Weapon of Mass Destruction: Money is Power
It seems to me that we Transgendered, as a group, are not overly prosperous. Oh, I know that some of us are, but they seem to be the exceptions.
Recently I was thinking about the financial situations of various Transgendered friends and acquaintances of mine.
Roberta works as a night shift baker’s assistant in the bakery of a big chain supermarket. What she really wants, and keeps applying for, is a cashier’s position on the day shift. (The position pays more.) The manager keeps saying they don’t have any openings. The only other position they have offered her is one stocking the shelves, also at night, when the store is closed.
She’s convinced this is because she is Trans and the manager doesn’t want the customers to see her. I think the chances are she’s right about that.
Sasha used to have a good, solid civil servant position with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The year she transitioned was also the last year she ever worked. Once she transitioned, her supervisors started to drastically increase her workload until she had so much work no employee could realistically be expected to complete it in a timely manner. In the end they broke her. She had a nervous brake down and resigned.
That was 14 years ago. She now lives on a tiny Social Security Disability income.
Jackie had a very good job with a Fortune 500 company. She had worked there for, I think, 11 or 12 years. She transitioned on the job, seemingly with the complete and total support of the corporate Vice President of Human Resources. On the day before she was to leave for Gender Reassignment Surgery the company eliminated her position.
Of course they said it had nothing to do with her being Trans. If that were true then why did they dangle a cash settlement in front of her, a cash settlement they would only give her if she signed a legal release saying she wouldn’t sue the company?
Then there was Robin. I only met her once, but I’ll never forget her.
One Saturday in February 2006 she came to one of my support groups. At first I was put off by her appearance (way too much make-up, leather micro-mini skirt, fishnet stockings and over the knee boots with five inch stiletto heels).
As she spoke, however, I came to realize that, although not well-educated at all, she was exceedingly intelligent; intelligent, insightful and full of common sense. She was also very articulate, I would even say eloquent.
She spoke of her moment of crisis, that moment so many of us have when must face the truth and decide what to do about it.
Hers came late one night. She was nearly penniless. She didn’t have a job and no prospects of one in the near future. On that night she sat at her kitchen table. There were four things on the table in front of her: a legal pad and pen, a bottle of Jack Daniels and a loaded hand gun.
She took the pen and drew a line down the center of the paper. At the top of the paper, on one side of the line she wrote ‘œReasons to Live.’ On the other side of the line she wrote ‘œReasons to Die.’ She had decided that when she finished these two lists, which ever was longer would decide her fate.
And so she spent that night drinking the Jack Daniels and writing her list. In the end the list of reasons to live was one item longer than the list of reasons to die.
I am convinced that this woman was intelligent and competent and capable enough to do anything and be successful at it if only someone would give her a chance and teach her.
I never saw Robin again, but I think of her often. Her memory haunts me.
She makes her living as a sex worker.
Does this society of ours use money as a weapon against the Transgendered?
My answer is yes.
I certainly know that Ashley the consultant doesn’t get nearly as many high profile high power clients as Craig the consultant did.
Frankly, there is a certain type of old line non-profit executive who disapprovingly and judgmentally look down their noses at me. They would never, ever consider letting a Transsexual be their public face.
The economic consequences of this are significant. I don’t have anywhere near the income I used to have before transition because there is a whole segment of the non-profit world that is off limits to me simply because I am Transgendered.
Think about it. Money is the perfect weapon. You can’t exist in this world of ours without it. And to get it you have to work. Deny access to work, you deny access to money.
Without money you have nothing.
No food. No shelter. No power.
You are immediately marginalized. Pushed out to the fringes of society. An inconvenient truth hidden away from the view of a disapproving society.
The fall of the Soviet Union, and with it most of the rest of the Communist world (the most spectacular crash and burn since the fall of the Roman Empire) proved that Karl Marx didn’t have a better idea about how to do things. However, his analysis of capitalism, if you can wade through all the turgid self-indulgent verbiage, is insightful and penetrating.
His basic premise is quite simple and lucid: everything in a society is based in economics.
You have the ‘œForces of Production’ (the infrastructure of the society) and the ‘œConditions of Production’ (the knowledge of how to use the Forces of Production). (That would be the workers.) There needs to be some arrangement between the two that allows the system to function. Thus are born the social and political institutions that govern the society. Of necessity certain members of society are given power over the rest of the members of society to ensure that the system functions.
If Marx is right (and I think he is) those in control of the society would, of necessity, use money to control the others.
Let’s look at history.
In ancient Rome the Patrician class used money to control the Plebian class (which was vastly larger and potentially dangerous). Keep them poor. Give them the bare means for subsistence (bread) and distraction to keep them occupied (circuses).
What was the Spanish Inquisition really about? It was about purging the wealthy Spanish Jewish class from the nation (and stripping them of their wealth to boot).
The Spanish conquest of South America? It was about enslaving an entire people (talk about marginalizing) so they could steal their gold and silver.
The colonization of North America? That was about stealing an entire continent from the Native Americans. (To them, the land was the wealth.) And then, to control them, they were herded onto barren reservations and left with no skills or opportunities to survive or prosper in this strange new world that had replaced theirs.
Every new minority immigrant group that ever came to this country? Forced to take all the menial low-paying jobs nobody else will do. (My God! There goes the neighborhood!)
And then there’s the most heinous, calculated, blood-chilling and cynical example of all: the Nazis and the Holocaust they perpetrated against an entire people. They methodically passed laws denying German Jews access to work and stripping them of their financial assets.
Its ultimate goal was to push them to the edge of German society and marginalize them. Then they could cram them into carefully controlled ghettos where they were out of sight and out of mind from the rest of the world. From there it was a short journey to the concentration camps where they methodically exterminated them.
Is money a weapon? Most certainly yes it is, one of the most powerful ones ever invented by human beings.
Why does this society use it against the Transgendered? I can answer that question. I just can’t do it here.
The answer has nothing to do with money.
Photo credit: stock.xchng.
I read this and was so touched it has taken a bit of time for me to get my fingers to type. What can I (a lesbian serving on the board of our local glbt community center) do to bring change? Ideas that are floating through my head include a special loan/grant fund to help Transgendered people start their own business. What do you think?
Ashley, please “answer that question here”- with your experience and input on how to help and work together. If not here, where?
There’s a big elephant in the room you haven’t even touched. The Internet.
My partner runs an Internet business. Nobody knows the color of his skin or his religion. In that sense, there is more opportunity than ever before to make your living, even if people haven’t changed.
I think that people are always looking for a reason to feel oppressed. Some people make excuses of why society is always against them, and they cannot ever make it any further. They’re fat, they’re black, they have a lisp, they aren’t attractive enough…. If you make a decision to just lay down and play dead – then that is exactly what you’ll be. Make a better life for yourself. Quit making excuses.
So when I withhold my money from people, organizations, and causes that I don’t agree with, I’m using money as a “weapon”? I’m morally equivalent to Nazis? I call bullshit.
I’ve been reading your posts for a while, and I’ve long struggled over leaving a comment because so many of your posts are so negative and self-pitying. Although I do not for one second dispute that transpeople have a difficult road to travel, it seems that you often blame your all of your difficulties on your transsexuality. I am queer, my wife is trans, and we both know, jointly and individually, what the sting of discrimination feels like. However, this does not define us, and we own and operate a successful business that has been in operation for eight years. Could our business be more successful if we were your average heterosexual couple? Perhaps. But the truth is that it’s impossible to measure success by what we might have had if we had taken a different road. We have what we have, and are grateful for the blessings we possess. Instead of being bitter for what you have lost, perhaps you would be happier if you focused on that which you have gained.
This is a very interesting post about many of the career-related obstacles faced by transwomen who transition.
I know that I have had very interesting conversations with friends about the differences and similarities between this and FTM transition in the workplace. Perhaps that could be an idea for a good future post.
Thank you for sharing the stories of your friends.
Now I, too, will think of Robin.
I want to second DivaJean – in many ways, it seems that you’ve answered the question already in the content of your post, but if there are other ideas you have, I would be curious to hear them.
As for other comments, I just want to point out to Bill that I’m a vegetarian, and so was Hitler. I don’t think I’m equivalent to a Nazi. Tools are used to differing extents, bringing forth a variety of outcomes. Pointing out the ways in which a tool has brought about an extreme end doesn’t mean every use of that tool will result in the exact same outcome, but it does show the power such a tool can have.
I’m also interested, Ashley, in your thoughts on how the internet offers possibilities in this realm. Consulting in particular often requires a lot of ‘selling’ oneself, which I’d imagine is particularly problematized when you may be the first transperson a # of these folks have encountered. A medium where gender identity can be a non-issue offers a lot of possibility, though it could also feel confining, and I’m interested in whether you’ve encountered a lot of people pursuing it.
Great post, Ashley. I think it has a combination of transphobia mixed with sexism. I know someone else already posed the question, but I wonder what the difference (if any) is like for transmen who transition. Women make less than men, so it’s no surprise that transwomen lose economic power after they transition. Not that I’m trying to minimize what you’ve said. The impact is obviously more extreme for transwomen.
Ashley, I just wanted to say great post. You’re talking about some very ugly truths, and it scares people to admit that these things exist, so they often write off these experiences as laziness/whining/self-indulgence/etc so they don’t have to face the fact that it could happen to them too.
Thank you for speaking out. I know that I will keep fighting until these things change!
I read with a lot of interest, your analysis of TGed wealth and opportunities. You are correct, Up to a point! I’m no Genius! I dropped out of HS. Since then, I raised and put through college, three daughters. Own a bunch of dividend paying stocks. Own my home free and clear and two other investment properties. One with a tenant and a good positive cash flow. My three vehicles are not new, but paid for. In today’s world, I’m in pretty good shape and I’m trying to buy a retirement place and acreage. How’d I do it? First, I made a little money if a lot of money wasn’t available. I never complained about the “world” being against me. I did some pretty awful things to make money,like working in hotel maintenance and cleaning drain pits, or working in a mine as a mucker for minimum wage. I sold vacuum cleaners on straight commission. I fixed cars and boats. Later, I got some skills and worked as a tool and diemaker and Welder , finishing up in the R&D dept of a major research company. Later, I got a Real Estate license and became a property manager. This was all while being TGed. It would creep out now and then
and expose my worst secret to all the world to see. Like when I was going through a bout of “Gender Hell” and chose to get drunk. Oh I wanted to be a woman so bad! Especialy after a sixpack of Bud. Around 1986-7, My middle daughter got scoliosis so severe that it required surgery. I’ll never forget how arrogant the Dr seemed when he quoted me the price $20,000. oooff It was like someone let the air out of me! It was exactly 10X what my father had to pay for my back operation.
Still that’s life! I didn’t have time to contemplate it as being a conspiracy against me and Drs are all overpaid anyhow. Always were and always will be! As I said, I’m no genius, but I worked hard and saved and looked and learned. I learned where the money was at and went there for it. I always valued money I made out side of work 2 to 1 and I made it where I could! Too much is made of the power of our relative psitions in the world. Not enough is made of the upward mobility aspect.
Regards, Terry
Using one’s gender status as an excuse for being unemployed or less than prosperous is, no pun intended…inexcusable. Shouting discrimination and transphobic from the roof tops as though one is somehow entitled to employment is disingenuous. The fact of the matter is no one is going to hire you or promote you just because.