I found this book when I was not-quite a year into HRT, and found it very compelling. Relating the FTM psyche and experience to the social and political forces at work in American society, Becoming a Visible Man also speaks consciously of universal principles that concern us all, particularly the need to live one's life honestly, openly, and passionately. His comprehensive knowledge of the processes and problems encountered by transgendered and transsexual people-as well as his legal advocacy work to help ensure that gender-variant people have access to the same rights and opportunities as others-enable him to explain the issues as no transsexual author has previously done.īrimming with frank and often poignant recollections of Green's own experiences-including his childhood struggles with identity and his years as a lesbian parent prior to his sex-reassignment surgery-the book examines transsexualism as a human condition, and sex reassignment as one of the choices that some people feel compelled to make in order to manage their gender variance.

Jamison Green combines candid autobiography with informed analysis to offer unique insight into the multiple challenges of the female-to-male transsexual experience, ranging from encounters with prejudice and strained relationships with family to the development of an FTM community and the realities of surgical sex reassignment.įor more than a decade, Green has provided educational programs on gender-variance issues for corporations, law-enforcement agencies, social-science conferences and classes, continuing legal education, religious education, and medical venues. Written by a leading activist in the transgender movement, Becoming a Visible Man is an artful and compelling inquiry into the politics of gender.

Sylvia Rivera Award for Best Book in Transgender Studies, 2004

Becoming a visible man jamison green