Becoming A Man: The Story of A Transition
by P. Carl
2020
Simon & Schuster
4.0 / 5.0

I admire the enormous strength it took to write and share such a personal and emotional story. Its hard to see someone who clings so hard to societal norms, expectations and stereotypes, expect others to accept him,unconditionally. He transitioned from a woman, late in life, after years of feeling like he did not fit into the category of woman. Clinging to a module of gender or class, is not normalizing a person, its normalizing a mindset, and this what disturbs me about P. Carl. The stereotype of being a man seems to be the goal. How can you ask people to accept you for who you are when it includes clinging to a stereotype that you want to define you??
This is a point the book made but did not really dive into it, when it is the essence of gender identity. I found this book to be full of excuses for the behavior of some men, rather than trying to establish an understanding. It seems this is someone more interested in conforming to a image than in becoming a man. Following the mannerisms and accepting the misogynistic comments as normal, because now he is a man, is just sad, to me.
This was interesting to read, brought up several of interesting points about society, stereotypes and transitioning. His mindset kinda left me cold, however. ( )

By writing this book about transitioning from a woman to a man, P. Carl taught me so much. He shares his feeling and talks about how he was his mother’s little girl and how he always would be, even though as a lesbian he married a woman. He talks about what it was like for his wife in the transition, but most importantly he talks about what he has learned about the privilege of white men, and how hard it is to be a good man. Unfortunately, the people who most need to read this book, those who condemn P. Carl’s lifestyle, won’t. They won’t make it through the first part of the book where Carl talks gives examples of white man privilege in the Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court hearings. ( )