by Thomas Page McBee
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Published: 2018
Publisher: Scribner
Genre: Memoir, Sports, LGBTQ
Hardback: 224
Rating: 4
First sentence(s):
According to the laws of physics and USA Boxing, this wasn't a fair fight.
In this groundbreaking new book, the author, a trans man, trains to fight in a charity match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the vexed relationship between masculinity and violence. Through his experience boxing—learning to get hit, and to hit back; wrestling with the camaraderie of the gym; confronting the betrayals and strength of his own body—McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes, and the limitations of conventional masculinity. A wide-ranging exploration of gender in our society, Amateur is ultimately a story of hope, as McBee traces a new way forward, a new kind of masculinity, inside the ring and outside of it.
In this graceful, stunning, and uncompromising exploration of living, fighting, and healing, we gain insight into the stereotypes and shifting realities of masculinity today through the eyes of a new man.
My two-bits:
Perspectives of masculinity and the boxing world are handled and explored with care. Lots of food for thought.
