GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

I wonder if the day will come when Transsexuals are no longer studied for the Cisgender agenda? In reality we are no different then them. We just got the shaft in the womb.

"Sorry for bad pun, but it is true"

I do not believe our population needs to be studied for any purpose. I have yet to see any "study" provide any tangible benefit for our population. Such studies are however notorious for providing benefit to the academics who create them, in the form of promotions and tenure.

IMO, the "researchers" need to leave us alone until:

- they first work to get vaginoplasty and FFS covered by health insurance.

- they first work to get statutes changed everywhere to provided for complete identity documentation repair.

- they first work to us full legal status and protections everywhere.

Even then, I don't want or need to be studied. I have long since been fixed and done, and hope others achieve the same ASAP.

I've never replied to their surveys, and (because I'm on the MSP, cursed be my stars) I receive all of their surveys.

If they weren't printed in such a sturdy paper, I could give them better use.

But what you're asking is naïve. All people doing studies do so to get something: promotions, tenure, funding, etc.

No one cares. We all just want to know. It's human nature.

Thank you for posting this link up, Jillian. My employer hires (or tries to) a lot of military veterans. They are always looking for ways to expand their labor pool, and this could be an opportunity for them.

Rachel

i prefer not to go by study statistics or staticians findings as they most generally are a load of crap

seriously as someone who does background checks on new applicants and that and someone who interviews people for promotion i would never use anything like this

discrimination comes in all forms really and its not against transgendered or the ethnic group its also done against the straights and the whites

so i personally tend to stay well away from these sorta findings as they are without foundation with intent to brainwash people

I certainly don't disagree that surveys and statistics can (and usually are) used in a misleading fashion. They are a way for people to gain support for a particular viewpoint that they subscribe to (in this case that TG US military veterans are victimized). They do this for a purpose (in this case to influence US military policy). So we certainly shouldn't take the survey/stats as painting too broad a stroke about our entire community. The authors even admit to this, that their sampling techniques are horribly biased, being internet-based and self-selecting.

However, I disagree that these surveys serve no purpose at all. IMHO, one of the keys to successful negotiation is using objective criteria when resolving conflict. Objective in this sense meaning "outside of the two directly interested parties". It's emotionally satisfying (to a point) to simply say, "I don't need anyone to validate my experience", and it's certainly true -- you don't. However, when negotiating, this quickly devolves into a 'you say, I say' contest of wills. So external surveys like this bring some amount of credibility into the negotiation.

And so I say it's useful, for that purpose. But yes, certainly don't take it to mean too much...

Rachel

Whatever good comes out of them is a side effect.

The main purpose is to get a certain group some grant, or to get some guy with a sociology master's degree a perm position, etc.

I know. Been there.

<rant>
To no-one in particular. . .

How jaded some people seem! Not everyone has a hidden agenda. Heaven forbid that a group of primarily transgender people (TAVA) would want to help American Veterans who are being shit on because they're trans!

Did they get a grant? Are they applying for a grant? I have no idea, and I don't care. How much money has been spent by the US govt. studying the need for basic human rights for transgender people? None that I know of!

But they sure spend tax money on their war for oil and their torture chambers and put bribe and corruption money into their bank accounts in the Grand Caymans and Switzerland so that when the US turns into a third world country they can just move somewhere else and live in luxury.

Let's put the blame where it belongs. These statistics are NOT a bad thing. Maybe they aren't accurate, but someone got off of their ass and did something instead of sitting around complaining about why 'statistics' are always wrong and how trans-people are pidgeon-holed by cisgender people.

I have a novel idea. How about everyone on the forum picking out something that needs to be done to help trans people and then actually doing it? Oh, you don't have time? Or you can't afford it? Or you dont' want to be 'outed.' Or you don't need equal rights because people don't know you're trans? Don't forget, that can change!

I suggest that we stop complaining. If you don't get off your own ass and do something you have no right to throw stones at those who do.

Just because we have all seen flawed statistics put out by people with their own agenda in the past, does not mean that transgender people do not desperately need accurate ones.

There are people just beginning transition who are lost and reaching out for help. There are kids who are living in despair because they're trans and they may be killed before they're old enough to make legal decisions on their own. There are trans-people doing sex work because they can't get a job because of who they are. WTF?

Why do we fight ourselves on these things?

We should get angry! Not at the people gathering statistics to show discriminatory practices, but at the politicians and the corporations who run this freakin' world!

</rant>

Well you do have a point. There is another study happening back east, which is not yet completed. Yes we (The entire TS population) should have band together. To get angry and deal with our common enemies (fore a mentioned, politicians in government) But we seem to shoot the messenger sometimes. and each other.

Actually, I'm saying the surveys seem very correct to me, and they can produce good as a side effect. That's praise.

Even if they are actually intended to get some transperson a position in some research centre, big deal.

I wouldn't answer one just because I don't like surveys.