as Cding is taking on a much more prominent role in my life, and I am still a youngish girl, I am begining to get a little scarred about how I am going to make a living and facilitate my dressing. whew.. long sent.
Are their any CD friendly job enviroments? other than shaking my thing on stage or something worse.
thanks for looking!
love
orchard
Have you tried looking into salons?
There are a number of cities that have passed oridinances against discriminating against crossdressing in the work place. Boston for one.
Check with the city you are in to find out if they have any such policies.
DonnaT
A hair salon may be the answer. I know a full time CD who is working as a hair dresser and the owners and all of the other girls know all about her. Even the customers know about her. She's fully accepted for who she is. She happens to live in Canada so I don't know if this has anything to do with it. But I can tell you one thing, she's a very, very happy girl.
Kisses, Linda
i don't know abought the rest of you girls but working just takes up way too mutch cding time i'll pass..............................................
Jessica, could you elaborate on that a bit more please? What prompts you to say that?Originally Posted by jessicadiane
Not to worry.Sherri,
I didn't mean to confuse you. I misunderstood her question maybeI was just noting that I have noticed that alot of employers are open minded so to speak with transistioning.Not crossdressing which is the question I guess she was asking.Sorry
Employement is a tuff one when trying to decide about dressing on the job. To interview enfemme is (to me) the right answer. Then I guess one would know up front whether the employer was serious about allowing transgender folks in. Of course if one only wne in dressed occasionally they might say it is distracting to the others. A real confusing deal. Anyone know about the states they live in? PA seems to be ok with it but not really. On the surface there is a few laws but unfortunately people need laws to dictate tolerance.
Oops sorry I got on my soap box. Alot of large corporation advertise diversity so surfing the internet for potential jobs might be in order. After all if your a degreed engineer, you might not be happy at a hair salon.
Danielle
I'm graduating with a degree with a BS in Electrical Engineering in May of this year and I have wondered how my lifestyle would be perceived in the the field. Seeing as self expression is important to me, I have considered becoming a transvestite stripper as discussed in my journal recently, but I have also looked into being a math teacher... but I'm unsure if I want to do that either. I worked at Kmart for a couple summers and they didn't seem to mind that sometimes, I presented according to the female dress code.
Last edited by gender_blender; 01-27-2005 at 10:45 PM.
I work for a large defense contractor (Rockwell Collins) they have a policy in place about diversity which should protect you. The only environment question that arises to me is the folks of engineering and their reactions. I work in drab mainly because the wife don't support Danielle. So I haven't really had to deal with it.
If you need a job in Maryland they need RF engineers.
Danielle
Hi Orchard,
I transitioned just over 2 weeks ago, and I work a factory of about 850 people as an engineer. I started off life as an electrician and I've progressed so my job is now mainly machine programming, and I would suspect that I am rather older than you, so I am already established in my career, but I've had a very smooth transition with absolutely no hassle (so far anyway). I was talking with my employer about the best ways for me to make the change, how to tell the factory etc for about 3 months before doing it though - I didn't just turn up one day as Rachel.
Rachel
Don't know what your background is, but I work from home doing web programming and sys admin stuff; I can dress however I want since I work in an office of one! A lot of careers lend themselves to telecommuting now. I made the switch a year or so ago and I'm never EVER going back.
Can't speak to the more social office environments though.
Ji
A new California law protects crossdressing in the workplace. Go west, young lady!
While many states may protect a girl from some employment pressures, it is not a guarantee anywhere that life will be easy. However, when in doubt, only your hairdresser knows for sure.
Ive often wondered about this too - about going through my career en-femme. I'm looking at mechanical drafting myself, and from what I've looked at so far it looks pretty conservative (good-ol'-boy types/machine shop environment)It'd be kind of nice to wear a nice blouse and skirt outfit or business suit to work instead of boring pants/button-shirt or whatever.
This reminds me of a long time ago when I was looking for work for my better half. I had appointments with temp agencies and employers while dressed in fem (Looked and acted very professional Thankyou....). They will be polite but still wouldn't hire me. I got desperate enough that at the next few interviews thereafter I was dressed in my male form and not long after I was hired.
No matter how much employers say that they are openminded to transsexual lifestyles, the bottom line is better in someone else’s company than mine.
There is one way though. If you go to work for a company and stay there for at least nine months (get the health benefits and all), you can transition from male to female. It just takes a note from your psychiatrist explaining your preference to dress as a female. (This is where the law protects you) They can’t fire you. If they do you can sue them. They will probably have you fill out some forms to explain your need to dress as the opposite sex and assign you either female restroom privileges or what ever policy they have or will put in place. I know someone that did this and her better half is still employed. I wish I had the courage to do this with her.
Your employment options don't have to be limited to Salons and Gay Bars.
I have a B.A in history, and experience from human services to food services.'
I think Human services may be more accepting of my dressing, but it is such an unheathy/demanding field.
I found some neat ads. online, for tg friendly company's in the boston area...very positive. However, it is still rather low end type work. I would have liked to go to grad school for history, but frankly, living an affluent life in drab is not quite worth it.
maybe I will be a hairdresser
Orchard
The best industry to be in is computer programming/web design/gaming etc - this industry is full of young, alternative lifestyle people who care about your skills and not about what you wear. I heard that Microsoft has over 200 transsexuals in its workforce. I once was communicating be email with a transsexual who transitioned at work in computer programming and her experience was very good.
So if you want a good paying job in a relaxed liberal atmosphere then think computers.
You could probably get away with dressing if you went to CA, got a PhD in history and taught college in CA...
Otherwise, be a hairdresser... ;-)
Megan
i do some work as worker comp agent ..........for a large uion........................
thrir is labor laws that gives you certen rights .......to work and keep you safe.........
it's a whole nouther ball game when your on the floor with a crew of crazed steelworkers...............................
I could never do my job dressed and wouldn't want to. Part of the reason I enjoy it so much when not working. Unless you are a transitioning ts it is a rather large risk, proffessionally and safety-wise.
Hugs,
Melissa
Thank god for truly useful threads. Thanks for starting it, and thanks for the insights.
A few weeks ago I stumbled across a job opening for a programming position in Boston. The listing mentioned that transgendereds were not only tolerated but encouraged!
I am not a programmer, but I am an award-winning designer (Web and print), an experienced project manager and marketer, and I'm not opposed to relocating, so if y'all hear of anything CDish, please let me know.
Prior to joining this forum, I really had no idea that laws protecting TG rights might be in place. Nor was I aware of TGs in the workplace in the numbers y'all suggest (that Microsoft number is astonishing!) We owe a lot to these brave souls who, laws or no laws, are no doubt contending with many issues.
I also appreciate y'all making me think about issues that hadn't occurred to me, such an employer's potential objection to me switching my male/female appearance back and forth, which upon reflection seems like a reasonable concern in many situations. In that scenario, I guess when I say I'd like to dress at work, I should be prepared for quite a commitment on my part. How many outfits does a girl need?
Anyone need a job?
There is one aspect of transgenderism that's not much discussed in recent years, and that is to have the status of "transgenderist". Some of you who have been around may have more knowledge and experience with this.
The idea of being a "transgenderist" from what I recall is to transition legally w/o SRS. You change your legal status to be the gender opposite your sex, and live that way full time. While this is less permanent than what a TS would experience, my thought would be that you would probably still need to follow the Benjamin Standards Of Care to ensure you have a good chance of transitioning. Sure, you can always transition back, but few employers - and few co-workers - would tolerate multiple gender transitions.
Regarding transgenderists, my guess is that this really never caught because it just didn't work. I'm sure there are some transgenderists who have made it work, but if it was widely successful we'd have more people transitioning this way.
My view would be that unless you're ready to make a long term transition to living in the opposite gender, find a job in which you are happy and can make good money, and live as a female outside of work as you wish. My work mantra is, "food, clothing, shelter". "Career" is nice, but ultimately it serves the basic three functions for survival.
Stephanie
Mac - It really does Just Work
I wonder...
I'm a teacher nearing transition, and I am not interested in staying on and forcing anything there. I just love being at home, and wonder if something like web design might be something to pursue. I've never been very interested in computers though, and wonder if it's something I could enjoy...
Can you girls in the industry shed some light on this? When I start dressing full time, it would be wonderful to work at home.
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