The Making of a Man

Maxim Februari

ISBN 10: 1780234449 / ISBN 13: 9781780234441

Published by Reaktion Books, GB, 2015

About this Item

In autumn 2012, writer and philosopher Maxim Februari - known until then as Marjolijn Februari - announced that he intended to live as a man. The reactions that greeted Februari, ranging from interest to concern and unease, made it clear that most of us don't know what or how to think about transsexuality. Drawing on deeply personal experiences, The Making of a Man: Notes on Transsexuality explores this lack of understanding about gender, sex and identity.The process of changing sex is a lengthy one, but to the outside world it takes place as a fairly abrupt switch. Over just 24 hours, as the testosterone took effect, Februari started to find himself addressed as a man rather than a woman. 'What had changed?', he asks. 'I hadn't had a haircut, I wasn't wearing different clothes; it was just that the testosterone had altered the subtle signals by which my body suggested its sex.'How are the sexual organs altered in a sex change? What are the clinical effects of testosterone? How is transsexuality dealt with by the law? This book covers these questions and many more. It also challenges the words we use to describe sex and gender, such as the seemingly minor but critical difference between the terms 'transsexual' and 'transgender', explores our stereotypes of effeminate men and butch women, and looks at the fine line between acceptance and prejudice. Februari also discusses the curious requirement in many countries that one must demonstrate a psychological disturbance - a 'gender identity disorder' - to be granted sex change therapy.With his characteristically clear voice combined with intimate - sometimes moving, sometimes funny - ruminations, The Making of a Man wakes readers up to the ways, big and small, that our world is structured by sex and gender.

Seller Inventory # LU-9781780234441

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Making of a Man
• Publisher: Reaktion Books, GB
• Publication Date: 2015
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1780234449
• ISBN 13: 9781780234441
• Binding: Hardback
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

In the autumn of 2012, Maxim Februari—known until then as writer and philosopher Marjolijn Februari—announced his intention to live as a man. The news was greeted with a diversity of reactions, from curiosity to unease. These responses made it absolutely clear to Februari that most of us don’t know how to think about transsexuality. The Making of a Man explores this lacuna through a deeply personal meditation on a profoundly universal aspect of our identities.

Februari contemplates the many questions that sexual transitions entail: the clinical effects of testosterone, the alteration of sexual organs, and its effects on sexual intimacy; how transsexuality figures in the law; and how it challenges the way we talk about sex and gender, such as the seemingly minor—but crucially important—difference between the terms “transsexual” and “transgender.” He analyzes our impressions of effeminate men and butch women, separating apparent acceptance from actual prejudice, and critically examines the curious requirement in many countries that one must demonstrate a psychological disturbance—a “gender identity disorder”—in order to be granted sex change therapies. From there he explores the seemingly endless minutiae changing genders or sex effect, from the little box with an M or an F on passports to the shockingly sudden way testosterone can adjust physical features.

With his characteristically clear voice combined with intimate—sometimes moving, sometimes funny—ruminations, Februari wakes readers up to all the ways, big and small, our world is structured by sex and gender. 

About the Authors

Maxim Februari is a columnist for NRC Handelsblad and the author of several collections of essays and two novels, including, most recently, The Book Club.  He lives in the Netherlands. 

Andy Brown is a translator specializing in Dutch. He lives in the Netherlands.