Welcome!

“And now I have male privilege!:" Trans Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege Maintenance

Committee: Eviatar Zerubavel (chair; Rutgers), Kristen Springer (Rutgers) Norah MacKendrick (Rutgers) Wayne Brekhus (U of Missouri), Asia Friedman (U of Delaware)

In my dissertation I challenged the oversimplification of gender-based advantage by arguing that while all men do benefit from some degree of male privilege, men also experience male privilege differently depending on their social positionality. To demonstrate this I use an interdisciplinary lens to analyze data that I collected from both transgender women and men--individuals who have experience being treated as both men and women--to confirm the following:

1) Privilege can be gained, maintained, and lost;

2) The degree of male privilege one benefits from is dependent on visible or assumable characteristics that conflict with or enhance Western hegemonic masculinity;

3) Domination operates both internally (men have privilege relative to other men) and externally (privilege relative to other genders).

This research informs debates around multiple masculinities and privileged embodiments, while also advancing knowledge within subfields of gender, race, sexuality, inequality, and sociology as a whole.

2024

"Writing FOR those we write ABOUT: Transforming my Academic Dissertation into an Accessible Book” to be presented at the Association for Humanist Sociology. Rochester, NY.

"Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities” presented at the Association of Black Sociologists. Montreal, Quebec.

“‘And Now I Have Male Privilege’: Transgender Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege” presented at Culture, Interaction, and the Psychosocial: Exploring the Intersections. Montreal, Quebec.

“Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities Intersectional Identities” presented at the Brown University Legacy of W.E.B. Du Bois: Crossing Boundaries for Social Justice conference. Providence, RI.

“Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership” presented at the Eastern Sociological Society. Washington, D.C.

2023

“Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular” presented at the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA.

“Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership” presented at the American Sociological Association. Philadelphia, PA.

“Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular” presented at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate Student Conference. Philadelphia, PA.

2022

““And Now I Have Male Privilege:” Stealth Transgender Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege” presented at the American Sociological Association. Los Angeles, California.

2021

““I Knew I was Being Gendered Female Because People Would Yell At Me:” Transgender Women’s Accounts of the Precarity of Privilege” presented at the Rutgers University Graduate Research Symposium. New Brunswick, NJ
 

““Assumptive Rights of Maleness:” Stealth Transgender Men’s Accounts of [White] Male Privilege” presented at the American Sociological Association. Virtual.

““Assumptive Rights of Maleness:” Stealth Transgender Men’s Accounts of [White] Male Privilege” presented at the National Association of African American Studies & Affiliates National Conference. Dallas, Texas.

2019

“[White]-Male Privilege: Stealth Transgender Men’s Accounts of Inherited Privilege” presented at the University of Central Oklahoma International Gender & Sexuality Studies Conference. Edmond, Oklahoma.
 

Peer-reviewed Journal Articles

Beck, Armani. (2024) “Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular” Symbolic Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.693 
 

Book Chapters

Beck-McField Armani. “Trans Men Navigating Male Privilege and the Complexities of Intersectional Identities.” In Interpreting Identity: Dimensions of Power, Presence, and Belonging. Edited by Wayne H. Brekhus and Susie Scott. Bristol, U.K. Bristol University Press (book under contract, expected publication date 2024).   

Working Papers and Projects

Beck, Armani. “And now I have male privilege!:” Transgender Insights into the Precarity of Privilege. Book Project.

Beck, Armani. “Mononormativity: The Social Elevation of the Singular.” Book Project.

Beck, Armani. “"My Daughter is an 'Equalitist:'" How Parents of First Generation Academics Navigate the Ivory Tower." Article.
Beck, Armani. “Two-For-One: Methodological Innovation and Temporal Division”. Article.

Beck, Armani, and Juliana De Oliveira Horst. “The Formal Properties of Passing: Directional Passing and Ambiguous Group Membership”. Article.

Beck, Armani, and Miranda Dotson. “Gender Heritage: Transgender and Non-Binary Reshapings of Social Relations.” Article.

A sociological exploration into race and race relations includes an examination of the histories of race, racism, privilege, power, social inequalities, citizenship, subordination, and justice. In this class we focus on the historical and political forces that shape and construct recurring and changing patterns of race relations. In addition, we pay particular attention to the complex ways in which race and race relations mediates our everyday lived experiences by focusing on the ways by which it interacts and intersects with systems of gender, class, ethnicity, sexuality, citizenship, and other identities.

Broadly speaking, sociology of gender is the study of the sources, maintenance, consequences, and changes of gender roles in society. This course, which pulls from cultural, social, political, economic, and psychological perspectives, uses an intersectional approach to deconstruct what it means to have a gender, and what it means to live in a gendered society. As a unit, we use an extremely critical lens to understand, critique, and unpack the gender binary, focusing heavily on the process of socialization and the impact that this socialization has on everyday interactions, decision making, concepts of self, general wellbeing, and overall understanding of the world around us.

The compulsive need to be both exceptional and mundane. The tensions between identity and identification. What does it mean to identify as a member of a group that is socially constructed? Are there any groups that are not socially constructed? These are the types of questions and musings we mull over in Individual and Society. This course explores sociology’s contributions to our understanding of the relations between the personal and the social with a heavy emphasis on the overlapping fields of sociology, psychology, and sociological social psychology.  

Neither media nor gender exist in a vacuum. The way that we produce and consume media is heavily influenced by the way that we experience gender; conversely, the way that we experience gender is heavily influenced by the way that we produce and consume media! As a class, we use an extremely critical lens to understand, critique, and unpack how gender systems, and the gender binary specifically, are maintained and imposed. We focus heavily on identifying and analyzing stereotypes and the impact that these have on ourselves and others. This course pulls from cultural, sociological, political, economic, and psychological perspectives.

The sociology of sexuality is the study of the sources, maintenance, consequences, and changes of norms, roles, inequality, and identities in society related to sexuality. We begin by developing a working definition of sexuality- the difficulty we inevitably face in doing this trains our minds to nuance taken-for-granted definitions and concepts of sexuality moving forward. We then use an intersectional approach to deconstruct what it means to have a sexuality, and what it means to live in a “sex-centric” society. Most importantly, this course imprints upon its takers the reality that sexuality does not exist in a vacuum.

What is normality? What does it mean to be mentally ill, and what does it mean to be mentally healthy? What factors cause a society’s understanding of “normality” to shift? Which stereotypes contribute to the overdiagnosing of some groups, and the lack of diagnoses for others? Where do mentally ill people “belong,” and how is this shaped by capitalism, pharmaceuticalization, and moral panic? These are the types of questions we answer in this course. Because mental illness is typically understood as a topic of biological and psychological interest, the social influences on the construction and maintenance of our understanding of mental illness are often ignored, neglected, and taken for granted. In order to do justice to this topic it is crucial that we examine mental health in the scope of sexism, racism, heterosexism/homophobia, cissexism/transphobia, classism, ableism, sizeism, and social norms of respectability.

Expository Writing is the required writing course for all undergraduate students at Rutgers University- New Brunswick. In this course, students read and write about a variety of texts concerning a range of fascinating contemporary issues. By completing a series of essay assignments – each of which involves peer review and revision – students learn to read critically, analyze textual evidence, structure complex ideas, and develop independent arguments by making original claims that contribute to ongoing intellectual conversations. While Expository Writing trains students in critical thought, particularly as it occurs in and through the practice of writing, the class does more than prepare students to compose coherent essays. The class also encourages students to imagine themselves as having a role to play in thinking through the kinds of complex, open-ended questions that characterize our public life – and to think of slow, deliberate reading; lively discussion; and careful written analysis as invaluable ways of taking up that challenge.