Trans Men/Mascs in Storytelling, Part One (7) How to Make a Monster

 

“If they are recognized as transmasculine, even if they can navigate the world as men, transmasculine individuals become subject to degendering, vilification, and monsterization.” - Talia Bhatt, Trans/Rad/Fem (2025)

Becoming a man, from the early stages of realising that you don’t align with girlhood to injecting yourself with testosterone and letting the “toxic drug of masculinity” destroy your “feminine purity” is much like slowly turning into a monster. The deepest core theme across every representation of transmasculinity, by us and not by us, is that of monsterization.

Talia Bhatt (she/her) in her book Trans/Rad/Fem, which has become referred to as a seminal text in transfeminism, has one article focused on transmasculinity, in which she describes the core of our oppression as being regendering violence. While she is not wrong that regendering violence is a huge part of antitransmasculinity, the term she mentions once but does not expand on in pertinence to us, monsterization, has a much deeper reoccurring presence.

The term she uses in this essay, transemasculation, refers to the way that transmasculine people are violently regendered into roles associated with womanhood. This concept and discussion in her article feels distant, about a subject far away. This discussion aims to bring it home, and make it personal.

The stated intention by Bhatt herself, was for this article to offer an alternate framework to the oppression transmasculine people face, a framework she personally had not encountered. She talks about the invisiblization of transmasculine people throughout history, and in a prior essay, mentions that historical butches and transmascs are “hard to tell apart”. This is due to many factors, much of which I discussed in my essay about Mark Read, but the most important thing to remember here, is that her essay on the experiences of transmasculine people does not cite any writings on transmasculine experiences, theory, or history. From Bhatt:

“‘Regendering’ and ‘transemasculation’ [which is NOT a term I coined, by the way, portmanteaus are in fact quite common and widespread] were terms I needed to discuss the framework of gender as policing and to explain what happens when you crossed gendered bounds from specific starting points.” - Talia Bhatt, 2025 ( https://bsky.app/profile/taliabhatt.itch.io/post/3lqoplx3ies2a )

In this thread she also describes how this essay was intended to discuss our oppression in a way that did not rely on “the suffrage of women” that excluded the experiences of transfeminine people. It’s worth noting that no transmasculine writer I have read from for this project excludes the experiences of transfeminine people from the violence enacted on people in proximity to womanhood. The relevancy of her comments in this thread, is in relation to the source I pulled for the coining of the term “transemasculation”. The coiner of the term describes it thus:

“the feminization, infantilization, misgendering, belittling, and overt emasculation of people in relation to their trans masculinity. The perception of trans men and mascs monolithically as ‘man lite’ without their input, perception of trans mascs as ‘confused girls’ or ‘failed/lesser men’, and similar concerns.” - none-gender-left-man (any pronouns), 2022, ( Transhystericism/transhysteria: – @none-gender-left-man on Tumblr )

The inclusion of the discussion of transmasculine experiences in Trans/Rad/Fem is deeply important. This book continues to be a standout text coming from the trans indie writing community, it has, and will continue to have, far reaching effects. It is a book first and foremost about the experiences of transfeminine people, and in particular it challenges the orientalism often present in trans theory around the discussions of third genders. The essay “Regendering and Degendering”, however complicated my relationship with it, is an act of trans solidarity, and that needs to be acknowledged.

So, you may ask, why is it complicated, Solomon?

In not citing any transmasculine writers while discussing our experiences, many readers attributed the coining of these concepts to Bhatt, to the point where she had to openly acknowledge that she did not coin transemasculation. Her essay is also built on the foundation of lesbophobia and how that leads into the way transmasculine people are treated. While our oppression is absolutely tied to lesbophobia, that is not truly the core basis of it. Our betrayal of patriarchal hierarchy for not staying in our “reproductive role” combined with our betrayal of “our fellow sisters” for “identifying with the oppressors” combined with the invisibilization of our presence and history as a means to keep the core tenets of both the patriarchy and radical feminism from showing cracks– that is antitransmasculinity. That is how you make a monster.

While, as you will experience through my series of essays, transmasculine people do write about our experiences in both fiction and nonfiction, a specific discourse has kept us from forming a true canon, a true basis and foundation of which to discuss our experiences and combat invisibility: what words do we use to refer to the oppression transmasculine people face?

I have previously discussed the ever present points Devon Price has pushed, that we do not need unique words to “separate” our experiences from broader transphobia and misogyny, that we do not experience unique oppressions. Bhatt argues that we do experience unique oppressions under the broader umbrella of transphobia, which is an important step forward in trans theory. But to not acknowledge contention over what terms we are told we should and shouldn’t use will fail you, the reader, in understanding why there is a lack of theory focused on transmasculine experiences.

It began with the term “transmisandry”. Transmisandry was a term coined (by who, I am unable to find, unfortunately) to describe hatred directed towards transmasculine people. It is thought, though I cannot confirm, that it was modeled after transmisogyny, as while transmasculine people are oppressed at the intersection of transphobia and misogyny, the manifestation is not the same as what is directed towards transfeminine people, hence the desire to coin a term specific for transmasculine people.

The problem with this term is that it reads to be about something it was likely not coined to be. Misandry is often brought up to counter misogyny and to dismiss feminist arguments against the harm of subscribing to patriarchy. Transmisandry reads as though it is allying with the MRA opposition of feminism, when the complicated truth of the matter is that much of what transmasculine people have used the term transmisandry to describe is regendering violence and monsterization.

An often forgotten understanding of the MRA, Men’s Right’s Movement, is that it is a bastardization of the Men’s Liberation Movement, a pioneer of which was Jack Sawyer (he/him), who in his article “On Male Liberation” had this to say:

“If men cannot play freely, neither can they freely cry, be gentle, nor show weakness– because these are ‘feminine’, not ‘masculine’. But a fuller concept of humanity recognizes that all men and women are potentially both strong and weak, both active and passive, and that these and other human characteristics are not the province of one sex.” - Jack Sawyer, 1970, ( https://www.academia.edu/33743560/On_Male_Liberation )

Sawyer’s article allies with feminism, criticizes male dominated society, and argues for a better system not based on one group dominating another. Movements that oppose oppression, terms to describe specific oppressions– all are corrupted under a hierarchal system, a symptom of the human condition, the greed for power, it turns progress into a cudgel to attack every perceived threat to a throne made of paper.

Transmisandry will not do, a term that likely had good intentions carries too much baggage. A term many discuss as an alternative, transandrophobia, is often cited to have the same meaning, but a less “problematic” name. According to the coiner of the term, however, that is not the case:

“In it’s most simple definition. Transandrophobia is the way that the fear of men impacts the material reality and mental/physical health of transgender men.” - Saint Dionysus (he/hymn/his), 2024, ( Male Hysteria )

A case study of transandrophobia, based on the meaning it was coined to have, is that of how transmasculine people are assumed to be inherently more misogynistic than cis men, this idea that we “ally with the oppressor” and are therefore more guilty of the crime of toxic maleness, as they were born into it. We chose this.

Transemasculation and transandrophobia describe the two sides of the coin that is antitransmasculinity (a term I know not of who coined it). Acknowledging the use of these terms, and the transmasculine people who coined them and continue to ascribe meaning to them, is how we fight invisibilization. There is no pure or good or correct way to advocate for your rights, to fight for your ghosts and your living, and the moment we stop trying to appease everyone else is the moment we move forward.

Even when playing the supposed role we are “born into”, transmasculine people are at a high risk for violence and abuse. Have you forgotten about Camdyn Rider? When was the last time an advocate for trans rights said his name?

“Camdyn was killed outside of his Florida home by his partner, Riley Groover, 26, during an argument. Groover then died by suicide. Sheriff's deputies investigating the murder revealed that Groover had a ‘history of violence,’ and that prior domestic violence incidents had not been reported.” - Laurel Powell (she/her), HRC Mourns Camdyn Rider, transgender man murdered in Winter Haven, Florida, 2023, ( https://www.hrc.org/news/hrc-mourns-camdyn-rider-transgender-man-murdered-in-winter-haven-florida )

What essay on transfeminism is complete without a trauma dump? When I was in my early 20s and I had just come out as a trans man, I was in a gay relationship with a cis man. He had been pursuing me since before I had come out, and he seemed on the surface to accept my identity. It was only when I was alone with him that he pressured me into sexual acts that I verbally opposed, and tried to pressure me to hold off medical transition so that I could bear his children. I fear for the sort of man I would have unbecome had I stayed in that relationship. Don’t pity me, trauma, isolation, and regendering sexual assault made me more monster than man. I don’t want pity.

The assumption of transmasculine people as “transitioning out of oppression” has far reaching consequences. No matter the violence our ghosts faced, the torture, rape, murder–it’s not a hate crime if other LGBT people hurt us, right?

“LGBTQ advocates have questioned why prosecutors have not charged those arrested with hate crimes. Authorities previously said that they found no signs that Nordquist’s killing meets the criteria of a hate crime, saying the suspects had known Nordquist and that they self-identify as part of the LGBTQ community.” Clarissa-Jan Lim (she/her), Indictment in Sam Nordquist’s death includes horrific details of alleged torture, 2025, ( https://www.ms.now/top-stories/latest/sam-nordquist-torture-murder-charge-rcna195194 )

Sam Nordquist’s name was spread across trans spaces after his murder (though even in articles gendering him properly, they did not use masculine photos of him, another form of regendering). When was the last time you heard of him? The invisibilization of transmasculine people allows for violence against us to be quickly forgotten. It allows for it to be recharacterized as misogynistic and not enacted upon “specifically because he was trans”.

I keep saying “let this be a beginning, a doorway to a more open understanding” in reference to the discussion and inclusion of transmasculine people in other people’s stories, in the margins of broader trans theory and fiction, and while I am glad Trans/Rad/Fem exists and understand the value of this literature, the discussion in Regendering and Degendering is not for us. It exists for other people to potentially understand us better, but how can you do that without reading our words?

Through monsterization, the works and art from transmasculine experiences are subject to scrutiny if we do not adhere to a demure, domestic masculine expression. If we are too angry, too hurt, too passionate we “truly are men” and also “hysterical women”. Realising that I cannot win has forced me to accept the monster as part of me. I don’t need to win, per-say, I just need to cause a spark.

For every Teena, Rider and Nordquist, and for every name that has not reached my ears, I will not act as demure and peaceful, until the threat of regendering violence and murder is no longer a guillotine hanging over the neck of every young transmasculine man who can be “saved by abuse and sexual assault and returned to womanhood”.

From a study hosted by Williams Institute:

“Transgender women and men had higher rates of violent victimization (86.1 and 107.5 per 1,000 people, respectively) than cisgender women and men (23.7 and 19.8 per 1,000 people, respectively).” - Williams Institute Press Release, 2021, ( https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/press/ncvs-trans-press-release/ )

The gap in numbers here between cisgender women and transgender men should especially be observed. If we “transitioned out of oppression” how then do these numbers make sense? And why then, it is appropriate to say we only suffer from misogyny and not perhaps dignify this violence with a more specific name?

The argument at heart in the conclusion of Bhatt’s essay is that the oppression of transmasculine people and transfeminine people are intertwined, to which I agree. But we must extend further into understanding the violence transmasculine people face, and establish a history, a canon of literature, of our stories, so that we can combat the isolation of only seeing ourselves in the margins. True solidarity is only reached when all of us are seen and understood, and we can get there.

As I discussed in my essay about Mark Read, the regendering of transmasculine people extends post mortem. Were this to be the last thing I write, I hope I have become monster enough so that I will be remembered for who I am, not for what everyone wanted me to be.