I have a reputation of being a hard liner on SRS being a dividing point for people with transsexualism. Thing is people assume I’m heartless on this point.
I do think it makes a difference and that pre-ops can’t understand that difference until after SRS.
Ironically a dear friend of mine jokingly called me a transgender sympathizer. I wondered if she actually saw the photographs I showed her of my queen/transgender friends and lovers or heard me mention the hard lives they lived.
Lately I’ve been cutting people a lot of slack and tending to believe them if they say they can’t get SRS because of the cost. I’ve read the unemployment statistics. I too work only part time and not because I wouldn’t work full time but because I am an older worker and if they gave me full time they would have to give me benefits.
I’ve gone through hard times, depression and drug as well as alcohol issues. I’ve been homeless and dependent upon friends for a place to stay.
We are in very hard economic times and those of us on the margins of society are less likely to have work than those with normborn, white skin and class privileges.
Because of this I have decided to shut the fuck up and not be part of the problem and make someone feel worse if they say they want SRS but can not see it as an economic possibility. Maybe in better times I might give y’all a harder time, but not right now.
I’m working class. I know what it is like to be poor.
I’m in a stable relationship now with a family of friends. It is not a time for loners. It is a time for friends to band together and watch each others backs.
If you are still trying to save for SRS you might want to take a page out of the hippies book about sharing living expenses and communal living. Everyone throwing into the pot makes eating cheaper and survival easier.
And for those of us who got our SRS in better times or who are economically well off today and can get SRS plus all the other things we want to look down on poorer sisters and say,”If we could so can you.”, currently looks like and smells like arrogance and class privilege, something that come pretty damned close to the various isms we rightly condemn people for exhibiting.
