Just One of the Guys?: Transgender Men and the Persistence of Gender Inequality

227 Pages·2011·1.033 MB·English

by  Schilt, Kristen

Just One of the Guys?

Just One of the Guys?
Transgender Men and the
Persistence of Gender Inequality
kristen schilt
the university of chicago press chicago and london
kristen schilt is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Chicago.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2010 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2010.
Printed in the United States of America
20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 1 2 3 4
isbn-13: 978-0-226-73805-5 (cloth)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-73807-9 (paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-73805-1 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-73807-8 (paper)
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Schilt, Kristen.
Just one of the guys? transgender men and the persistence of gender inequality / Kristen
Schilt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-73805-5 (alk. paper)
isbn-13: 978-0-226-73807-9 (pbk. : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-73805-1 (alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-73807-8 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Transgender people—Employment.
2. Sex discrimination in employment. I. Title.
hd6285.s35 2010
331.5—dc22
2010014183
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ansi z39.48-1992.
Contents
List of Tables vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
chapter 1. Framing Transgender Difference: Pathology,
Diversity, Biology 19
chapter 2. Self-Made Men: Culturally Navigating “Natural”
Difference 48
chapter 3. Becoming Men at Work: The Unequal Outcomes of
Difference 69
chapter 4. Manufacturing Gender Inequality: Workplace
Responses to Stealth Transmen 88
chapter 5. Business as Usual: Workplace Responses to Open
Transmen 109
chapter 6. Transgender Matters: The Persistence of Workplace
Gender Inequality 132
chapter 7. Same as It Ever Was? Inequality, Reproduction, and
Transformation 160
Methodological Appendix 177
Notes 187
References 193
Index 211

Tables
Table 1.1 Transgender workplace stories from newspapers,
1971–2008 / 40
Table 1.2 Transmen’s personal understandings of their gender, by
transition era / 42
Table 3.1 Highest level of education attained, before and after
transition / 80
Table 4.1 Stealth employment by year of transition, by state / 90
Table 5.1 Open workplace transitions by year of transition,
by state / 111
Table 6.1 Gender breakdown in legal cases and news stories about
transgender employment barriers, 1971–2008 / 135
Table 6.2 Transmen and homosocial reproduction / 150
Table 6.3 Transwomen and homosocial reproduction / 151
Table A.1 Workplace strategies for fi rst and current job / 180
Table A.2 Types of occupations, fi rst job and current job / 180
Table A.3 Results of content analysis, real and adjusted / 184

Acknowledgments
This book would not be possible without the contributions of my re-
spondents and support from several organizations that allowed me
to publicize and/or conduct research at their meetings. In order to main-
tain personal confi dentiality, and anonymity in the locations of this re-
search, I cannot thank them by name. But I am grateful for their par-
ticipation in this project as well as many people’s willingness to provide
feedback on my research fi ndings. I also must thank all the funding
agencies that made this research possible: the University of California
Institute for Labor and Employment, the UCLA Department of Soci-
ology, the UCLA Center for Women’s Studies, and the Rice University
Department of Sociology.
For their guidance and insight on the dissertation from which this
book originated, I thank Ruth Milkman, Gail Kligman, Abigail Sa-
guy, and Christine Littleton. Christine Williams also provided invalu-
able feedback at every stage of this project. The Sociology of Gender
Working Group at UCLA was a valuable resource—particularly Rene
Almeling and Stephanie Limoncelli. The Sociology Department at Rice
University aided me tremendously during my postdoctoral research. I
particularly would like to thank Elizabeth Long, Bridget Gorman, Jeni-
fer Bratter, Michael Lindsay, and Melanie Heath. My colleagues at the
University of Chicago in Sociology and in Gender Studies also have pro-
vided critical feedback, which has helped tremendously to shape this
book. I have benefi ted as well from the help and support of a small net-
work of sociologists working in the area of transgender studies: Elroi
Windsor, Eve Shapiro, Tey Meadow, Laurel Westbrook, Cati Connell,
Raine Dozier, and Henry Rubin. I also want to thank Mary Blair-Loy
and all the anonymous reviewers who gave me critical feedback on the