Trans+ people are in the media at a breakneck rate currently, often due to debates regarding validity of our existence or what rights people think we should be afforded. And this so often manifests itself against Trans+ women. But in the needless furore, Trans+ men often get minimal if any representation in the media, and even less of this being positive. So let’s shift the narrative and explore Trans+ masculinity and their extraordinary talents from the people who understand it best.
TransBareAll is a collection of stories, recounts, poetry, fiction, scripts and artwork from a collection of Trans+ men, each expressing themselves and their perceptions of themselves and trans masculinity. Covering all manner of topics and subjects, the men from a positivity and support network of the same name leave their hearts on their sleeves as they explore themselves and what their experiences have created being manifested in all manner of forms, set to inspire and create pause for thought.
Firstly, what a great book for Trans+ male representation! Trans+ representation is always lacking in the literature world and this is even more so for Trans+ men, with Trans+ women and girls tending to be focused on more (shocker I know). If we’re being honest, I can’t remember the last book that I read with Trans+ male or masculinity represented, so this is a fantastic way to help to remedy that. It actually complements another book in the LGBTQ+ Society’s Lending Library, To My Trans Sisters, very well and these books being similar yet opposite in nature is such a great way to hear real-world Trans+ voices represented, no matter where your gender identity lies.
I also really enjoyed the range of mediums used in this collection. Of course, there was poetry and non-fictional accounts mixed throughout the book, but I was pleasantly surprised to see a script thrown in there, text messages and even artwork! Full-page, multi-page and smaller inclusions, the works really help to demonstrate the versatility of the contributors and their experiences. It also gave a nice break from some of the other mediums being used, which was one of my criticisms of To My Trans Sisters so seeing these broken up a bit definitely helped to retain my attention (plus, who doesn’t like to see some cool artwork thrown in there?)
Having these different mediums breaking up some of the others was definitely appreciated because, like with other such books I’ve read, I really struggled with the poetry entries. Try as I might with different styles, rhythms and formats, I couldn’t understand the vast majority of the poems included in this book. Whilst I appreciate this is more of a me issue than a book issue, there were some that I did understand, so the ones that didn’t were distinctly set apart from the rest. Having a range of poetry styles was also appreciated, but being so poetry-heavy had an impact on my enjoyment of this book, with entire sections leaving me more confused than heart warmed.
The other shortcoming was that I noticed several contributors’ names were coming up repeatedly throughout the book, whilst others had a short entry once and that was it. Whilst those who had many entries wrote fluently and penned enjoyable pieces, I would have liked to see more entries from more people, to get a wider variety of views and lived experiences presented. Whether this was some of those who had contributed artistic works potentially writing about their experiences or getting a greater number of people involved, a wider variety would improve this work, or at least alleviate some of the repetitiveness.
TransBareAll is a lovely, heartwarming collection of the very best of Trans+ male creativity. Poetry to prose, art to real-life accounts, this book has a little bit of everything and is sure to whet the appetites of almost all readers. Whilst I struggled with some parts of it, the overall read was very enjoyable, and alongside To My Trans Sisters, is a powerful and personal way to explore the talents of our Trans+ brothers and sisters.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
TransBareAll (ISBN: 978-1-907133-52-7) was published in 2021. A copy is available to borrow from the LGBTQ+ Lending Library in the LGBTQ+ Lounge
