Female to Male Transsexuals

This book is concerned with the social and discursive processes through which female to male transsexuals construct their new ‘male'' gendered social identities and the ways in which their bodies can be seen to impact upon these processes across a variety of personal and social relationships. Drawing on qualitative research undertaken with female to male transsexuals in the UK, it deals specifically with issues of ‘trans'' experience, voice, power, agency and representation and makes the case for an ‘interactionist'' approach to the study of female to male transsexual identity. The book argues that such an approach reveals complex negotiations of traditional ‘trans'' stories, the significance to trans-men of others'' past knowledge and investments in their sexed/gendered embodiment, and trans men''s own active management of their embodied gendered selves.