think would be tolerated today. there is significant variation between authors' quality of writing, which is to be expected in collections like this but remains distracting.
I loved the section written by Eli Clare, but that was expected. Final reflection was provoking and illuminating irt how language has evolved about trans identity even in the last decade (also, even if this author seems to be aligned with early anti transtrender sentiments)
June 1, 2018
Have you ever felt that, " This book is talking to me. This is me. I am the book and I am not. Thou I am new, the book is old. As I am old, the book is new"".
Self-Organizing Men is about men; females, males, female and male masculinity; self and selfishness; self and selflessness. It is about questions we have asked for a long time. It is also about questions we should be asking.
If you ever wondered about the illusive real and un-real boundaries of gender, self, and labels this is the book for you.
Self-Organizing Men is about men; females, males, female and male masculinity; self and selfishness; self and selflessness. It is about questions we have asked for a long time. It is also about questions we should be asking.
If you ever wondered about the illusive real and un-real boundaries of gender, self, and labels this is the book for you.
May 27, 2016
This had a great variety of formats (pictures, poems, theoretical essays) around a topic that was little discussed at the time of publishing re: critical masculinities (mostly through the eyes of FtM authors).
October 14, 2022
Excellent book!!!
February 6, 2013
Lent to me by a dear friend. Like all anthologies, it is a bit of a mixed bag. When it is on it is on. I had a personal interest in the reference to CPCC/Charlotte happenings.
July 4, 2014
a strong by FTM for FTM collection
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews