Customer Reviews

Working with a Transsexual: A Guide for Coworkers

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The second book of Janis Walworth is a complement to her firstbook "Transsexual Workers - An Employer's Guide" regardingtranssexuals in the workplace. To better understand transsexuals, it tells the story of Brian's early childhood, his struggle of being a boy but feeling and identifying as a girl, conflicts with his parents, and socially being pressed into a life which was not his at all. His desperate prayers, his secret life as a "woman", his depressions, his wedding plans that ended in a suicide attempt, his seeking counseling that guided him safely through his transitioning from Brian to Brenda and helped him/her to become a valuable employee.

The book has sample letters addressed to friends and coworkers from Brian/Brenda and his/her manager of the Human Resources Department.

Chapter 2 "About Transsexualism" covers a Human Resource Department organized meeting with Brian/Brenda's coworkers, a psychologist, and a female-to-male transsexual to inform about the complex subject of transsexualism.

Chapter 3 and 4 are question and answer sections that give honest answers to questions that might be asked when dealing with a transitioning coworker (e.g., Do all transsexuals have sex change surgery? What is the difference between transsexuals and transvestites? Do the hormones interfere with a transsexual's ability to do their job? Why doesn't the company just replace Brian?).

Chapter 5 describes the first day of Brian, now as Brenda, at work, her anxiety and courage to finally be who she always was deep inside. Chapter 6 shows a picture gallery of transsexuals, male-to-female and female-to-male. This is an excellent closing to show that transsexuals are "real people" with "real jobs" that deserve to be fully integrated into society.

Thank you, Janis Walworth, for addressing such a complex subject in an easy-to-read language and the resource list that offers help and support on this matter!

Walworth's books (now two of them) have the sad tendency to reduce the trans experience to a path of struggle and pain. For lots of us, that's not how it works when we approach the world as active contributors. If a worker is a good worker, well-liked by his/her coworkers, they won't have a problem with the transition. If the worker is so self-indulgent as to demand special consideration (meetings, sensitivity training, books) how can the organization respond positively?