CALL FOR PAPERS
Brotherhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Liberationist Writings by Transsexual Men
Editor: Zander Keig, MSW
Publisher: Transgress Press
We are now accepting submissions for the anthology, Brotherhood is Powerful: An Anthology of Liberationist Writings by Transsexual Men, edited by FTM community advocate and educator, Zander Keig.
Much has been written about transsexuals from an academic, medical and bureaucratic perspective. While this literature provides important information about transsexuals’ lives, it tends to also obscure and misinform as much as it reveals. This is because a lot of the literature is written by either non-transsexuals and/or focuses too narrowly and simplistically on reductionist and stereotypical topics of interest to a small minority of elite academics.
Transsexuals’ lives are far more complex, however, when seen through the lens of our lived experiences and physical and somatic embodiment. Feminism, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Gay Liberation Movement all taught us that the first step toward liberation is to challenge the norms that misrepresent and subjugate our experiences in service to a larger meta-narrative of gender and sexuality.
This book gives a platform for transsexual men to engage these discourses and shape the course of knowledge production about transsexuals, in an effort to counter the stories told about our lives, which serve to silence our identities, communities, and experiences.
Please write from a personal perspective. Please focus on one or more of the following topics:
- Family, Parenting, and Partners: Are you a father/parent? If so, what is your relationship with your children? How does it feel to be a father/parent? How did your family respond to your transition? In what ways has your relationship(s) with male family members been impacted? Did transitioning affect your relationship with your children and parents? If you are not currently a parent, do you have plans to be a father someday? Did your transition have an impact on your desires to be (or not be) a parent? How has your partner responded to your transition? Did/do you feel supported by your partner? Were there conflicts or tensions at times? What sorts of conflicts or tensions arose? Are there ways you (and your family) have found to celebrate your transition? What are some ways that your family affirms your transition? Please describe the experience.
- Community and Brotherhood: Have you been mentored or felt supported by other men? What kinds of men do you feel brotherhood or kinship with? How have these men been important in your life, in your transition? What kind of bond do you have with them? If you have not bonded well with other men explain why you believe this has been the case. Is this something that you are okay about or would like to change? What communities (gay, lesbian, queer, trans, mainstream, etc.) do you feel accepted in? In which communities do you feel the least acceptance? If you were a member of LGBQ communities before transitioning, did transitioning affect your relationship with LGBQ friends? Likewise, if you were heterosexual before transitioning, did transitioning affect your relationship with straight friends?
- Men, Masculinity, and Male Culture: What were your views of men, masculinity, and men’s culture(s) before transitioning? Have your views remained the same or changed? Either way, how have your views affected your relationships with men? What do you find good about being male, being with other men, and participating in men’s culture(s)? Have you confronted stereotypes of men? If so, what were they and how did you react/respond? Have traditional male cultural/ethnic roles been expected of you since you transitioned? How have you dealt with these expectations? In order to live more comfortably as a man in society, did you have to shed or adapt certain aspects of yourself as a result of female (and feminist) socialization and expectations? If so, what were these aspects and how did you deal with them? How did you integrate or replace newly learned male values into your existing value system? Have the women in your life struggled with your new found maleness? If so, how have you responded to these struggles?
- Male Privilege and Vulnerability: As a man of trans experience/history, how do you respond to claims that trans men have male privilege after transitioning? Describe instances where you have felt male privilege operating in your favor. How did you deal with or respond in those situations? Describe what kinds of female privileges and advantages you lost as a result of transitioning and no longer have because you’re a man. When have you felt vulnerable as a man? How did you deal with or respond in those situations? Have you ever felt that being a man counted against you? Have you experienced sexual harassment (or assault) as a man? Do you share your feelings of male vulnerability with other men? If not, why? How do you respond to expectations that trans men are being deceptive if we do not disclose our trans history/status? Are you selective about when and with whom you disclose your trans history/status (stealth)? What are some of the reasons you have chosen to not disclose? Have you felt pressured to disclose? If so, what were the circumstances? How do you respond to expectations that trans men should challenge, disrupt, and dismantle sexism and patriarchy?
- Personal Gender Embodiment: How do you respond to assertions that testosterone and genital/chest reconstruction surgery are largely insignificant to how trans men experience masculine embodiment? How have hormones and/or surgery shifted the way you express/experience your gender identity and embodiment? Describe some of the differences, which may be sexual, emotional, psychological, somatic, and social, to name a few. For example, did hormones shift your emotions, such as how you feel and process feelings: having more or less intensity of certain feelings, etc.? In what ways did surgery shift how you feel male in your body, have sexual/romantic relations, and navigate public spaces like restrooms, locker rooms, bath houses, etc.? How does having more strength (or muscle density), resulting from hormones, affect your comfortability among men, sense of masculinity and male embodiment?
- Intersecting Identities: (e.g. race, class, age, size, religion, education level, ethnicity, sexuality, ability, etc). Please reflect on how your other identities impact your masculinity and life as a man. How do your other marginalized and privileged identities impact other people’s expectations and interpretations of your masculinity? Does masculinity look different depending on context (masculinity at work, at home, at the barber, place of worship, bar, etc)? How do your other identities impact your experience interacting and having relationships with others (strangers, family, co-workers, partners, etc)? How do your other identities impact how you experience your embodiment?
We look forward to receiving your submission!
All submissions must be edited for grammar, spelling and punctuation errors. Submissions in English preferred. Translation may not be available.
WORD LIMIT: 2500 (Approx. 10-12 Pages)
AUTHORSHIP: Stories may be submitted under pseudonym if desired.
DEADLINE: April 1, 2013
SUBMIT TO: brotherhoodbook@gmail.com
COMPENSATION: Authors will receive a free copy of the anthology as compensation for their contribution. Transgress Press will donate all profits from sales to organizations benefitting trans communities – www.transgresspress.com/our-donations.
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Zander Keig, clinical social worker and FtM community advocate and educator,co-edited the 2012 Lambda Literary Finalist, Letters for my Brothers: Transitional Wisdom in Retrospective (Wilgefortis, 2011).
Website: www.lettersformybrothers.com
Transgress Press is a social entrepreneurial publishing firm producing high quality books and films that push the boundaries of conventional ideas and genres. We practice a unique brand of social justice capitalism in the publishing world by using the principles of entrepreneurial capitalism to produce social goods. Our bottom line is simple: people and the planet over profit.
Website: www.transgresspress.com
Soon to be Released: Hung Jury: Testimonies of Genital Surgery by Transsexual Men (Transgress Press, December, 2012). Hung Jury is the first book of personal testimonies focusing exclusively on FTM genital surgery and the important ways it changes our lives. Contributors write about the details and ups and downs of this transformative journey and dispel many myths and misinformation. The authors provide in-depth understanding of the surgical, social, sexual, somatic, spiritual, and psychological aspects of the process.