Poverty and Economic Concerns Among Trans People

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http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/08/03/i-am-cait-episode-2-recap-you-know-nothing-caitlyn-jenner/?_r=0

I only watched a few episodes of the show “I Am Cait” and I am aware that Caitlyn Jenner is very problematic, but I did find episode 2 to be very enlightening. In fact, it was my inspiration for the topic of this blog. Caitlyn is a white, extremely rich and famous transgender woman so her experiences were extremely different than those of a lower or middle class transgender man or woman. Caitlyn was able to receive all the health care she needed at the drop of a hat. She didn’t have to worry at all about losing her job and she may have faced some backlash from the public, she is still world renowned and praised and receiving all the care and support she needs. Caitlyn believes she is an adequate activist and spokesperson for the transgender community but the other trans women in this episode explain to her how much she needs to learn about the transgender community. The trans women Caitlyn speaks to in her friend group as well as the ones she meets at the LGBT Rights Organization in San Francisco are from all sorts of class and racial backgrounds. They all share their stories with her and Caitlyn, as well as the viewers, get a great insight on what the transgender experience is really like. It is very interesting and I highly suggest watching the episode or at least reading the article recaping it.

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Reflection 

I can sometimes be a know it all and its quite refreshing to be reminded that I don’t actually know everything. Researching this topic made me very aware that even if I think I know a lot about something, there is so much for me to learn. This is a topic that genuinely interested me because I knew I didn’t know much about it coming into this project and I still don’t know everything but I have learned a lot. There are so many factors that go into the embodied experience of every person and I see the world through only my experiences and insight. I cannot see the world as a person of color or someone in the LGBTQIA community so I need a reminder to not stubbornly view everything with my own mind and opinions but to also take into account the way a person of different intersections faces the world. 

Everyone faces hardship and difficulties but the discrimination felt by marginalized people will not be faced by everyone and is something that cannot be ignored. The whole world, myself included, need to take into account the perspectives of the less privileged and listen to their needs and advocate for them. Change needs to be made on an institutional and social systematic level. There is no single solution for this issue and it won’t be fixed overnight but something needs to be done to protect transgender persons of lower socioeconomic status. Due to stigmas attached to these identities, their voices and needs are so often ignored and silenced. I don’t want to give the impression that I believe transgender people are weak and helpless and live nothing but miserable lives and I’m the only one that can save them. I do, however, believe that allies to the poor and LGBTQ community need to be on board as well to create a platform for social change. These communities are getting more and more powerful everyday and their voices are being heard and change is being made. This change, however, needs to include EVERYONE, 

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This website is a great at source for information regarding the movement towards rights for the LGBTQ community in the United States. http://www.thetaskforce.org/

The statistics posed in this article greatly relate to the issues I’ve discussed in this blog. http://www.thetaskforce.org/injustice-every-turn-report-national-transgender-discrimination-survey-executive-summary/

This article shares the stories and experiences of transgender women engaging in sex work. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-03/transgender-women-on-daily-struggles-in-sex-industry/6664204

Another great website supporting the equality of transgender persons. It covers rights and issues surrounding trans community. It also assists transgender persons in changing and obtaining ID documents. http://www.transequality.org/

I’ve discussed issues surrounding discrimination in health care for transgendered persons and this article outlines some of these issues. http://www.transequality.org/know-your-rights/healthcare

I’ve also discussed issues of discrimination in the workplace and this article outlines your rights. http://www.transequality.org/know-your-rights/employment-general

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Suggested Solutions

My first suggestion for a solution in this problem is to propose a zero tolerance law for firing or denying hire to a transgender or transitioning person. Creating laws won’t change everyone’s opinions on the transgender community but it does create a framework for backing and protecting this community in the workplace. My second suggestion is create adequate and universal health care for transgender related treatment that is free of discrimination to transgender persons of all intersection whether it be class, race, ability, etc. I would also propose the idea to create more shelters and help for the LGBTQIA homeless youth. Most shelters and community help organizations are religious based and deny help to LGBTQIA persons so there needs to be available support that won’t turn down the youth for their gender identity and sexual orientation.

The major issue with the solutions that are in place right now is that they don’t take into account the intersectionality of people. They may support one group of people but then not the other. There are organizations and programs that may still deny support to some even though they are set into place to help everyone. The capitalist patriarchy that runs our country ignores those that are of color, not cisgender, poor, homosexual, disabled, etc and we need to put structures in place that will help everyone that isn’t just the rich, straight, white man.

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Summary

I came into this project thinking I had a very specific topic that could keep focus to a single issue. I’ve come to realize through research that this is a much bigger and further reaching issue than I believed. The research I’ve done has included the problems faced by those in the lower class and those in the transgender community as well as the intersection between the two. I believed the issues would include mostly problems in the workplace but I’ve found that access to health care, problems with poverty and homelessness, sex work, and overall healthy and quality of life play huge roles as well. There are a lot more subset issues to this overall problem that I have not researched which leads me to believe I am a lot less educated on this topic than I may think I am. I also will likely never experience being a transgender person with low socioeconomic status so I can never truly understand their reality. I can do as much research and read discussions as I want but I will never know how the embodied experience of being a low income transgender person.

This entire class has taught be that there is a lot more to diversity and social justice issues than I believed. There seems to be an infinite number of discussions that can be made on the topic of intersectional feminism. In class we’ve discussed what gender is and broken down the barriers of the belief that there are just two genders. We’ve also discussed femininity and masculinity and how those play into the roles of gender. These all greatly relate to matters surrounding the transgender community. There are so many aspects of these topics and while they are all different they can all come together in discussion. 

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An Intersectional Issue 

The issue of socioeconomic differences among transgender persons affects people of all intersections. The most evident being people with a nonconforming gender. This includes not only transgender persons but also all people not identifying with the dichotomous man and woman genders. This also affects all people of different classes. Those fitting in the lower class face issues of access to adequate health care and especially transgender persons in this class. I have not touched base on race in this project but it is also a huge intersectional factor in the experiences of transgender persons. Statistically, people of color make less than their counterparts in the workplace and face discrimination in housing and employment as well. This is no different for transgender people of color. Colored transgender persons in the lower class are likely to experience the most discrimination on an everyday and institutional basis.

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Institutional Example

One institution where transgender persons are more likely to feel the brute of low socioeconomic status due to discrimination is in the workplace. Thousands and thousands of transgender persons report having lost their job due to their gender identity. The fact that it is still legal to terminate an employee in some states in the US poses a huge threat to the socioeconomic status of transgender people. This is something out of their control as well. They may also have difficulty getting a new job as many companies will not hire a transgender person. The majority of transgender persons report harassment and discrimination in their workplace making working conditions uncomfortable and unsafe.

Transgender people also face discrimination in the health system. Quality of care often depends on location and wealth of the patient. If faced with low socioeconomic status, transgender people may be denied and restricted access to valuable medical care such as surgery, hormones, therapy, and counseling. Adequate health care should be a right not a privilege but in the US it is something only offered to the privileged.

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Everyday Example

To describe an everyday example I am going to create a hypothetical person named Nick. However, Nick’s story may not be too far off of the experiences faced by someone in the real world.

Nick grew up in a lower class neighborhood in a strictly religious household. During his teens, Nick felt distant from the male identity he had been given at birth but continues to conform to his gender roles. Coming from a low income family, Nick was not able to afford college and so he went right into the work force where he found a job that supported him enough to get by. During his early adulthood, Nick decides to begin his transition into a female. Nick, now Nicki, comes out to her family and friends as transgender. Her parents are outraged and cut her out of their lives. She loses her job as they do not want to have any non gender conforming employees. She is unable to find a new job because they do not want to hire a transitioning woman. With her family’s lack of support, Nicki is left homeless and without any adequate health care. She has very few options and receives little financial support so she has to consider sex work in order to get by, despite the known risks.

Based on the previous articles I’ve discussed in this blog, you can see the how Nicki’s story could pan out. She is likely to have a lower quality of life than that of a transgender woman in the upper class or a cisgender woman. Due to everyday discrimination and injustice in the workplace, health systems, and home, Nicki faces hardship and poverty everyday all because of her nonconforming gender.

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Analysis of Second Scholarly Source: Sex Work and HIV Status Among Transgender Women 

This article outlines a study done to measure the prevalence of HIV in transgender women engage in sex work. Researchers hypothesized transgender female sex workers (TFSWs) would have an increased rate of HIV compared to cis women and men engaging in sex work. Using 25 other relevant studies as well as their own, the research concluded that TFSWs have an HIV prevalence of 27.3%, transgender women not engaging in sex work have a prevalence rate of 14.7%, a prevalence rate of 15.1% in male sex workers, and 4.5% in female sex workers. These findings support their hypothesis that there is an increased rate of HIV in TFSWs. (Operario, 2008)

This article also highlights social and economic implications associated with these higher HIV rates. Many transgender women go into sex work because they lose their job and/or are refused hire because of their gender identity due to discrimination in the workplace. This leaves them with very few other options when they are faced with poverty and homelessness. Extreme poverty, which many transgender persons live under, can cause substance abuse and reckless behavior. This includes activities such as unprotected sex and needle sharing. There is also little health care for the prevention and treatment of HIV for TFSWs due to the stigmas attached to being transgender and also being a sex worker. The criminalization of prostitution also produces barriers for TFSWs when it comes to prevention and treatment of HIV. These put these TFSWs at increased risk of HIV which could explain the results found in this study.

I was really glad to find this article as it relates to my inspiration for this blog project. My inspiration was a segment I saw on tv where several trans women talk about their experiences as being sex workers because they had been denied other jobs and had no source of income and how this low socioeconomic status also denied them access to the healthcare they needed. This article agrees with several of my preconceived notions based off of that tv segment. This study is different from the other articles/studies I read about as this is a specific implication of the discrimination faced by transgender people that results in low socioeconomic status. This is related to class work we’ve done as we’ve spent a lot of time discussing inequality in the workplace for people of racial minorities and those in the LGBTQIA community.

Operario, Don, Toho Soma, and Kristen Underhill. "Sex Work and HIV Status Among Transgender Women: Systematic... : JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes." LWW. N.p., 1 May 2008. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

http://journals.lww.com/jaids/Fulltext/2008/05010/Sex_Work_and_HIV_Status_Among_Transgender_Women_.13.aspx

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Analysis of a Scholarly Source: Female and Male Transgender Quality of Life- Socioeconomic and Medical Differences

This article outlines a study done to obtain data on the quality of life for transgender men and women based on socioeconomic and medical differences that included surgical interventions related to gender changes. One hundred forty eight trans men and women filled out a survey that indicated their medical and sociodemographic differences. It then measure their quality of life through a self survey that had them measure their own physical functioning, role limitations due to physical health problems, bodily pain, general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, and general mental health. They then compared the answers to their cisgender counterparts. Trans men and women scored slightly to significantly lower on every subset of the measurements of quality of life. They also compared the answers of the trans men and women based on their educational level, if they were employed, if they were in a relationship, and their equalized household income. The less education they had, the lower quality of life they reported for all subsets except for social functioning, role limitations due to emotional problems, and general mental health. They scored higher quality of life if they had a job rather than being employed for all subsets besides general mental health. They had higher scores for each subset if they were in a relationship rather than single. They also scored higher for each subset if they had a high household income rather than a low income. The researchers also found that trans women’s quality of life quality of life compared to cis women’s varied less than the difference between a trans man and a cis man. Additionally, they found no significant differences in the quality of life for transgender persons who were pre or post genital surgery or breast augmentation. Significant differences were found between trans men with or without an erection prosthesis in that the trans men without them had a much lower quality of life.

This seems to have been a very valid and reliable study so I agree with all of the results found but I do not necessarily like the way they reported the findings. Even though this study was supposed to be about socioeconomic differences for transgender quality of life, they actually focused very little on actual income and employment differences. It is evident to infer that low income transgender persons have a lower quality of life due to the clear research done on it in this experiment but they do not go into detail explaining why. It is possible that there is a lower quality of life because they don’t have access to high quality health care due to their insurance or where they live. This could mean higher levels of discrimination and also not getting the proper care they need whether it be counseling, surgery, hormones, or therapy. There are a lot of questions the information in this study can pose and a lot of them are discussed in the discussion and conclusion section but there are more that could be answered.

Motmans, J., P. Meier, K. Ponnet, and G. T'Sjoen. "Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 21 Dec. 2011. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22188877

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Analysis of a Web Source: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status

This article analyzes how socioeconomic status affects the lives of those in the LGBT community. LGBT persons are more susceptible to being lower on the socioeconomic scale due to injustices in the workplace, home, and other institutions. There is a significant wage gap between persons of the LGBT community and their heterosexual, cisgender counterparts. Gay men earn up to 32% less than similarly qualified heterosexual men. Meanwhile, up to 64% of transgender persons make less than $25,000 a year and of those 14% make less than $10,000 which is below the poverty level.  (“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status”) On top of these issues on wage gap are the more alarming concerns of job loss for people in the LGBT community. It is still legal in 31 states in the US to be fired from a job because of sexual orientation and legal in 39 states to be fire for gender identity. (“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status”) These are blatant injustices pose huge threats for LGBT persons in the workplace as well as the fact that 68% of those people also report employment discrimination and harassment.

There is also a huge concern for the youth in the LGBT community. There is a disproportionate rate of homeless youth that identify with the LGBT community. This is largely due to the fact that half of the parents of gay teens react negatively to their child coming out and about a fourth of these parents kick their kids out of the house. In addition to being on the streets, LGBT youth experience discrimination and refusal for help by homeless youth programs because they are often religious based and their religion may not approve of homosexuality. There is a broad concern for homeless youth including the increased risk of drug use and addiction and risky sexual behaviors that can lead to mental health disorders and other diseases. They also experience a lack of education during their most important years of growing which puts them at a disadvantage for the rest of their lives.  (“Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status”)

The majority of this article was statistics making it difficult to not agree that there is a huge concern for the socioeconomic status for persons in the LGBT community when there are such clear injustices still in place and some even legal. The year is not given for this article so I am not sure how old these statistics are but the fact that they may be real today or even just a few years ago terrifies me as it should most. No one should experience poverty, homelessness, and discrimination due to their sexual orientation and/or gender identity so it is necessary to make a change and allies should be working towards raising awareness and changing laws to decrease the injustices faced by those in the LGBT community.

"Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Persons & Socioeconomic Status." American Psychological Association. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Nov. 2015

http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/factsheet-lgbt.aspx

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Introduction

I am going to be discussing the economic problems faced by trans people due to poverty faced before, during, and/or after transition. Access and opportunity for trans people is often decided based on their socioeconomic and social status. This is a problem due to the oppression trans people face because of their nonconforming gender. This is an important and relevant issue to a huge population of the trans community because transitioning can be a long and expensive process that has a huge impact on the individual and their safety and well being. Being cis gender, I do not have experience or a lot of knowledge of what the transition and life of a person in the trans community is like besides what I have seen in the media. I would like to gain an insight on some of the struggles and systematic oppression faced by trans people on an economic and social basis.