Dangerous Privilege: Trans Men, Masculinities, and Changing Perceptions of Safety

Abstract

This article examines the construction of masculinities in social interaction through in‐depth interviews with trans men living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Interviewees’ concerns for safety, particularly the threat of violence from other men, shaped their masculine practices, which led some men to practice defensive masculinities and, for others, constrained their ability to practice transformative masculinities. Respondents’ concerns for safety, and their masculine practices, changed according to variation in transition, physical location, audience, and their physical stature. These findings have implications for the relationship between men's fear of violent victimization and accountability to situated gender expectations in interaction and the persistence of gender inequality. Theoretically, this article engages a complex understanding of accountability and multiple masculinities to argue that the perceived threat of violence shapes men's practices in interaction. The fear of violence encourages conformity and inhibits men's transformative practices.