Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Hey guys and dolls.

What is your profession or main passion and is it stereotypical of your birth sex or target sex (true gender)? In other words what sex is your profession (or primary passion if it is not what you do for a living) traditionally associated with?
If it is normally associated with your birth sex, has that ever bothered you? Have you felt almost guilty for it? For doing something considered feminine or female (or masculine or male for the ladies)? Do you think you might not be doing it or interested in it if you had been born your target sex?

I know we often seem to be held to higher standards of masculinity and femininity than cisfolk, so was wondering how this plays out with what we do.

I work in building. Women in building are sufficiently rare that, when one is onsite, everyone wants a look at her ass.

I've worked in predominently women's professions. I find that women expect me to take a male role and get quite bitchy when I can't be a sort of alpha type male.

Most women I've spoken to say they don't really like working in predominently female environments simply because some women are so very bitchy.  :laugh:

I am in the Canadian Army as what the US Army would call a armored cav trooper. I joined precisely because it was a mans job. I thought it would cure me, it didn't. I volunteered for combat tours three times thinking that would surely cure me or kill me, it didn't. If  my birth sex was female I never would have joined the army, I wanted to be artist when I was a kid just like my Dad was. Now I've been a soldier for 11 years and I still want to be a artist when I grow up :)

I started as a physicist/engineer - not exactly a typical female job, but at the time (late 1970's) it came with a better salary and better employment prospects as a graduate.

I did that for only a couple of years.

By the time I had transitioned I was working in Television, admittedly in a techncial role, but in my job there were almost as many men as women, so i would say it was gender neutral.

Finally I moved through archive work into writing, which whilst open to both sexes, does seem to have more women than men these days, and indeed on our MA course the men were heavily outnumbered.

So I've done all three - Male Female and neutral.

Traditionally my profession is predominantly male; when I got into it it was roughly 50:50 (20 yrs ago).  Now it's more like 90% F and 10% M of those entering the profession.


Jay

Games design is largely male-oriented; women tend to dominate production and marketing more than development. With that having been said, I've discovered it's actually quite a transgender-slanted industry; there are a few of us about in there, and I've often discussed the theory it's simply because (trans women in particular) share a passion for empathy, creating worlds and escapism. In that regard, I'm quite stereotypical!

I specialise in writing though, and have noted that all bar one of the books I have on writing for games are authored by women. I take some pride and odd reassurance in that fact.

I am a housewife. When I was a kid all I wanted was the imposible. I wanted to be a housewife. I of course would say house husband and insist I was going to find a woman who would propose to me....(yeah denial is fun isn't it?)
I did work as a chef and a drug dealer (both gender nuetral jobs) for many years back in the male incarnation but those days are long gone.

I'm a professional artist, the people I know and work with personally seem to be perhaps more females than males, but it's not by much. All my immediate work partners are females. I also consider myself a dollmaker since I create CGI dolls. Most people think of dollmaking as a female profession but again I'm not sure it's a much greater percentage, really.  ???

I'm going to teach.  Which was originally female dominated, but I've only had male history teachers in school so I guess I'm going into a male-dominated position which I'm fine with. 

I plan on going into paleontology later on in my life, and I think that's a 50/50 split.  I have got to be a paleontologist or cryptozoologist at some point in my life.

I also want to be a housewife/husband, I just need to find that special someone to propose (gender and sex don't matter XD).

I've always had male dominated interests and work. Not deliberate, just happened that way.

If I had a female interest, I'd pursue it anyway... just not in front of my work mates :laugh:.

I have an extremely male dominated profession. It's great fun! ;D

I'm not sure, I guess originally I viewed any form of driving to be male oriented.. I guess perhaps bigger vehicles it makes more sense. But the more I look while I'm out on the streets the more I notice smaller cars for smaller parcels even driving for pathology and hospitals, patient transfer etc is more female oriented. So I guess across the whole scope of driving it could be since as gender neutral *shrugs*.
Though I once worked for a car company and both the drivers that were already there were female.
I haven't worked for over a year now and it's proving to be hard to find something for me. Hopefully I find a driving position that is with a smaller car and smaller packages! ^____^
Post-op I will no doubt consider something completely different.

Not at all.

I'm currently a bookseller, and we're a pretty even divide. Funnily enough there ARE a lot of gay folks, though! :)

I have two dream careers...to be a writer and a film director. Writing is typically neutral, but film-making is pretty male-dominated...I think it's something like a 80/20 ratio or so.  However, the stories I create focus almost entirely on male characters. My protagonists are always male (not intentionally...that's just how the story forms in my head) and the female characters are usually just in the background. I've never been able to write a convincing female...if I try, they always turn out to be masculine type like Trinity from the Matrix or the Bride from Kill Bill. *shrug*

~Byren

I'm a scientist and my research team are all females. I never seem to find suitable males at interview, not sure why. My hobbies are those of 'traditional' females. Dress making/design and cooking, but both are very 'male' orientated at the professional level. Because of my stature I found it very difficult to compete against males in sport, but I enjoy competitive female sport. I'm thinking of playing netball next season and just not letting on about the biology stuff  :-\.

But I also think that jobs are becoming far more gender neutral.  We have male midwives, female firefighters, etc. I have also noticed that the sanitary disposable unit collecting/changing person, in a private company, contracted in my hospital is male. That I do find a bit weird. But then again the cleaner who does the male loo's is female.

However I did find it interesting that the recent announcement from the Vatican that being a female priest in the RC church is equivalent to being a pedophile priest. At least in the mind of god, according to the pope.

In reply Nero, I wonder what professions should be gender restricted? I don't mean that as a trivial question. But where do we draw lines? Interesting posts generate interesting thoughts.


Cindy

I think actress to actors is about 50/50 but I've never seen any statistics :)

I don't think any profession should be gender restricted, if you can do it who cares of you have "the goods" or not!

Kind of on the same note, I think sports are really sexist. Such as "Mens" Football and "Womens" Softball. That's sooo stupid in my mind!

Quote from: lightvi on July 23, 2010, 04:58:46 AM

I don't think any profession should be gender restricted, if you can do it who cares of you have "the goods" or not!

In general I agree, but I think there are a handful of professions that should be gender-specific, or at least have a member of each gender on hand. For example, to my knowledge it's common practice during vaginal exams to have a second person, female, present. I see this as a positive thing, as in the case of a male doctor, it could alleviate the woman's fears of...er...mistreatment. Same goes for therapists treating rape/abuse victims.

Hmm, Addiction Therapist/Counsellor is pretty gender neutral although there are more women than men. I have also found that a lot (but not all) of the guys tend to have a more analytical/Freudian approach whereas women tend towards the more empathic methods. I agree that some types of therapy should be gender specific and I had a local organisation specifically wanting me to work with male victims of rape/abuse, I think that may be out of the question now though.

Quote from: lightvi on July 23, 2010, 04:58:46 AM
I think actress to actors is about 50/50 but I've never seen any statistics :)

I don't think any profession should be gender restricted, if you can do it who cares of you have "the goods" or not!

Kind of on the same note, I think sports are really sexist. Such as "Mens" Football and "Womens" Softball. That's sooo stupid in my mind!

Wetnurse is pretty much a gender exclusive job.

Quote from: cynthialee on July 23, 2010, 06:53:57 AM
Wetnurse is pretty much a gender exclusive job.

Erm well.. I guess you're right about that one lol! ;) Though it's not impossible for men to breast feed :)

Quote from: MillieB on July 23, 2010, 06:28:02 AM
Hmm, Addiction Therapist/Counsellor is pretty gender neutral although there are more women than men. I have also found that a lot (but not all) of the guys tend to have a more analytical/Freudian approach whereas women tend towards the more empathic methods. I agree that some types of therapy should be gender specific and I had a local organisation specifically wanting me to work with male victims of rape/abuse, I think that may be out of the question now though.

wow...so agree. I just voluntarily left a TG website this week because someone bullied and harassed me for having the same opinion. She was nasty.. I'm glad I left and came back here! ^_______________^

I'm a translator - fairly gender-neutral.

I plan to be a middle school teacher! And in general, anything involving working with kids and adolescents is pretty much my passion in life. Teaching is historically considered to be a female job... though teaching middle/high school is at least slightly more gender neutral than elementary school (though I must say, I'm fond of little kids, too, and am very much looking forward to being a daddy).

...none of this really bothers me. In fact, I've always really looked up to men who are willing to be nurturing and spend time with kids. I've always felt the "men can't be nurturing" stereotype was one of the most rediculous gender stereotypes of all (not that the rest aren't pretty darned rediculous as well).

In any case, I have no doubt that I would still want to teach had I been born and raised male. I never really saw my love of kids as a gendered thing... maybe because my brother was born and raised male and loves kids almost as much as I do!

My current job is working in retail, so that's pretty gender neutral, leaning more towards feminine.

What I plan to be doing soon, and what I love doing, is graphic design, which I think is pretty much split down the middle. I'm pretty sure this is where I'd end up regardless, art is in my blood!!

My job is technical and it was pretty rare to find a woman in that field when I joined (re-joined) the work force. But I had the basics so I hung on to it when I transitioned (1974) and worked my way up over the years. It was hard and exasperating to be one of the few women in that particular field so early but it started to change shortly after. There is still only about 10% female today btu the women that are in the field tend to be at the higher levels (on average) - but that should come as no surprise LOL!)

I'm a cook, and may be training to be a bread baker soon if a new job works out.  I find it interesting how for years women were only cooking at home while all the  professional cooks in restraunts were men, and now its becoming more gender neutral.

My other job (working on a horse farm) is stereotypically male, but almost exclusively female at my barn.  It's still all men driving the tractors and working the hay fields, but all the stall cleaning and hauling water buckets is done my women (except for me).

I am a freelance graphic designer, which at one point (like so many fields) was predominantly male (I'm older remember?). Now-a-days in the modern world, the field is pretty well split in the middle.

In the past I had worked as a restaurant manager and server which is also a pretty genderless job, though back-of-house (chefs, prep cooks, etc) is more male oriented. I was also a commercial product photographer through the 80s. At that point in time there were very few women in this particular field (in my experience), though other areas of photography were differentially either female or male dominant. I guess it came down largely to the analogy that Millie used for therapists, the more analytical fields were male dominant and the more empathic/emotional were female  dominant. That split has also degraded a lot as well. Fortunately.

Back in the 70s I was also active in the martial arts and that was just slightly more male dominated (60:40 maybe 55:45).

Would I do anything different if I was born cis-female (or even cis-male)? I honestly can't answer that. I have never been cis-anything and have no idea how much gender/hormones/upbringing plays a part in developing interests, passions, creativity, etc. If I had to guess, I would think that being born cis-female I would likely have worked in some creative/artistic field. Whether that would have been photography, restaurants and graphic design, who knows? Not likely maybe.

Great questions though.

I want to draw comic books. . . I don't think it has a gender bias for the most part, it probably just depends on what kind of comics one is drawing.

Possibly some sort of scientist or maybe a math-related job. I think those are male-biased but I'm not sure.

Most of what I do for a living is considered a male trade (not my lifestyle by choice). I have had the chance to work with a few females but I wouldn't exactly consider them a fine example of femininity both in looks and mannerism (not trying to make it sound bad, I'm friends with one of them).

This is a complication I've ran into when thinking about transitioning. I'd hate to lose productivity in the occupations I like just to maintain the "look" of femininity. Not only that, but because of the occupations I've had in the past I feel it would be hard to convince family and friends that I shouldn't be male.

I work as a software engineer, which is most definitely male dominated here. I suspect I would have been interested in the same sort of stuff had I been born a bio-male. I never felt guilty or anything about it while I was studying at university - I thought it was cool that I was (sort of) breaking the stereotype. I was not particularly impressed by winning the prize for being a "woman engineer" though... I felt like I didn't deserve it lol.

industrial electrician very male  but here i am and here i will stay

:P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P :P

I'm a translator/editor/housewife. Pretty gender-neutral, really. For a hobby: Games, but not computer-oriented. I've written several game systems, most notably RPGs; expansions on existing systems as well as my own. Planning to sell/publish my latest creation some day when it's actually finished.

Aside from that: I'm a great fan of sculpting, painting and conversion; taking every-day items (and parts) and turning them into sculptures. I used to earn a little money with it, and plan on doing so again when I get a proper working space.

So.. I might edge somewhat towards stereotypical female.

I work as a waitress and free time programmer ;)

Some of my best female friends are leading programmers.. so I am not sure if to say "both types" or "female type job"

I went through a string of jobs, first joining the military, then selling cars, working at a lumber mill before finally landing a job at a large warehouse/retail store.

So for a while it was in mainly male categories but I honestly want a job in fashion.

Two of my passions are books and computers.  I've seriously considered, and may yet end up, being a librarian, which seems pretty female-dominated (I don't think I've ever seen a male librarian).  I'd also like to get some of my writing published--being an author seems pretty gender neutral.

As far as computers, I'm considering database programming and system administration.  Would absolutely love to get into game design also, and maybe graphic design...I pretty much love anything to do with computers.  I know in the past anything with computers was male-dominated, though has become less so over the years.

I also love designing fashions and the occasional sewing project...doesn't really make me feel manly, heh, but it's something I like to do.

If I'd been born cis-male...computers would definitely have been the field I would have gone into.  Though it's possible I still would have considered being a librarian.

Well I was an engineer, I started out as a draftsperson, Oddly enough my Mom was a draftsperson for a bit when she was younger.  Oh I was not a typical engineer, my department was called happyland because I made it a positive place to work.  That was 10 years before I transitioned.  Now I'm unemployed, which is ok as I really really don't fit the engineer mold very well anymore. I mean gee I have a personality and all.

Beni

well my dream job would be something involving working with old/classic cars :D
and/or working at a rodeo!
id say those are on the male side

Well, I'm probably going to be a librarian, which is maybe a little stereotypical of women, but I don't really know.  I'm majoring in Womens' Studies and minoring in French or History, so that definitely is.  I want to be a writer (not counting on that for a living though, ha), which I don't know a gender bias for necessarily, although for certain genres there is.

I would think if you want to be a librarian you would study Library Science not Woman's Studies.

Yes, and I will in graduate school, but there is no library science undergraduate degree.

Wow, a great topic and some very interesting answers :) I previously worked at a theme park which was very gender neutral, though I noticed a higher amount of different staff such as gay lesbian and even trans. HR was great towards me and others who were interested in transitioning while working there. I'm in college to become an officer though, I'm not sure what statistic ratio is but even if it was female dominated I would still be interested in it.
Edit: Different as in varying not meaning we or gay people are "different"

I'm the Safety Manager at a large bus company.  A fairly gender neutral position so it wasn't a big deal in that sense when I transitioned at work.

-={LR}=-

I always wanted to be a veterinarian.  Then I wanted to be an artist (music and art).  Then I wanted to be an FBI agent.  Hopefully some day soon I'll settle on one so I can get a degree and start working in my chosen field.  lol

I have been in retail for the past 20 plus years.  Depending on what kind of store it is, it could go ether way.  But based on my training, I would say that the Auto Parts side of things is my passion.   Definitely most male.

Until now my job has always been IT-related, software development or system administration. And I always thought it was something I really really liked. Until now. Since we're moving to the UK in a few weeks for the job of my partner, I quit my job, and so will be a housewife for a year. This and the transition as a whole made me think a lot however about what I would like to do as a job, and I'm now noticing that my former passion for technology and gadgets and things like that has more than cooled down. I'm even thinking about going to study to become a nurse when we get back home next year (I have a feeling I really want to do something with people).
The future will probably have some more surprises in store for me :-)

I'm an IT contractor, and i find the IT world to be fairly gender neutral place.

In practice i seem to find when i'm on a contract somewhere that there are more males than females, but it doesn't really matter to me. If a person is good at what they do then that's all that matters. I've worked with some really sharp people of all genders.

I don't really have a career. I've had a string of office type jobs - accounts, sales, customer service. I now work in the administration office of a major UK insurance company. The office staff is split about 75:25 towards women, most of them middle-aged. Previous to this when I was in sales (in the same company) it was more male-orientated. I intend to return to sales when the economic climate is a bit healthier.

My hobbies and interests have always been male-dominated. Football. Aircraft. Folk & blues music. Pubs/real ale. I didn't specifically seek out interests that were masculine, it just seemed to happen that way.

Quote from: jmaxley on July 27, 2010, 07:56:08 PM
Two of my passions are books and computers.  I've seriously considered, and may yet end up, being a librarian, which seems pretty female-dominated (I don't think I've ever seen a male librarian).  I'd also like to get some of my writing published--being an author seems pretty gender neutral.

Dude, there are male librarians! Me being one, although I'm actually just a library assistant. Definitely in the minority, but we got quite a few guys working here.  We call ourselves guybrarians. Heh.

My plan in life is to be a practising artist. I'm kinda reclusive and crazy when it comes to art. I think that's masculine.  I also like writing and want to be a published author.

So yeah, artist/guybrarian/author pls