GenderLife Forum: The Information Exchange

With the lack of accurate statistics on trans-issues, the 'study' below sheds some light on some of the discriminatory practices that trans people face every day.


http://www.tavausa.org/Survey_Results.html

Here the results of the 2004 survey were so bad, this year's results are not showing up everywhere.

We have rates of unemployment and underemployment that could only mean the lot of us are a bunch of retards, or very discriminated.

I prefer to think it's the latter.

Who are these people they are surveying? The "statistics" have to be completely inaccurate non-sense. Otherwise, how have we afforded our vaginoplasties, facial surgeries and the like.

My conclusion is that I don't trust such "statistics" and I don't trust such "researchers", with their "studies" and hidden "agendas". It is rarely clear what they are trying to achieve. What is almost always quite clear, is that the medical establishment has done little or nothing to change the fundamentals for the past forty years. For example, early on, decades ago, people got vaginoplasty surgeries paid for by insurance, until people "noticed" and began writing contractual exclusions into health insurance policies. The medical establishment did NOTHING to protest or go to bat for our population. That is just one of many fundamental examples of how the medical establishment and the legal establishment have both failed our population. Our population has survived in spite of them.

Their "statistics" are bunk in large part I think because their "stats" don't actually measure us. They certainly haven't never measured or assessed me. I have always been employed and prosperous. I believe that our population is largely populated by prosperous people are completely invisible to those idiotic "surveys".

It's not about getting money for vaginoplasty. It's what happens after that, or before that. The published stats for this province fit to perfection with the situation of the MTF people around here I know: freelancing, unemployed, working casual, working at the university in some clerical position for peanuts, etc. I only know of two transwomen in this whole area with decent jobs, and (from what I've heard) one of them lost her job last year ("downsizing") and is still looking for something.

The way many finance surgeries is running into credit card debt. I'd do it that way, too, if my cards were more than $500 top each.

Well, it's the armed forces. They are not supposed to be nice. If ya want nice, then don't join the forces, common sense I would have thought.

PS: We had about three years ago an article on Monday magazine, a very popular one here on the island, where they interviewed several TS women in BC. They made a point how the protections had completely failed us and since they were passed the situation of TS people had deteriorated. They probably had an agenda, too, considering the mag was in the process of being acquired by the Black Press Group.

But all the women they interviewed were in a dire situation. One of them had moved up north the island to avoid threats, and was living on welfare. Another had been waiting for years to get financing for surgery, etc.

I also know a few successful TS women, including one who has a mansion up island and just the paintings in her living room are over a million dollars. She's retired (she's in ther 40s) and received most of her wealth from family, including a company she made grow and later sold. Wonderful person, I must add.

So, yes, there are successful transwomen around, but of them I only know two who are part of the work force. The rest are "independently wealthy."

Well, without having read the study yet (i will), almost ALL of the transwomen I know in real life are unemployed or self-employed. I don't think I know a single transwoman that has financed transition while out in the workforce.

Most have financed transition via home equity loans, savings, student loans, etc... I know **very** few that have worked during transition. The ones that have worked do so as independent contractors. I know one that is a hair dresser, another that is a real estate agent, one that repairs cars. The key thing is that they don't work for direct supervisors or have "coworkers" per se.

Yeah when I frequented the support groups in town most were unemployed or "freelancing," one who was doing a job for which she was overqualified, one that managed to transition in the job (a good job) but honestly didn't seem to be trying to pass, a few who still had their good jobs but were "just starting" (some had been "just starting" for years from what I was told), and a few who were students and still depending on their family or student loans.

On campus, the TS folks managed to get some work, but it was mostly the FTMs. For MTFs, it was always the short-term positions (clerical) that pay little. A FTM could get a job as a secretary of the humanities deptmt. and be there permanently, while a MTF would be put to look over the files and retrieve them in Records for a short term contract.

After the contract was over, the university was done with you. But not with the FTMs. Several of them managed several jobs on campus one after the other.

Read the appendices at the bottom of the page to see who the people are they surveyed and their methodology. Veterans who identify as trans for the most part.

'WE' haven't all afforded our vaginoplasties. Maybe you hang with a different group than I do?

As for being totally inaccurate nonsense; I don't think I'd go that far. It looks like they put a lot of effort into being as accurate as possible considering the circumstances. It's not easy to come up with accurate statistics on people who value their privacy as much as trans-people do.

I applaud their efforts.

Why not do a study of your own? There's a challenge for you.

Of course FTM's pass better but perhaps there is the factor of becoming a male is a step up whilst becoming female is a moving down in many minds.