Self-Made Men: Identity and Embodiment among Transsexual Men

by Henry Rubin

In Self-Made Men , Henry Rubin explores the production of male identities in the lives of twenty-two FTM transsexuals--people who have changed their sex from female to male. The author relates the compelling personal narratives of his subjects to the historical emergence of FTM as an identity category. In the interviews that form the heart of the book, the FTMs speak about their struggles to define themselves and their diverse experiences, from the pressures of gender conformity in adolescence to being mistaken for "butch lesbians," from hormone treatments and surgeries to relationships with families, partners, and acquaintances. Their stories of feeling betrayed by their bodies and of undergoing a "second puberty" are vivid and thought-provoking. Throughout the interviews, the subjects' claims to having "core male identities" are remarkably consistent and thus challenge anti-essentialist assumptions in current theories of gender, embodiment, and identity. Rubin uses two key methods to analyze and interpret his findings. Adapting Foucault's notions of genealogy, he highlights the social construction of gender categories and identities. His account of the history of endocrinology and medical technologies for transforming bodies demonstrates that the "family resemblance" between transsexuals and intersexuals was a necessary postulate for medical intervention into the lives of the emerging FTMs. The book also explores the historical emergence of the category of FTM transsexual as distinguished from the category of lesbian woman and the resultant "border disputes" over identity between the two groups. Rubin complements this approach with phenomenological concepts that stress the importance of lived experience and the individual's capacity for knowledge and action. An important contribution to several fields, including sociology of the body, gender and masculinity, human development, and the history of science, Self-Made Me will be of interest to anyone who has seriously pondered what it means to be a man and how men become men.

Genres: Queer, Gender, LGBT, Nonfiction, Gender and Sexuality, Sociology, Transgender

224 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2003

Reviews

[RJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was pretty good. I'm thankful to have other areas of research outside of my discipline (social psychology) to turn to in order to further my own interest in incorporating trans experiences into the social psychological study of gender. I do hope these men were paid a great deal for their contributions. Especially considering that, at times, the interview topic felt incredibly invasive and the ways in which Rubin wrote seemed borderline disrespectful.

The end regarding maleness, masculinity, and manhood did seem contradictory at times, and I do think there could have been more of a conversation regarding privilege and issues of safety within each of those topics. There was a greater focus on physicality which is important, as expressed through the interview snippets offered in earlier sections of the book, but glossing over gender prescriptions and norms does a disservice to the ways in which these men have formed and express their manhood and masculinity that spans far beyond the way they look.

[theo · Rating 4 out of 5]

won’t say i agree completely with all the theories posited in this (read: the historical one), but the level of research done, real interviews conducted, and different theories brought up, both philosophical and sociological, made this an insightful and interesting read

[Jamie Frank · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great information and insight. However, the overuse of technical terms made it read more like a textbook.

[Candice · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an earlier review states, it is true that Henry Rubin's book reads like a text book. At the same time, this is book is brilliant. The qualitative research and analysis in this text does what other books on transgender, FTM, and gender theory fail to do: Rubin explains that while gender itself is a fiction, it is also a valid form of expression so long as people choose to make sense of their lives through the lens of gender.

[Mirrordance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Libro impegnativo a cavallo tra un trattatello di cosiologia /antropologia e filosofia. Attraversa le teorizzazioni del genere e l'identità maschile negli ftm piu' per via teoria che attraverso le loro testimonianze anche se è da lì che parte. Quella che ci viene offerta è una teorizzazione elaborata dalla raccolta di testimonianze ed un excursus sui filosofi e studiosi del genere degli ultimi 20 anni. Un libro impegnativo e per addetti ai lavori.

[JT · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads more like a textbook.

[Remy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really accessible!

[Elliott DeLine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fresh perspectives, respectful of its subjects, accessible, illuminating and incredibly validating. Best book I've read on the FtM experience.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and informative, but you can tell it was a dissertation before it was a book.