A well put together and informative collection of interviews on how trans-masculinity and what it's like to exist as a trans man. Woodger did a great job with the questions asked and the contributors all came from different backgrounds so you got a wide array of opinions from people with different kinds of hardships and privilege's. It's well written and attention grabbing so I was able to finish it in one sitting!

As a trans man, this was a pretty affirming read in terms of my gender expression and definitely will be with others! A good read and informative for anyone, trans or cis alike! Woodger does only focus on trans individuals living in the UK so some things may only be applicable to those living in that area.

I really enjoyed this book so much so I read it all in one sitting. I believe it is important to have more books covering range of transgender experiences which this book did really well. .I liked the interview style and the range of issues and experiences it covered. I do believe though that my enjoyment might have been greater because I was following about half of the people that were interviewed in this book prior to me reading it with meant I had background knowledge and was already invested in there lives. Generally my biggest critique with the book was the formatting (which I believe would be different in the final copy) and sometimes the confusion in who was speaking and me needing to go back and check. Otherwise really enjoyed this book and would read more from this author.

4.75/5

4.5 stars

*eARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*

big fan of this book! i thought that as a transmasculine person who's never identified as male, i wouldn't find this book super affirming, but i learned a lot from it and felt a bit more comfortable being transmasc. what i found different with this book compared to other similar trans anthologies i have read was the interview style, meaning the editor's voice was constant throughout, and i finished the book quite quickly. this meant a couple questions were asked to each person each time, in particular, to what extent trans men are allowed to experiment with femininity. however, it was at times a bit too chatty. i really liked learning about how individual gender is to each interviewee, even if they didn't identify as nonbinary, and their own relationship to transmasculinity and how that differs to cismasculinity. also i appreciated hearing about more negative personal consequences of transitioning, such as the pressure to be toxically masculine or jealousy around other people's transitions, whilst firmly remaining centered in trans joy and the inner peace that transitioning brings.
the book was somewhat diverse - perspectives were included from people of colour, a disabled contributor, and a neurodivergent contributor, but i would have liked to see more geographical variety (though i understand with an English-language anthology, American and English perspectives will be more common). also it was good to hear from people in a variety of jobs and how being transmasculine impacts this, like fitness and politics. as a theatre person, i really loved the chapter about theatre, acting, and how performing your identity can feel like a role.

my favourite contributions were:
caspar j baldwin
leo george
colton gibbons
charlie caine

I really appreciated that this book was an interview-format thing with several different perspectives. It really helped drive home that, while we have similarities, trans people aren't a monolith and have individual/unique experiences and there's no one "right" way to be trans. Also cool to see that much trans male representation, honestly.

This book follows the lived experiences of trans men and transmasculine people through interviews.

I would rather call them open discussions, as the questions were not the same for all of them. This is understandable, however, to have a better understanding of their perspectives on being trans men/transmasc people, it would've been really valuable to get their responses on the same questions, to be truly able to make a comparison, get a broad picture, and have a cohesive narrative throughout the book.

Moreover, the author inserted his answers/opinions/perspectives in the "interviews" as well so they resembled more of a regular conversation between acquaintances. On the one hand, that was great, getting to understand and know the author better at the same time (because apart from the introduction and the afterword, both short, that's the only way to get more from him), but on the other hand, I would've preferred that page time to be dedicated to the person being interviewed so they could go into more details.

I appreciated a lot the fact that they also discussed the good parts of their lives, what they were grateful for, and the positive things that happened to them since they realized they were trans. Most of the time, not only in books but in media as well, the narratives focus on the negative, which is a very important topic of conversation, but it can get quite depressing and make everything seem hopeless, so having storied of joy, gender euphoria, and love was a breath of fresh air.

It was an interesting read because everyone had a different (kind of) background. I'm saying "kind of" because all of them were influencers, already established activists, or even Ph.D. students. Learning about their current projects and goals was great, however, not all of them were explicitly mentioned so I can't look them up; same with the interviewees - can't find them online even though they are influencers… Weird.

I would've preferred more interviews with regular people, with regular lives, someone you'd be more likely to meet in your day-to-day life. And yes, they discussed their hardships, however, most (if not all) had great, supporting families, had access to HRT, surgery and so on. I'm not trying to invalidate anything here, just highlighting (as they also did in the book) their privilege.

I'm looking forward to more books like this, but focusing on less privileged perspectives that we don't get to see on the internet and social media. That I would call a truly eye-opening book.

All in all, this was an insightful read, but it could've been more powerful than it turned out to be.

Thank you NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for access to this title!

I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of interviews, and especially loved how gender euphoria and trans joy were focal points throughout; Ezra and the contributing interviewees make mention multiple times how dysphoria and trauma are so often centred in trans stories, and it was so refreshing to be able to read about the more joyful aspects of gender non conformity and transmasculinity. The interview format has never been my favourite, but I felt that it really lent itself to an inclusive, conversational feel to the book which makes it all the more accessible - i can’t recommend this enough.

I first encountered Jessica Kingsley at University. They rapidly became one of my favourite publishers. They manage to produce accessible, enjoyable, important, academic studies without recourse to jargon. This book is no exception
One of the few books written by trans men, this book is an inspirational exploration of; masculinity, gender, and life as a trans male. In the form of a series of interviews, this book reads like a succession of chats with inspirational friends who have exciting things to say about gender. It is an important and accessible work; a high recommend.

This is an interesting and useful edition to the trans cannon. I would recommended for an under 30 audience. It's harder to relate to as a post 30s trans person.

I really enjoyed this. I loved hearing from trans men and their perspective on everything. I especially loved the focus on trans joy and advocacy that doesn’t focus on cis people and their feelings. It was a fun read. My only negatives really is that the interviews were wrapped up really abruptly and I would have liked handle names or where to find the interviewees as the only person I knew beforehand was Kasper, although I know most of these people are pretty well known in social media circles so perhaps my bad.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

To Be A Trans Man is a quick, but rewarding read, filled with thoughtful commentary on gender, masculinity, patriarchy, and more. Woodger is clearly a very competent invterviewer, and these interviews have a friendly, confessional tone. I appreciated that common threads between each interview emerged organically, and that Woodger didn’t impose excessive commentary onto these interviews– just the foreword and the afterword. This isn’t a piece of analysis, but as advertised, a collection of interviews, allowing for the reader to reflect themselves on each transmaculine individual’s experiences as told in their own words.

Because these interviews are so conversational, I couldn’t help wishing that I could hear each of them, and I couldn’t help but wonder if this book would have been more successful in a podcast format, or something like it. I also found my appetite wasn’t quite sated by the time I finished: I was eager to hear from a few more individuals, given how strong all these interviews were. However, I still greatly enjoyed this reading experience, and am looking forward to engaging further with Woodger’s work in the future.

Perusing other reviews, I’ve noticed a few things I wanted to touch on. The first of which is complaints regarding the fact that various influencers, activists, etc. were consulted in this book, rather than those of us with more “normal,” occupations. Personally, I enjoyed the interviewees chosen for a few key reasons: transmascs aren’t exactly spoiled for choice when it comes to public figures we can look up to and draw inspiration from, and I found it inspiring hearing from so many successful trans men who were public about their transition– I’m confident anyone grappling with the choice of whether to remain safely stealth or step out of the closet in the name of activism, community, and/or solidarity will feel similarly. (Besides, none of these transmascs are exactly Beyonce– I happen to know who Eza Michel is, for example, and listen to his music, but ~230,000 streams on his most popular song on Spotify does not exactly a superstar-make.) On the heels of that, so many of us that are out are involved in activism simply because our rights (and the rights of the wider trans community) are under such vicious attack, and simply existing is viewed as a political statement by the right. Activism and community outreach is a vital facet of trans culture, and it simply can’t be cleaved from the trans experience: it belongs in this book.

I’ve also noticed one or two cisgender readers commenting that they felt confused by this book, or left with further questions, having picked it up to learn about the transgender community. Good! This isn’t a thesis statement, it clearly invites readers to reflect for themselves. I’d argue that this book isn’t a starting point for those just beginning to educate themselves about the community– nor does it purport to be. This is a more nuanced conversation about the multifaceted experience of being transgender, and it was refreshing to read something that doesn’t grind to a halt to explain basic terminology every few paragraphs. It’s certainly not bogged down in terminology, or scientific- these are casual conversations after all, but if you don’t come to this book with at least a basic understanding of what it means to be trans, you might find yourself lost: if you are looking for a basic introduction, there are plenty of books that fill that niche, and I don’t think it’s fair to judge this book on that basis.

To summarise, I would recommend this book to anyone with a basic understanding of gender theory, looking to hear from more voices, and particularly to anyone particularly interested in exploring masculinity and masculine identity in the context of a patriarchal, cisheteronormative status-quo.

For transparency, I know the author through Woodger’s undergraduate university and we know of each-other and he knows I am reviewing his book, my review is not biased by this fact.

I find ‘to be a trans-man” as non-binary individual a fantastic, eye opening book on masculinity and what exactly it is and how different transmasc, trans men and gender non-confirming individuals come to perceive, and ‘perform” masculinity. As, we all have our own ideas of what being “masculine” is and this book is a well needed commentary on the topic and showcases amazing projects undertaken by the interviewees.

I did however think that the interviews, as great as they were could have been commented on with some context — they just run on, one after each other and the interviewees are (in my opinion) from a very narrow demographic of the U.K. population, namely influences. This doesn’t detract from the positives of the book just a greater span of individuals would have furthered the content of this book.

Every review suggests a different target audience, and I haven’t asked the author who he thinks the book is for because whilst i believe this book will primarily be enjoyed by those under the trans umbrella - mainly trans men and trans masculine individuals., I do think everyone no matter if they are queer or not can take something away from this book about what being a trans man is about and the pain and frustration many people go through. .

This book seems much more for a cis audience than a trans one. I think cis readers could benefit from reading this and getting an insight into real trans experiences. But as a trans person with mostly trans friends this book seeme like it wasn’t for me and didn’t give me any new insights or dialogues

To be a trans man by Ezra Woodger.

Thank you to Netgallery for an ARC for an unbiased review.

So, my husband is transgender. As a result, we have numerous trans friends. Male, female and non-binary. Some transmasculine, some not. So I was very interested to read experiences from others, as I think the trans male voice isn't always heard or understood by others.
I think the book brought some important things to the conversations needed, by both the cis world but also the trans world, as it can sadly also have those who are less than understanding on some things. Particularly for those who don't fall into the definition of two main genders. We have personally seen more non-binary or gender fluid trans men (and women,) than ever before and got to know them. And that's so great to see. We have to accept all identities within the community and I fully understand a lot of what was said within the book. It might not be what my husband identifies as, but he recognises that many others want and need to have more fluidity in expressing their authentic selves.

But there is also something where the book just didn't work for me.
It just lacked something that I'm struggling to define. It took a while but after I was able to step away from it for a few days, I can say it wasn't the content per se, more just how that content is done. The biggest factor was these experiences are from people who are either social media influencers or have done something else to have them stand out above the crowd. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong in that, but I felt it also needed more about trans identity from those who haven't written a book, or who aren't influencers or haven't written a song.

This doesn't mean what was discussed wasn't valid or important. It absolutely was. But the irony for me is it didn't feel as if the people being asked were diverse enough!
The way it is presented, the style of narrative is also where it falls down for me. I was expecting more of a written narrative from trans men, in the style the author did in the forward. But this was more Q&A, so it lacked a cohesion for me that I think it might've gained had people just been asked to write experiences down in a regular chapter format.

As someone who is also versed in a lot of the language found in the LGBTQA and trans community, I also felt that all too often things put in would make little or no sense, even to some in the trans community. Not everyone knows of section 28 for example, trans or otherwise. Especially if a reader isn't from the UK or is younger or didn't experience it. Our history is not everyone's history.

Not everyone understands what cis means. Even I had to stop and look up what transmedicalist meant, and while I'm cis, a reminder my husband is trans. I realised I did know of it, I'd just never heard it refered to that way. So plus point, I did learn something. Negative, I had to stop and google it. We live with many of these phrases etc. Believe me, if I'm struggling to understand context of a word or phrase, then a lot of others will be too. A good solid appendix section at the end would do a lot to alleviate that.

This brings me to the last thing for me. This felt more like a message of trans advocacy, which again, in itself is not something to say is a bad thing. But not enough balance for trans identity was being spoken about.
I wanted to love this book. I still think it has an important place. But I feel it doesn't encompass quite what the book seemed to imply.

If asked to sum up - there are important voices, but not the diversity I had hoped for. I can see or ask a lot of similar influencers what was expressed in this book via various social media. I'd hoped to hear voices that weren't on the platforms. A mix is fine. It just felt rather narrow in execution. Also a good appendix is needed to clarify a lot of the terminology used. Both for the cis and trans audience.
So after wanting desperately to give this 5 stars, I'm afraid to say I'm giving it 3/5 stars 🌟

What a hopeful and informative book! Trans joy seems to be the main message, and though hardships of the reality of the trans experience are discussed, the author and the interviewed people emphasise their growth and positive experiences. This book gave me (a cis woman) a new, more understanding and positive perspective on gender and trans masculinity

4*, mainly because I find this a very important topic.

"Men in all stages of transition have come and gone from my life, and each one has been entirely different. It's difficult to feel as if you fail at being a man when you know there isn't a singular 'right' way to be one."

This book offers a unique view on masculinity, transitioning and simply existing as a masculine trans man or non-binary person. Usually, a lot of trans representation is about feminine transgender people and this book offers the view of trans masculine people. One of the quotes from the book that struck me the most is the following "If masculinity isn't defined (somewhat paradoxically) by repression and performance, how do we define it? What do we want to teach future generations of men and boys?" Which really got me thinking what I would want my friends' kids to know about that.

While I think this book is an important one representation-wise, I didn't enjoy the way it was written. The book reads like a transcript of several conversations and while I get why this choice has been made, I think the book would've benefited from a bit more editing. Especially on the interviewer side. The conversations seem to be written out exactly how they went, including build ups and introductions to the actual questions. That would've made the interviewer stronger and also would've sped up the reading.

All in all I think the book is a great concept and deserves the 4 stars, but the writing & editing really threw me off.

This collection of interviews that Ezra conducts with trans men is fascinating and lends a much-needed voice to the conversation on the experiences of trans people. Most of what I see and read about trans people is from the perspective of men transitioning so there's definitely a gap in the information available around women transitioning to presenting as male.

The interviews are predominantly with trans men in the arts so the conversation tends to skew liberal and humanistic, transmedicalism for example (the idea that trans people are experiencing body dysmorphia which is best remedied through surgery) is somewhat villainised. However, this skew does have the benefit of producing consistent and prevailing themes throughout the book.

The main takeaway for me was around the concept of "passing" and how this intersects with masculinity, in particular toxic masculinity. Many of the men interviewed had a difficult relationship with passing - on the one hand they found a freedom in it but they also battled with the need to conform to what can be damaging stereotypes. The idea that men should be physically strong, should not cry, should not care about emotions etc. becomes something trans men feel they need to embody if they are to be accepted as masculine even if that's not how they would otherwise choose to be.

One interviewee spoke of how, although he was now male presenting and could pass as such, he did not feel safe in cis-male spaces but was not welcome in cis-female spaces. This experience again demonstrates the contradictions and grey areas that trans men have to navigate.

I loved that a few of the interview subjects spoke about trans joy. While they accepted that trauma can be part of the trans experience, they were keen to state that it is not the only experience.

My view of transitioning was also challenged somewhat when one of the men interviewed spoke of the fact that transitioning is more about changing the way others view trans people not about them changing how they view themselves. Trans people have always viewed themselves as male/female/non-binary and are just helping everyone else see them the way they truly are. It is us, as people who interact with the trans community, who need to transition our views not for them to transition to fit with us.

Honestly, I could write an essay on everything I learned from this book and the quotes I underlined so I will stop there. I will end by saying this is definitely a book that anyone interested in learning more about transitioning, directly from trans people, should purchase and read. In facilitating and sharing these conversations, Ezra Woodger has done much to enrich the wider conversation around the trans experience.

This is a collection of interviews with trans men and transmasculine nonbinary people, focusing on how their perception of gender has affected their lives, their sense of community, and their relationship to their sense of self. Unlike some other collections, Woodger focuses on reinforcing the joy of self-discovery and acceptance, emphasising how the trans experience can bring joy. Both he and his interviewees acknowledge the difficulties the trans communities of today – and of past eras – have faced, but the focus on progress and the normality of simply living being part of the trans experience is highly uplifting.

Woodger’s introduction and afterword are lyrical, honest, and highly relatable.

I would recommend this to anyone looking to understand more about the trans experience, or any trans people looking for a little hope.

A superb collection of interviews. The author has done a fantastic job at choosing voices that are often not heard and has given them a platform. This book will mean so much to so many to know they are not alone.

I couldn't stop reading and do wish there were more viewpoints in there. There are not enough books like this.

8/10
Thank you to NetGalley and Jessica Kingsley Publishers for the arc!
To Be a Trans Man is a non-fiction book that consists of 8 interviews with different trans men or trans masculine npn-binary people that discuss what masculinity means to them, how they have come to terms with their identity, intersectional identity, and is an expression of trans joy.
I really enjoyed reading this book! As a non-binary person, it was very cool to read about everyones experiences. On an even more personal note, I have met Colton Gibbons at a CAKE Society Co. event - a trans clothing swap! It was very interesting to read about his goals for the non profit after having been to a mutual aid event with them.
I am not the biggest non-fiction reader, but this book was so good. I was especially happy that it had a focus on gender euphoria and trans joy from real trans masc people!

While the format of transcribed interviews is not my favorite, I found the content of this to be really insightful and beautiful. There are some really insightful texts that use this format, I think to preserve the words and interactions between the originators. I appreciate that the author/editor wants to be true to his colleagues in this book, but I think that I would have enjoyed more narrative from the author or others than just the transcribed interviews. I do recommend this title for folks who want to learn more about trans masculine people, or queer gender experiences in general. I especially think this could be helpful for allies who want insight into some trans experiences.