On ButchDyke Oppression in the Workplace/Looking for Work

http://www.autostraddle.com/butch-please-butch-works-it-151510/#comment-269441

My response to the article above:

1. 
   

   MasterAmazon

   This is the first Butch article I’ve read that really describes what it’s like to deal with the discrimination of being Butch and trying to get work. I WON’T wear femme clothing to ANYTHING. Gave it up when I first came out. And all my clothes are men’s clothes, because that’s what’s comfortable for me, and that’s what fits. I do like my gems and jewels though, they’re big and not too feminine. So I wear some of my favorite jewelry that matches what I’m wearing, but not too ostentacious, I NEVER wear a tie to an interview because that would be too loaded and spell hardcore Butch Dyke too obviously, they already KNOW I am just by my short hair, demeanor and rest of my presentation, and too challenging, but men’s slacks, oxford shirt and vest. I’m not much of a suit wearer, so I don’t wear blazers and such, nor do I own one. I keep it simple.
   But my work for the last 20 years has been construction and though construction has never been a fit for my intellectual personality in many ways, the reason I chose it was SO I COULD BE BUTCH AND WEAR CLOTHES I FEEL COMFORTABLE IN! I also knew many, many other Butches who were groundbreakers in construction. But at my age, and my size, they see big supersized BUTCH Dyke Female, so which level of discrimination am I being refused work on, and that includes dispatching for construction jobs in my field? Is it because I’m Female, A Butch Dyke, Fat, or all 3?
   And we know that if you’re a skinny Butch Dyke, you’re gonna get the job over me, and if you’re a fat femme, it’s a toss up over a skinny Butch, but if you’re a Fat Butch Dyke, other than being of color, it’s a stretch for most, as soon as they see the fat and the female, they make all kinds of assumptions, and then the disdain/hatred for Butches as well.
   Some of us CANNOT be any other way, cannot pass for femme nor would we want to, cannot be this one day and that another. This is who we are, who we’ve always been, no matter what garments one puts on or takes off. And I HATE how being Butch and also Fat diminishes our opportunity for work.They’ve already done studies on fat women and how so many of us are in poverty and limited in job opportunity based on size. They’ve never really bothered doing studies on discrimination around being a Butch FEMALE. Not presenting as ‘this gender or that’ but being both Butch AND Female. Out of our place. And the ONLY place that Dykes and Butches have had a niche in the past was construction.
   We break into a field most women fear to go because it’s thought of as ‘unfeminine’ and then once there’s a critical mass of groundbreaking Lesbian/Butch pioneers, then more conventional women come into that field and surpass us, cuz ultimately that’s what the dudes want: skinny eye candy they can look at, even if she’s in a construction worker’s outfit with a pony tail and heterosexual credentials. Only my Butch Dyke Tradeswomen Sisters understand this.
   So, yeah, this a subject near and dear to my heart: as a Butch, as a Dyke, as a Female, and as a Fat/Big Dyke. And my greatest struggle, especially in this Recession/Depression that only wants the youngest, the cheapest, the fastest and basically to dump anybody over age 50, so now on TOP of all that, I have to deal with age discrimination which has tossed so many in the age range of 50-60 out of work, and unable to get work again at that same level of salary and skill…and responsibility, with all the bills and responsibilities and rent we have at our age, and health care we need.
   That’s because they don’t WANT to pay for our healthcare, our benefits OR our salaries, and that they can’t work us to death like they can young people making them go ever faster, while paying them more cheaply, and that they have yet to stand up for themselves and are moldable.
   There’s so many levels to this, it is so disconcerting.
   So here’s my suggestion: Lesbians/Dykes HIRE EACH OTHER. Make it a point to hire a Lesbian Sister, and help her out, a Butch, a nonfeminine female, a big Dyke, a Dyke of color, all of us who desparately need work but do not want to compromise our essential Selves to survive in this harsh world. Find ways to barter, to share, to give to each other, to grow REAL community, economic community together, so we can be ourselves, feel good about ourselves and not feel we are compromising our souls everyday. And no, I do NOT wear pearls!
   -In Butch Dyke Sisterhood,
   -FeistyAmazon