Transmaxxing , Identity, and Online Male Subcultures: Toward a Feminist Analysis

Abstract

This paper examines transmaxxing, an emergent discourse within online male subcultures in which some men frame gender transition as a strategic response to perceived masculine failure and social marginalisation. Rather than being primarily associated with gender dysphoria, transmaxxing is positioned as a route to social recognition, sexual access, and personal fulfilment, shaped by perceived misandry and disillusionment with men’s contemporary social and sexual status. Grounded in men and masculinities theory, we conceptualise transmaxxing as strategic femininity: an instrumentalisation of gender identity shaped by despair, rejection, and masculine ideological disaffection, reflecting both a critique and symptom of hegemonic masculinity.