“Just One of the Guys?”: Reflection “Just One of the Guys” is a book that showcases transgender people, a group that is otherwise overlooked in many cases, showing how social parallels that foster forms of inequality affect everyone not just those in the gender binary. Kristen Schilt’s main objective is to show that these “natural difference schemas” some people continue to abide by are to blame for the continuous of gender inequality. Schilt proves this in her writing by drawing on interviews and observational data to prove that despite the differing experiences of individual transmen, that in regards to their journeys toward transitioning, their stories are a testament to systematic gender inequality. Throughout her book Schilt gives
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Intersectionality can be thought of how social categorizations such as race, class, age, and sexuality interact. In appliance to an individual, gender is not isolated, but rather intersects with our identities. In observing this Schilt finds that race can play a role in a transman’s experience in the workplace. When interviewing a black transman, it was noted that that he was told by his supervisors that he came by as “threatening,” and when describing an action like “eye-rolling,” the word “aggressive” was used in its description of the act. In order for a trans black man to achieve respect he was expected to be more subdued and too not “scare” the clients. Due to these false outlooks based around stereotypes these disadvantages make it visibly more challenging for a transman of color to be taken seriously in any role in the workplace. In addition, transmen who opted not to take “testosterone” or undergo “reassignment surgery” due to choice or lack of income found it difficult to achieve respect and understanding in the workplace. These men who do not meet the typical gender ideals of masculinity, found it more difficult to achieve respect in their workplace, in this interview the man in this situation despite being employed as a superior still found his coworkers using incorrect pronouns when addressing him, making it more difficult for him to be accepted as “just one of the
Intersectionality can be thought of how social categorizations such as race, class, age, and sexuality interact. In appliance to an individual, gender is not isolated, but rather intersects with our identities. In observing this Schilt finds that race can play a role in a transman’s experience in the workplace. When interviewing a black transman, it was noted that that he was told by his supervisors that he came by as “threatening,” and when describing an action like “eye-rolling,” the word “aggressive” was used in its description of the act. In order for a trans black man to achieve respect he was expected to be more subdued and too not “scare” the clients. Due to these false outlooks based around stereotypes these disadvantages make it visibly more challenging for a transman of color to be taken seriously in any role in the workplace. In addition, transmen who opted not to take “testosterone” or undergo “reassignment surgery” due to choice or lack of income found it difficult to achieve respect and understanding in the workplace. These men who do not meet the typical gender ideals of masculinity, found it more difficult to achieve respect in their workplace, in this interview the man in this situation despite being employed as a superior still found his coworkers using incorrect pronouns when addressing him, making it more difficult for him to be accepted as “just one of the