I am happy that trans people can be who they want to be, even if there is still a long way to go. But I am thrown by how statistics, that consistently give numbers of <1% to 3% for transsexual people in the general population, don’t match the number of transitioning stories I read online. I get why that is, safe space, confirmation bias and all, but it’s such a major disconnect between experience and actual numbers that it constantly trips me up. From what I read online, the percentage of trans people feels like it’s around 20-30%. Or, in this case, 50%.
There’s another phenomenon that interacts here - there is an observed higher prevalence of LGBTQ in autism (discussed here https://sparkforautism.org/discover_article/autism-lgbtq-identity/ and various research papers). Niche forums such as Lemmy, Fediverse, even Reddit all feel like they also have a higher autism spectrum prevalence than a general population. So I would guess there’s a double whammy on representation happening here - extra representation via safe space and shared interest on LGBTQ, extra representation ij autism spectrum, and an extra overlap between these two populations.
My dad was one of the people who sincerely believed that “the queers are going to make everyone transition”, in part because trans people are able to be openly trans. But thankfully he died and is no longer able to spew his teansphobic hateful rhetoric.
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I am happy that trans people can be who they want to be, even if there is still a long way to go. But I am thrown by how statistics, that consistently give numbers of <1% to 3% for transsexual people in the general population, don’t match the number of transitioning stories I read online. I get why that is, safe space, confirmation bias and all, but it’s such a major disconnect between experience and actual numbers that it constantly trips me up. From what I read online, the percentage of trans people feels like it’s around 20-30%. Or, in this case, 50%.
on top of what others have said, cis people don’t really tell the stories of their non-transition, do they
no one will be like “my DnD group was all men. it’s still all men no one transitioned”, even if it’s probably the most common experience lol
We subconsciously find each other and vibe with each other, our friend groups are reflections of ourselves.
Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way by random chance, but it’s definitely too common to be a coincidence.
There’s another phenomenon that interacts here - there is an observed higher prevalence of LGBTQ in autism (discussed here https://sparkforautism.org/discover_article/autism-lgbtq-identity/ and various research papers). Niche forums such as Lemmy, Fediverse, even Reddit all feel like they also have a higher autism spectrum prevalence than a general population. So I would guess there’s a double whammy on representation happening here - extra representation via safe space and shared interest on LGBTQ, extra representation ij autism spectrum, and an extra overlap between these two populations.
My dad was one of the people who sincerely believed that “the queers are going to make everyone transition”, in part because trans people are able to be openly trans. But thankfully he died and is no longer able to spew his teansphobic hateful rhetoric.