Join Project SAFE for our monthly book club, where conversations on healing, empowerment, and justice come to life through powerful stories. All are welcome!
Dive into meaningful conversations about healing, identity, empowerment, and social justice through the lens of powerful literature. This book club creates a supportive and inclusive space for students, staff, and faculty to explore themes related to consent, gender, relationships, resilience, and advocacy.
Each session features thought-provoking reads, ranging from memoirs and novels to poetry and short stories, that spark dialogue and reflection. Whether you're a passionate reader or just looking for a welcoming community, everyone is encouraged to participate.
For our first session, we will be reading Amateur: A Reckoning with Gender, Identity, and Masculinity by Thomas Page McBee. Keep reading for a description of the book below!
In this "refreshing and radical" narrative, Thomas McBee, a trans man, sets out to uncover what makes a man--and what being a "good" man even means--through his experience training for and fighting in a charity boxing match at Madison Square Garden. A self-described "amateur" at masculinity, McBee embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of gender in society, examining sexism, toxic masculinity, and privilege. As he questions the limitations of gender roles and the roots of masculine aggression, he finds intimacy, hope, and even love in the experience of boxing and in his role as a man in the world. Despite personal history and cultural expectations, "Amateur is a reminder that the individual can still come forward and fight".’
"Sharp and precise, open and honest," McBee's writing asks questions "relevant to all people, trans or not". Through interviews with experts in neuroscience, sociology, and critical race theory, he constructs a deft and thoughtful examination of the role of men in contemporary society. Amateur is a graceful and uncompromising look at gender by a fearless, fiercely honest writer.
This book is available for loan from the Oxy Library or via Libby with your Los Angeles Public Library card.
