During my research into transgenderism over the years I’ve seen just how it’s misunderstood and misinterpreted not only by many people and, obviously, much of the media that “informs” people but also many within academia and even amongst trans people the

This article I wrote for the Repartee magazine in early 2008:

Preliminary Results for the International Online Survey

By Lee Mid= dlehurst and Trannyweb

&nb= sp;

During my research over the years I’ve seen just how trans= genderism is misunderstood and misinterpreted by most people, much of the media that “informs” people, many within academia and even by some trans people themselves.

&nb= sp;

Several = trans people have attempted to address these problems.= Some of their creations have grown= into wonderfully supportive environments such as Rose’s, UK Angels, <= span class=3DSpellE>Trannyweb and, of course, various magazines such as &= #8230; Repartee (J).

&nb= sp;

Now wher= e do I fit into all this? I’ve= been trans since I was four and “came out” (in various stages) in my early twenties. I was incredibly confused about my own gender identity, wondering whether I was transsexual. I’ve been through so many of the familiar stages in transgenderism (purging, self-denial and so on) so I = can truly empathise with many other trans people.

Recently there’ve been positive changes for us. The legal rights of trans individuals for instance. Pro= fessor Stephen Whittle and Christine Burns were leading activists in shaping the Gender Recognition Act. There’ve been recent non-sensationalistic documentaries and ev= en transgenderd “soap opera” characters. There’s been a growing visib= ility of trans people through events such as “Sparkle” and “Pride”. It’s all been amazing to see= but …

&nb= sp;

there are still so many gaps to fill. A while ago I went to my GPs to as= k for counselling regarding my transgenderism. There was no expert. The person I saw thought I was a repressed homosexual. Familiar? That assumption is still prevalent. So many texts, some very recently published, still have outdated psychiatric assumptions about transgenderism. They seem to be based upon what th= ese “experts” think trans people = think and do, not what they know. There’s been very little written about the power of the intern= et for trans people. The best texts are written largely just for tran= s people and so don’t usually attract non-trans readers. Researchers within academia or med= ia often end up gathering the outdated information or even using prior media assumptions about transgenderism.

&nb= sp;

Last yea= r I spent nine months intensively training in creating and processing questionnaires. It seemed obv= ious that I’d use this knowledge for something important to me. I thought about how Stephen Whittl= e and his colleagues did online questionnaires recently. However, he’s done a lot of wonderful stuff on legal issues.&nb= sp; In my research I’m more looking at the how trans people interact and their personal feelings. Additionally my work is internatio= nal. I was able to design questions in = the questionnaires that were informative but also quick to do (15-20 minutes).<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Katie Glover at Trannyweb instigated my designing them for online usage and has been incredibly supportive in hosting and promoting this work.

&nb= sp;

At this preliminary stage there have been over 330 responses from male to female tr= ans people and this is enough to start putting together some meaningful provisi= onal results. These questionnaires= are in two groups:

-&nb= sp; male to female transsexuals (‘MTF TSs’)

-&nb= sp; male to female transvestites/c= rossdressers/transgenderists (‘MTF TGs’)

&nb= sp;

Below I = will detail just some of the results because while I designed these questionnaires to be quick and easy to fill out so respondents won’t = get bored … there are over 80 questions here to analyse! Plus when I get the final results = there are comparisons I will do between some of the questions. So it’s a job and several ot= hers combined and so all the finalised results would logically become a book.

&nb= sp;

For MTF = TSs the two biggest nationalities of respondents were= 54% from the USA and 27% f= rom the UK. MTF TGs had similar proportions. 48% of respondents were from the USA and 34% from the UK<= /st1:country-region>. I’d hope (J) that by the end of this study (late spring/summer 2008) we’ll have more non-US responden= ts so we can more easily compare any national differences.

&nb= sp;

Age rang= es are pretty well spread but slightly more respondents are between 30 and 50 for = both MTF TSs and MTF TGs= .

&nb= sp;

Educatio= nal level is a very interesting area because both groups feature high levels. For MTF TSs:

&nb= sp;

For MTF = TGs:

&nb= sp;

Now I sh= ould say here that a person’s educational level doesn’t mean some= one with no qualifications is not as bright as someone, say, with a postgraduate degree. However it’s interesting that for both groups the proportions of educational level are m= uch higher than population averages.

&nb= sp;

Addition= ally, I should say that so many of the questionnaire results show a lot of similari= ties between MTF TSs and MTF TG= s, such as education levels, the range of occupations and so on. This is also true regarding relati= onship status, except for relationship break-ups where MTF TS= s are likely to have more problematic separations.= There are other notable difference= s but I should stress that there’s a lot here to suggest that there’s often no clear dividing line between TSs and TVs. Now of course I could be wrong, after all these questionnaires will be running for several more mont= hs yet. However, I personally fe= el that the conflicts between these two groups are destructive – there a= re more similarities between us than differences. We should help each other, n= ot be critical of other trans groups.

&nb= sp;

Some of = the figures would benefit from being followed up by interviews with some respondents. For example, it’s quite interesting how proportionally slightly more MTF TSs than MTF TGs have children. Now is this perhaps= due to some TSs attempting to deny their female per= sonas at first by embracing strong masculine identities which include being a father? Interviews would give= some firmer thoughts about this.

&nb= sp;

Some dif= ferences are not surprising. For examp= le, 30% of MTF TSs have = children that know of their transsexualism whereas only = 14% of MTF TGs have children that know of their transgenderism. Even then transgenderism is still feared= as having a poor effect upon children. There is a fear that the children of trans people may get bullied at school because of their parent’s gender identy. Fortunately there is evidence that this fear is dropping. Alternative families are becoming = more frequent.

&nb= sp;

Interest= ing results were gained when I asked if their children were disturbed by individuals trans identities. For MTF TSs:

For MTF = TGs:

The R= 20;Not applicable” sections perhaps include those who do not have children b= ut may, possibly, include those whose children no longer live with them. When I process all the results nex= t year I will be comparing, for instance, the age of the respondents with this data and also the divorce figures to see if some more enlightening information a= ppears.

&nb= sp;

82% of <= u>both MTF TSs and MTF TGs= do not have family members that are also trans. 67% of both groups do not h= ave homosexual or bisexual family members.&nbs= p; These figures again show the strong similarity between the two groups. These figures may als= o cast doubt upon any genetic inheritance regarding transgend= erism/sexuality but not necessarily negating a genetic factor…

&nb= sp;

Now my n= ext section regarding sexual issues proved to be controversial amongst some individuals. The vast majorit= y of respondents didn’t contact me with any misgivings. However about five individuals ema= iled me at the start of this survey who were disturbed by t= he questions of a sexual nature, stressing that transgend= erism is not about sexual feelings. I stressed to them and I emphasise now that my questions are not to pre-judge people but to find honest and open figures without psychiatric pre-suppositions. I don’= ;t have any issues with people outlining that they do not experience sexual feelings or conversely, at the other extreme, that they are very sexually active. There are several cho= ices in between the two extremes. = I know some transsexuals have powerful sexual feelings. I know some trans people who do not. We do n= ot know the proportions.

&nb= sp;

Now for = MTF TSs:

&nb= sp;

Now in t= hese figures there are major overlaps. The above figures are from 171 responses but only 117 MTF TSs took part. It therefore seems that up to 54 respondents chose more than one response. As a result, many o= f the respondents are obviously flexible about the gender identities of proposed partners.

&nb= sp;

Now for = MTF TGs:

&nb= sp;

Again th= ere are massive inconsistencies. The = first chart is based upon 200 responses. Slightly less than the numbers of respondents (213) but incomplete results are often expected in survey analyses so they’re not significant. However the seco= nd chart is based upon 364 responses … evidently most respondents indicated more than one category. I’ve had to think carefully about this situation considering t= hat this survey’s not completed and so haven’t been through the spe= cial survey analysis programme SPSS. There are an additional 151 responses here. It clearly shows how the sexuality= of many MTF TGs becomes extremely variable = when crossdressed.

&nb= sp;

These inconsistencies are very revealing. They suggest that the present sexualities of tra= ns people are much more variable than previous research in this area asserts (= some still published are over 25 years old). Far from being confused by their sexualities, I would propose that trans people a= re much more cynical about traditional gender roles enforced by mainstream societies (some academics call it “compulsory heterosexuality”). This= is significantly different from much prior research and shows how valuable this survey is becoming.

&nb= sp;

Again though the similarities between MTF TSs and MTFTGs were evident. The numbers of family, friends and= work colleagues that knew the respondents were trans is approximately the same f= or both groups which tends to be quite low (although the reasons respondents m= ay have for not discussing their trans identity will vary). Interestingly both groups show an increase in a small number of heterosexual female friends/work colleagues knowing (35% of MTF TGs and 37% of M= TF TSs) which suggests that trans people can confide in = straight women more than other groups.

&nb= sp;

Being &#= 8216;out of the closet’ is still a big issue for both groups with 45% of MTF <= span class=3DSpellE>TSs and 68% of MTF TGs st= ill being ‘closeted’. Most ‘in the closet’ M= TF TGs are concerned about how ‘coming out’ = will affect their family. I suspec= t this may be also an issue for some MTF TSs.

&nb= sp;

The powe= r of the internet is very evident in these surveys (not least because they’re online!). When MTF TSs were asked about what triggered them to be transsexual, internet support was one of the biggest factors:

&nb= sp;

The inte= rnet was even more potent for triggering MTF TGs to ‘come out’:

&nb= sp;

From thi= s small sample I think you can see that the results coming out of these surveys are becoming extremely interesting and informative. I’ve asked so many different questions (over 80). Acceptan= ce and discrimination, being confident while trans, shopping situations, various surgical issues including SRS (I never define SRS as being cosmetic), psychiatric therapy/counselling, sexuality issues, internet use and support, social gatherings, the growing politicalisation= of trans groups and so on.

I hope t= hat more transgendered people do these questionnaires. These surveys results are there to= show people out there that WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.

&nb= sp;

Take car= e, Lee.

&nb= sp;

To take = part in these surveys go to www.Trannyweb.com= register with the site (it’s = free) and the surveys are via the Community Features menu. Lee’s email address is keeray@hotmail.com.

&nb= sp;