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Transgender Masculinity, Embodiment, and Sexuality

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Transgender Masculinity, Embodiment, and Sexuality BECOMING “THE MAN I WANT TO BE:” TRANSGENDER MASCULINITY, EMBODIMENT, AND SEXUALITY. by MORGAN M.H. SEAMONT B.A., Washington State University, 2007 M.A., University of Colorado, 2010 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Anthropology 2018 This thesis entitled: BECOMING “THE MAN I WANT TO BE:” TRANSGENDER MASCULINITY, EMBODIMENT, AND SEXUALITY. written by Morgan M.H. Seamont has been approved for the Department of Anthropology L. Kaifa Roland, PhD Kira Hall, PhD Date The final copy of this thesis has been examined by the signatories, and we find that both the content and the form meet acceptable presentation standards of scholarly work in the above mentioned discipline. IRB protocol # 14-0233 Seamont, Morgan M.H. (Ph.D., Anthropology) Becoming “The Man I Want to Be:” Transgender Masculinity, Embodiment, and Sexuality. Thesis directed by Associate Professor L. Kaifa Roland Abstract This dissertation argues that transgender men have a different positionality than cisgender men. Being raised as a girl, socialized as a woman, and then transitioning to a visible man can allow trans men to develop masculinities that do not fall into heteronormative hegemonic norms. Trans men bring the politics, social values, and experience of sexism into their identities creating different types of masculinities that cannot be encompassed by normative categories. Based on the ethnographic evidence gathered in this project, such men are identifying themselves as trans men, rather than solely as men. A model was developed from the data that illustrates how transitioning from one gender to another is an act that brings new perspective on how gender operates in our culture. From this viewpoint, trans men have the ability to more consciously create the sort of man they want to be. The project centers around the axes of the value added by trans masculinities, trans embodiment, and trans sexualities. Each of these identities is found to be socially negotiated in the cultural milieu, providing an opportunity for anthropologists to more closely examine how these new identities are being formed, contested, and incorporated into society. iii CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................... 1 Research Aims ....................................................................................................... 5 Early Understandings of Trans Identities ............................................................. 10 Trans as Gender, Body, and Sexuality ................................................................ 15 Theoretical Approaches ....................................................................................... 18 Notes on Language ............................................................................................. 22 Outline of Content ................................................................................................ 24 CHAPTER 2. METHODS ................................................................................................. 25 Autoethnography ................................................................................................. 28 Interviews ............................................................................................................. 28 Participant Observation ....................................................................................... 30 YouTube Videos .................................................................................................. 32 Conferences ........................................................................................................ 38 Limitations ........................................................................................................... 42 Participants .......................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER 3. TRANS MASCULINITY .............................................................................. 46 Trans Masculinity ................................................................................................. 48 Transforming cisgender masculinity .................................................................... 52 Intersectionality and masculinity .......................................................................... 60 iv Trans men of color ............................................................................................... 63 Being trans and a man ......................................................................................... 73 Becoming a trans man ......................................................................................... 77 Normative masculinity and trans masculinity ...................................................... 81 Trans masculinity and the LGBTQ community .................................................... 85 Trans masculinity as feminism ............................................................................. 89 Summary .............................................................................................................. 94 CHAPTER 4. TRANS MASCULINE EMBODIMENT ........................................................ 96 Framing the body ............................................................................................... 100 Body as artifact .................................................................................................. 101 Permanent physical transition through testosterone .............................. 105 Permanent physical transition through surgery ...................................... 109 Change in habitus ................................................................................... 112 The social body ................................................................................................. 114 Trans men of color from non-Western cultures ...................................... 115 Relationship dynamics ............................................................................ 118 Disciplining of the trans body ............................................................................ 123 Institutional control and access to medical treatment ............................ 125 Transgender bodies and the state .......................................................... 128 Violence toward transgender bodies ...................................................... 130 Summary ............................................................................................................ 137 CHAPTER 5. TRANS MASCULINE SEXUALITY ........................................................... 139 v Trans sexuality ................................................................................................... 139 Prior sexual identities ......................................................................................... 141 Queer identity, community, and culture ............................................................. 145 The body queered .............................................................................................. 149 Lesbians and trans men .................................................................................... 151 Partners of trans men ........................................................................................ 154 Shifts in desire ................................................................................................... 157 Returning to the body in sexuality ..................................................................... 162 Sexual energy, drive, and pleasure .................................................................... 165 Summary ............................................................................................................ 173 CHAPTER 6. CONCLUSION ........................................................................................ 174 Trans masculinity ............................................................................................... 176 Trans masculine embodiment ........................................................................... 177 Trans masculine sexuality .................................................................................. 179 Limitations of the dissertation ............................................................................ 180 Moving forward with trans studies .................................................................... 183 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................... 185 APPENDIX PARTICIPANTS .................................................................................................. 209 vi TABLES Table 1. Physical, sexual, emotional effects of testosterone and risks .................................. 107 vii FIGURES Figure 1. Transgender Positionality Model ................................................................................ 49 2. Competitors at the first transgender men’s bodybuilding competition ....................................................................... 104 3. Example of photo campaign against transphobic bathroom legislation in North Carolina ................................................... 130 viii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION “As we rise up from the operating tables of our rebirth, we transsexuals are something more, and something other, than the creatures
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