Transgender Contractor

[MrsAnonymousPerson]

As a woman, I make this plea- please don't present yourself as a caricature or overly sexualised woman in the workplace.

This makes me cringe so hard. In fact it's one of the things that kept me in the closet so long. The fear that I would just come across as a 2d cartoon imitation of who I feel I am. Both invalidating my own sense of self and, worse, in some sense mocking what it is to be a woman.
I mean who am I, as a biological male, to deem to know what it is to be a woman?
How dare I?
It's like blackface - and that's what drag shows seems to me to be, very much like blackface. It's a mockery. So why on earth would I take this path?
Because this is my intuitive reality, this is who I truly believe myself to be. From my earliest memories.
And so while I understand where you are coming from, that is not who I am.

[SunnyInHades]

Good precedent in this UK industry.
'Ow about Sophie Wilson ? Ever used a BBC micro .. or anything running ARM ?

Sophie Wilson - Wikipedia
"Sophie Mary Wilson CBE FRS FREng (born 1957) is a British computer scientist.
In 1978, she joined Acorn Computers Ltd .. Her computer design was used by Chris Curry and Hermann Hauser to build the Acorn Micro-Computer
In October 1983, Wilson began designing the instruction set for one of the first reduced instruction set computer (RISC) processors, the Acorn RISC Machine (ARM)
.. and by 2012 was being used in 95% of smartphones"
Wilson is a transgender woman. She enjoys photography..."

[SunnyInHades]

Before, as 'he': Roger Wilson (appears 7:44 in)

[Casablanca]

"It's like blackface - and that's what drag shows seems to me to be, very much like blackface. It's a mockery. So why on earth would I take this path?
Because this is my intuitive reality, this is who I truly believe myself to be. From my earliest memories."

Thank you. It means a lot that you 'get it'.
I believe you. And the way you responded tells me that you WILL be accepted as you wish to be by those who matter. I would be glad to have you as a work colleague.

I wish you well.

[GhostofTarbera]

Yes it will be much harder as everyone knows - woman don’t make good full stack developers

I have a few transgender good friends and they tell me disturbing stories from the workplace so let’s not sugar coat it, some people won’t employee you (even if best candidate) others like me would not even blink

Not sure how into the lifestyle you are but if you fancy a good transgender night out and a chat with my friends and me come over to

Diary – The WayOut Club next week, best party night in town

They will give you a much better understanding on what to expect from people who have done it




Sent from my iPhone using Contractor UK Forum

[SunnyInHades]

After, as 'she': Sophie Wilson

[oliverson]

I'm currently transitioning from a man to a woman.
At the moment I am presenting as a man. At some point I want to switch over and I'm wondering how this will effect my chances of getting a new contract.

That's one hell of a 'merge request' :-D

Good luck either way.

[WordIsBond]

But this is the problem, hiring me is a risk, an unknown.

Right. Because they won't know whether you are coming to do a job or whether you are coming to push an agenda, be easily offended, and then take legal action against them. Because that does happen, of course. Or, if not legal action, conflict and negative impacts on productivity, whether originating from you or from someone else.

And they can't even ask the kind of questions to find out, because that could offend you and result in legal action. And they don't want to interrogate all of their permies and other contractors to find out how they'd react, either. That can cause problems, too. Much easier to just take the less risky person. They have to deal with this with permies but for a short-term resource? The whole point of contracting, from the client perspective, is to get someone in who knows what to do, does it, and goes away, no hassles, just pay for it and say farewell.

Back in my permie days I would have never been able to get you past the gatekeepers and I wouldn't even have tried unless I knew you well. And it wasn't that they were reactionary, either, we had diverse permie hiring. They just didn't want hassles or conflict around contractors.

[MrsAnonymousPerson]

Right. Because they won't know whether you are coming to do a job or whether you are coming to push an agenda, be easily offended, and then take legal action against them. Because that does happen, of course. Or, if not legal action, conflict and negative impacts on productivity, whether originating from you or from someone else.

And they can't even ask the kind of questions to find out, because that could offend you and result in legal action. And they don't want to interrogate all of their permies and other contractors to find out how they'd react, either. That can cause problems, too. Much easier to just take the less risky person. They have to deal with this with permies but for a short-term resource? The whole point of contracting, from the client perspective, is to get someone in who knows what to do, does it, and goes away, no hassles, just pay for it and say farewell.

Back in my permie days I would have never been able to get you past the gatekeepers and I wouldn't even have tried unless I knew you well. And it wasn't that they were reactionary, either, we had diverse permie hiring. They just didn't want hassles or conflict around contractors.

I completely hear you. This is why I am extremely concerned about transitioning while contracting. It's not something I can easily 'test the water' with. I just have to go and do it. And if it backfires, I'm without any income. I could easily lose my house and conceivably end up in a minimum wage job. Is this the way you see it? Or would you temper that with, someone will hire you... I'm not sure they will.

Would really appreciate your further input, thanks.

[northernladuk]

When you say no income.. Do you not have a warchest for quiet times. Wed normally suggest 6 months+ worth at least?

Things could get bad for most of us in the next 5 months so you really need this behind you without any extra complications.