‘Transing’ fitness and remapping transgender male masculinity in online message boards

Abstract There has been a recent growth of events and discourses related to transgender men’s health and fitness, including bodybuilding competitions, Olympics participation and appearances in Men’s Health Magazine. In addition, transgender men have formed Internet collectives to share information and support about fitness and transitioning. Based on a content analysis of a Reddit message board on transgender men’s fitness and interviews with transgender men, this paper argues that fitness is a ‘trans practice’, or means through which people may modify their bodies, personal identifications and genders. Transgender men engage in strategic fitness habits to pursue their ideals of the ‘male’ and ‘masculine’ body, illuminating both the stronghold and malleability of sex and gender norms. Simultaneously and recursively, they may share resources in virtual collectives, creating narratives that reflect and augment their ‘offline’ experiences, and transcend boundaries of space and time. This paper remaps transgender male masculinity by positioning online terrains as spaces in which sex, gender and the body are co-constructed. In addition to structural interventions to protect transgender people’s health and safety, I gesture towards possibilities in which all people may choose alternatives beyond institutionally and culturally defined borders of sex, gender and the ‘fit’ or ‘healthy’ body.

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