I came across this interesting article in the New York Times: Before That Sex Change, Think About Your Next Paycheck.
You might expect that anybody who has had a sex change, or even just cross-dresses on occasion, would suffer a wage cut because of social stigmatization. Wrong, or at least partly wrong. Turns out it depends on the direction of the change: the study found that earnings for male-to-female transgender workers fell by nearly one-third after their gender transitions, but earnings for female-to-male transgender workers increased slightly.
As a cisgendered female who has always worked in traditionally male jobs, I find this interesting, but not surprising.
I was also amused (but not surprised) by the last two paragraphs:
Ben Barres, a female-to-male transgender neuroscientist at Stanford, found that his work was more highly valued after his gender transition. “Ben Barres gave a great seminar today,” a colleague of his reportedly said, “but then his work is much better than his sister’s.”
Dr. Barres, of course, doesn’t have a sister in academia.
Filed under: News, Transgender | Tagged: discrimination, earnings, employment, gender, job, new york times, Transgender, transition, transsexual, workplace | 7 Comments »
TRANScend GENDER 
Logo: “100% Woman” – Mountain Bike Racer Michelle Dumaresq
My friend Nellie sent me this link to something she saw on Logo last night. I’m not sure how old it is, but I’d never seen it before.
“100% Woman” – Michelle Dumaresq
So many things struck me with this, such as the shear ignorance of some of her fellow racers, with their primary complaints being that she weighed more, and had more “muscle fibers”. (I’ve met many cisfemales who are heavier and stronger!) Also the fact that they were apparently quite happy to be her friend until she won – what does that say about the prevailing competitiveness in our society today? Finally, the conversation with the guy with the French accent as they ride up to the top of the hill – I’d love to believe that was staged, but sadly I’m sure it wasn’t.
I’m glad that the petition against her was ignored, and I was impressed by the conversation they showed where she explained her status to her fellow competitors. There were genuine reactions, with the issues that commonly come up with the cisgendered who have not encountered a transwoman before.
I haven’t watched Parts 2 through 6 yet. But I know I will.
What do you think?
Filed under: Commentary, News, Transgender, Video | Tagged: allies, awareness, competition, discrimination, equal rights, estrogen, exclusion, hate, hormones, hrt, ignorance, intolerance, logo, michelle dumaresq, mountain bike, mtf, protest, sport, television, transexual, Transgender, transsexual, tv | 8 Comments »