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- Category:
- Entertainment, For Boys
- Author:
- Staff Writers
- Posted:
- Friday, 27 June 2008
By Nick Bond
Beyond Masculinity: Essays by Queer Men on Gender & Politics, a collection of 22 essays edited by Trevor Hoppe, makes for illuminating, unflinchingly honest reading.
It’s an online anthology, penned by a diverse group of writers who challenge, and sometimes discard, traditional ideas of masculinity. In keeping with the democratic nature of the web, the entire collection is free to read.
Rather than producing dry, theoretical musings about gender politics, Hoppe has assembled a remarkably open collection of writers who use their unique personal experiences to colour their work.
Essays like Tarheels and Transfags by Joshua Bastian Cole (pictured), who identifies as FTM (female-to-male transgender), provide a refreshing insight into a world that is not given a lot of space within either the mainstream or gay press.
Elsewhere, there’s J. Macey’s unapologetic, challenging account of life as a transgendered ‘top’ (the mechanics of which alone make the essay worth a read), Brian Lobel’s touching story of how testicular cancer made him seek to lose his heterosexual virginity, and Mark D. Snyder’s sweetly identifiable tale of life growing up as a ‘sissy’.
Throughout, the essays reveal masculinity to be a many-layered, prismatic concept that means all things to all men.
info: For more details visit www.beyondmasculinity.com
From www.bnews.net.au
Tags: books, masculinity, sexuality
