Or when your past comes back to bite you in your ass.
When we transition we make a choice, to go stealth or to live our lives as an “Out” trans-person. For me it was an easy decision because you can easily tell that I am trans, not right off but I you are with me for about 10 minutes. But for many of us there are no clues to tell you about our unique past.
In the past the Standard of Care required a trans-person to move and sever all ties to their past. The powers that be thought that the stigma of being transgender was too much to overcome so their answer was to start your life all over again in your true gender. But we now know that would cut us off from our support network and from our families. In addition, you lost your job history. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get a job when you are in your 30s or 40s and you do not have a job history? Or get a loan with no credit history.
You also now have to consider the internet, the search engines sees all and knows all. What is out there on the internet will always be there, there is no go back. Your credit report is permanent, you will always have an AKA in your file.
I knew someone who was stealth, married with two adopted children and when her and her husband went to apply for a mortgage the credit report came back AKA John Doe. Her husband never knew about her past and he locked her of their apartment and divorced her (She transitioned during the era where the SOC required you to go stealth and be cutoof from your past.). When I applied to grad school I had to get copies of my college records from almost forty years ago which are on microfilm and the schools would or could not change them.
There was an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education about trans-people and the job market…
When we transition we make a choice, to go stealth or to live our lives as an “Out” trans-person. For me it was an easy decision because you can easily tell that I am trans, not right off but I you are with me for about 10 minutes. But for many of us there are no clues to tell you about our unique past.
In the past the Standard of Care required a trans-person to move and sever all ties to their past. The powers that be thought that the stigma of being transgender was too much to overcome so their answer was to start your life all over again in your true gender. But we now know that would cut us off from our support network and from our families. In addition, you lost your job history. Can you imagine how hard it would be to get a job when you are in your 30s or 40s and you do not have a job history? Or get a loan with no credit history.
You also now have to consider the internet, the search engines sees all and knows all. What is out there on the internet will always be there, there is no go back. Your credit report is permanent, you will always have an AKA in your file.
I knew someone who was stealth, married with two adopted children and when her and her husband went to apply for a mortgage the credit report came back AKA John Doe. Her husband never knew about her past and he locked her of their apartment and divorced her (She transitioned during the era where the SOC required you to go stealth and be cutoof from your past.). When I applied to grad school I had to get copies of my college records from almost forty years ago which are on microfilm and the schools would or could not change them.
There was an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education about trans-people and the job market…
On the Job Market as a Transgender CandidateIn the non-academic world we also face the same problems our former employers might not change the name on our employment records. We might be a member of a professional organization and be well known to our colleagues. So what do we do, go stealth or come out? I can’t answer it for you, for me I chose the being out and proud path, but as I said I really didn’t have a choice. In addition, we should not judge anyone on their decision, they might have valid reasons for their choice which we do not know.
By Rachel McKinnon
August 27, 2012
Most trans people in academe wait for the job security of tenure before undertaking the risky process of a gender transition. The reason is obvious: There's still a tremendous amount of discrimination and harassment toward us.
But what about identifiably trans people who either have managed to finally land a tenure-track job, or are seeking a tenure-track position in a poor job market? Where are their stories, and what are some of the special barriers that they face in hiring?
[…]
In academe, trans people, like everyone else, at least have the consolation that our research is reviewed anonymously for publication and, thus, can be evaluated merely on its merit. Our trans status is irrelevant and, more important, is unknown at the evaluation stage—at least in principle. But of course, that's not the case at job interviews. Furthermore, job applicants have less control than ever before over the amount and kind of information available about them via the Web to a search committee.
[…]
You might think that trans status won't be evident on a CV or in an application package, but that isn't true. Many job candidates are approaching the job market with publications. I had two before I finished my Ph.D., for example. But they were published pre-transition under my male name. I'm a little lucky that my male name isn't obviously male. If it had been something like "John" or "Dave," there would be a clear disconnect on my CV between my current, legal name (Rachel) and my old name. That would effectively out me as a transgender person. I've since added a third publication to my CV, written under my current name, and one journal has agreed to change the name on one of my previous publications (another journal could not do so).
No comments:
Post a Comment