Uber Safety?

We have not discussed the need for safety here in Cyrsti's Condo nearly enough! As we transition from men to women, no matter how effeminate we used to be, there still is a huge change in safety. It's bad enough violence against cis women is on the rise, multiply it farther for transgender women.

Now, in certain parts of the country,  Chariots for Women is an up and coming "Uber Service" designed for women only - including trans women.

My partner Liz gets the "way to go girl" for seeing this one on TechCrunch.com. :“The premise is the same as all the other ridesharing services,”  (Founder Micheal)Pelletz said in a phone interview. “There’s a driver app and a client app, except that what makes us unique is our safety feature that other apps forgot to do.” The service’s patent-pending technology gives the driver and the client a code in the app after a ride request has been made. When the car arrives, the driver and passenger make sure their codes match before the passenger gets in the car. Chariot for Women donates 2 percent of every fare to charity, and the company does not use surge charging.

In addition to only having women as drivers, Pelletz uses Safer Places, which has a reputation for performing the most stringent background checks. Chariot for Women also requires that all drivers pass Massachusetts’ Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check, the same deep background check used in daycare centers and schools. Chariot for Women pays for the CORI check and will add fingerprinting for its drivers as soon as it’s possible.

The service will also pick up kids of any gender under age 13, as well as anyone of any age who identifies as a woman. “If they’re trans and identify as a woman, they can drive and ride with us, no problem at all,” Pelletz said."

Pelletz goes on to say: "“We’re doing this because there is such inequality when it comes to security that afflicts driver and rider due to gender,” Pelletz reiterated. “Women are across the world the ones being harassed and assaulted by male drivers. In my eight months as an Uber driver, I didn’t hear any negative feedback from men.”

At the time when you are (or have transitioned) into a woman, you will know this is yet another very needed tool, such as wage equality, you will be facing.

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

"I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it. If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Lyndon B. Johnson

Monday Monday?

It's days like today I struggle to find something to write about. Life goes on, transgender or not. Which still seems to be of some interest to many and often tedious to me. I "yam what I yam" Popeye said it best!

Last night was different though. An example was the young transgender guy (Schuyler Bailar) who switched from the Harvard women's to men's swim team in (I can't help it) mid stream. Of course, much of the key to his successful transition was an accepting family and coaches at Harvard.

Then there was the story of Martine Rothblatt on a later show. The ultra successful CEO just happens to be one of America's highest paid C.E.O's and a transgender woman-sort of:


Martine prefers not to limit herself to available words: She’s suggested using “Pn.,” for “person,” in place of “Mr.” and “Ms.,” and “spice” to mean husband or wife. But “trans” is a prefix she likes a lot, for it contains her self-image as an explorer who crosses barriers into strange new lands. (When she feels a connection to a new acquaintance, she says that she “transcends.”) And these days Martine sees herself less as transgender and more as what is known as transhumanist, a particular kind of futurist who believes that technology can liberate humans from the limits of their biology—including infertility, disease, and decay, but also, incredibly, death. 

Martine and her partner were on an episode of Nat Geo's God , the story of the Ftm swimmer is called "Switching Teams" on 60 Minutes

After watching both of these shows, I understood again why the rightest red necks can't understand us. You only have to try.

Schuyler Bailar

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