There is no Russian equivalent of Caitlyn Jenner, whose transition from former Olympic athlete Bruce has been documented in both the mainstream and tabloid American press all summer. Transgender Russians often keep a low profile, worried how they will be treated by friends, colleagues and family members.

Transgender

Although the LGBT community in Russia faces significant legal and social challenges, there are laws in place that allow Russians to change their gender on official documents and undergo gender reconstructive surgery.

There are no official statistics on the number of transgender people in Russia, but experts put the number at around 15,000 across the country — about 0.1 percent of the population.

One of them is Vika, 48, who works as a truck driver at a Moscow construction site and declined to give her last name. She came to the capital from her native Novosibirsk, where her wife and 10-year-old son live.

Vika didn’t intend to be a truck driver. She worked for eight years in a beauty salon before it closed, and subsequently spent a long time looking for work. In her most desperate days, she even resorted to selling her body, an experience she describes as so shameful and terrifying that she cried the entire night before she did it.

She eventually found a job as a driving instructor.

Read more at themoscowtimes.com

Tagged:
About the Author

Staff members publishes stories from other news outlets from around the world.