Unbound ― Transgender Men and the Remaking of Identity

A deep sociological portrait of a new generation of transgender men and of how they see themselves and the world, the dangers they continue to face, and the important ways in which they shape our culture.

Ben, Parker, Lucas, and Nadia are four patients of Dr. Charles Garramone who are preparing to receive surgery to masculinize their chests on the same day. In the years that followed, they, along with more than a hundred others across the country, opened up to Arlene Stein, an award-winning professor of gender and sexuality, about how they conceive of their identities and sexuality, how they decided to transition, how they were received by their families and communities, and the joys and challenges they continue to face after transitioning. Weaving together the history of the transgender movement and the personal journeys of these transgender individuals, Stein sheds light on how transgender men tell their stories, make sense of their lives, and build communities in the face of skepticism, confusion, ignorance, and, often, violence. Despite any progress we’ve made as a culture in accepting alternative identities, Ben and the others Stein meets continue to live in a world that is dangerous to them.

In this moving, raw, intimate book about the lives of transgender men, Stein reveals how transgender men as a group, largely invisible in previous decades, today exert a significant impact on business, medicine, and culture, and how they have drastically reshaped how we as a nation conceive of gender, sex, and identity. In so doing, Stein has also created an essential resource on female to male transitioning for parents, educators, friends, and those who question their identities and seek further information.

ARLENE STEIN is a professor of sociology at Rutgers University. The author of four books, she received the Simon and Gagnon Award for career contributions to the study of sexualities and the Ruth Benedict Prize. She also serves on the graduate faculty of the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies. She has written for The Nation, Jacobin, The New Inquiry, Haaretz, Vice, among other publications. She lives in New Jersey.