Pride & Opinions

Queercents has an interesting article today on the gendering of money - the ways in which money is spent and valued differently based on whether you’re feminine or masculine. In general, I’m suspicious of claims that all men spend money in one way and all women spend it in another, and I liked the article’s take on the subject:

I’ve also often heard the generalization that, in investing, “men are more confident, while women are more realistic.� And then, of course, there are the stereotypes that young men are walking, talking, video-game-playing Judd Apatow movies who live in their momma’s basements and refuse to grow up until they turn 45, and young women are vapid consumerist zombies with too many shoes. I tend to hugely resent generalizations and stereotypes based on gender difference, especially those offered without a lot of critical awareness. I know young (and older) people of a wide variety of genders who are on top of their money—and who are not.

A critical conversation about gender difference can be interesting and productive, though. Gender difference doesn’t just happen–from little girls’ toys to grown women’s office dress code, gender is created and re-created all the time. Money is–as usual–a interesting lens to see into this part of our lives.

But though it’s certainly implied through a discussion of Suze Orman, the article doesn’t explicitly discuss the relationship between the gendered money of men and women to the gendered money of GLBT men and women - so I’d like to expand the conversation. How do you think the gendering of money affects GLBT individuals? Setting aside the stereotypes about rich gay men for a moment, are there real ways that money is gendered to affect the GLBT community? I think there are definitely some situations brought on by a lack of fair access to traditional structures, like mortgage incentives and tax breaks, that force GLBT people to spend differently in order to have the same things, but do you think it affects the reasons people spend? I’m not sure, but I think a discussion could be interesting.

GLBT, Finance, Gendered Money, Queercents

GLBT, Finance, Gendered Money, Queercents