Fluid Borders

Film project for my Gender and Performance Studies class. Interview with a transgender friend.

skamhi

When a staffer switches genders

Coping with major changes can flummox a workplace, but you can protect your bottom line and your employees by promoting tolerance and respect.

By Malika Zouhali-Worrall

April 27, 2009


(Fortune Small Business) -- Tony Ferraiolo will never forget his first day back at work after surgery. The 46-year-old supervisor's knees trembled as he entered the windowless headquarters of Madison Co., a switch and sensor manufacturer in Branford, Conn.

Under the curious gaze of his colleagues, Ferraiolo crossed the plant floor and settled into his office. A few minutes later, Madison owner and president Steve Schickler walked in and sat down. "So you're a 'he' now, right?" Schickler asked. Ferraiolo nodded. "Good enough," Schickler said briskly. "I'll let the managers know."

For Schickler, 50, there was no question about what would happen next. Ferraiolo would continue to supervise more than half of the plant's 50 employees. Life would go on as before, with one small difference: Ferraiolo would no longer use the ladies' room. . . .Read More

Transsexual Begins First Day As Lake Worth City Manager

27 April 2009

WPBF.com


LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- A transsexual who was recently hired as Lake Worth's city manager spoke to WPBF News 25's Jim Abath on her first day on the job. Lake Worth commissioners voted earlier this month to hire Susan Stanton as the new city manager.

Stanton, formerly known as Steve, was fired as Largo's city manager in February 2007 after her plans to have a sex change became public. She told Abath on Monday that it seemed cameras followed her everywhere as she applied for a new job. . . .Read More

Exploring the Transgender Community

About Us

With his sharp male face and the beginnings of a beard wisping along the bottom of his chin, Shawn Wallace seems perfectly at ease with the masculinity he's exuding.

From his place on the couch by his partner, Chris, and one of their many babies, a Scottish Terrier named Nigel, Wallace speaks frankly and openly about his identity.

Some of the physical signs of his masculinity are a direct result of the hormone injections he started four and half years ago. Every 10 days, Wallace has to give himself a 100 milligram shot of testosterone to keep up and increase the changes to his body.

"You get facial hair and body hair everywhere you could possibly imagine," Wallace says, describing the chsanges that have occurred in his body. Other changes include his voice deepening, his face becoming more square, his body and trunk thickening and of course, growing a beard. "I feel like I've been kind of slow about it. It's taken me forever to get this little bit, so I'm happy to have it." . . .Read More