What Makes a Man?

When you look up the definition of masculinity, you get a short, simple definition -- “possession of the qualities traditionally associated with men.” But, what does that really mean? Author and journalist Thomas Page McBee works to answer that question in his new book Amateur- A True Story About What Makes a Man. The book follows McBee, a trans man, as he trains to fight in a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden while struggling to untangle the relationship between masculinity and violence. Through his boxing training, McBee examines the weight of male violence, the pervasiveness of gender stereotypes, and the limitations of conventional manhood. McBee is our guest on this week’s Cityscape.