Becoming a Visible Man by Jamison Green

Author:Jamison Green [Green, Jamison]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9780826522863
Publisher: Vanderbilt UP
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Genital Geometry

We know anecdotally that many trans men don’t undergo genital reconstruction. That puts a lot of people in an interesting position with respect to the definitions of sex and gender and gets lots of other people very confused. I don’t advocate surgery only to alleviate the confusion of others. I also don’t believe that genital configuration (or genital geometry, to borrow a phrase I like from Stanford biology professor Joan Roughgarden [2004]) is what defines either one’s sex or one’s gender.

There’s no denying, however, that genital geometry is an important marker in our understanding of sex (when applied to others) and in our relationship to our own body/sex/gender composition. Some trans men feel a tremendous amount of pressure to have genital reconstruction because they feel incomplete without a visible penis. Whether that penis can be two inches or six inches, sensate or functional, is another matter that depends on finances, one’s physical characteristics, the expertise of the selected surgeon, and sometimes plain old luck. Other trans men wouldn’t let a scalpel near their genitals, while still others are in a holding pattern until science advances enough to give them a throbbing Jeff Stryker look-alike that they imagine would appear completely natural even on a five-foot-one-inch, 110-pound body. In any case, people with female sex organs who appear in every other way as men sometimes live in a state of fear lest they be discovered, sometimes live in a state of complete comfort with their bodies, and sometimes gravitate between these poles in varying states of self-acceptance.

This seems to be the crux of the matter: self-acceptance. In combination with what each of us believes about the definition of maleness and femaleness or masculinity and femininity and our relationship to these features, self-acceptance is the key to our decision-making process when it comes to any body-altering procedure. Consciously or not, we evaluate what we understand about the procedure in question, and, basing our judgment on what we expect to be the possible outcomes, we decide what we can live with or without as part of ourselves. Self-acceptance and self-esteem are crucial factors in our ability to achieve our goals in life. For those of us who struggle with gender issues, putting together the pieces of our individual puzzles can be a complex challenge.

Whether we are men, women, or in between, we are always engaged in a social process of being accepted by others as well as ourselves. We form cultural agreements about what is recognizable and acceptable as masculine, feminine, and androgynous, we decide where our comfort zone is for ourselves, and then we form friendships with people who accept us for who we are and with whom we enjoy spending our time.

We do not form our friendships based on genital geometry. Sure, people who are sexually attracted to men are usually interested in the erotically stimulating qualities of the penis, but they (usually!) do not form social relationships with men by examining their penises first (though I know it can happen that way).

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