Abstract:
The life stories of trans-masculine individuals, though diverse, demonstrate that the construction of masculinity cannot be understood outside the material effects produced in and by the body, within a gender order erected on hegemonic masculinity. Confronted with the centrality given to the body by trans-masculine individuals in Portugal and the UK, we explore the links between masculinity, embodiment and the bodily materiality of gender. Following Raewyn Connell (1995, p. 56) when she asserts the inevitability of the body in the construction of masculinity, we develop two lines of argument. First, we suggest that reconfiguring the conceptual premises of masculinity as place, practice and effect is a key step in understanding the possibilities of doing masculinity. Second, we argue that masculinity is, above all, an effect of reflexive bodily practices.
Keywords:
Trans Masculinities; Body Practices; Materiality; Gender; Masculinity