tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374266320411149509.post6906848381871588272..comments2024-03-25T10:22:36.277-04:00Comments on Women In Astronomy: Transitioning as a Junior AstronomerAmanpreet Kaurhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08734178178113146899noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374266320411149509.post-417557864455819532016-03-21T19:07:28.191-04:002016-03-21T19:07:28.191-04:00I'm glad to hear that people have been good, b...I'm glad to hear that people have been good, but indeed, health care systems can be a problem. I transitioned while in grad school, and while cost was mostly not a concern (in Canada), I got really terrible medical care. Prescriptions would run out and it would take months to get them renewed, blood tests would be delayed by months, and I ran into - attempted to get help from - a psychiatrist who had a real problem with transgender people. This bad care is not the main reason I chose the path I have, of wearing my gender history on my sleeve and letting the chips fall where they may, but any other choice would have been much more difficult because of it. So I sympathize. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00764119699293212898noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374266320411149509.post-51334591289748402092016-03-14T20:58:31.172-04:002016-03-14T20:58:31.172-04:00Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, this has been i...Thanks for sharing. Unfortunately, this has been issue I have encountered ever since I began transitioning as a grad student. My department has been phenomenal in terms of support, but the severely limited health plan offered by the university has left me with the ultimatum of waiting several more years before pursuing surgery or abandoning any hope of a financial plan.<br /><br />No matter how much I enjoy the research I'm doing, the temptation to switch over to industry is strong and pretty frequent for this exact reason.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6374266320411149509.post-39879723851491904702016-03-09T11:58:44.677-05:002016-03-09T11:58:44.677-05:00I am glad to see the Women in Astronomy blog inclu...I am glad to see the Women in Astronomy blog include more trans people's voices!<br /><br />I sympathize with the author's wanting to complete more medical aspects of transition before going full-tilt with graduate school. I am trans (male-assigned at birth) and have thought a lot about undergoing the facial feminization surgery the author mentioned. Even though the word "passing" is not popular with some parts of the trans community, it can be very important. Trying to pass does not negate the struggle to push for a society in which passing is not important, but we live in an imperfect world, and activists should not look down upon trans people who want to pass. Most of the world sucks really badly when it comes to trans people, especially when it comes to trans-feminine people, and sometimes the suckyness against trans people even comes from LGB people, feminists, and other progressive-identified people, so it is abhorrent to me that anyone would begrudge any trans person the opportunity to pass and subsequently go "stealth".<br /><br />I also agree with the author's observation of the relative lack of stories of more junior trans people in astronomy. It is very important to hear these stories. I am not quite a junior person (I am post-Ph.D.), but I am not quite a senior person either (i.e., not too far past Ph.D.), so I feel vulnerable when considering whether I'll continue to have a career in astronomy (or out of astronomy) if I transition.<br /><br />I am heartened to hear, though, that the author of this blog post and a different trans author of a previous Women in Astronomy blog post have reported that their social transitions (especially including where they work as astronomers) have proceeded at least fairly well. That gives me hope.<br /><br />I do agree that things are better for trans people today than, say, 20, 10, or even 5 years ago. It was only 2013, I think, when gender dysphoria was removed from the DSM manual, so that being transgender at that point was no longer considered a mental illness. The equivalent thing for homosexuality happened in the early 1970's, so, in that aspect, the trans movement could be considered to be 40 years behind the gay & lesbian movement. But with big-name celebrities recently coming out as trans, maybe we're only more like 15-20 years behind the gay & lesbian movement; i.e., it's been almost 20 years since Ellen came out as a lesbian in the mid/late 1990's.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com