Note: In this article I make no essential difference between cross-dressers and transvestites as, in the UK, these terms refer to the same group of people. Additionally, the international analyses for my doctorate demonstrate that past research on transgender people has often been incomplete, misleading and erroneous. In reality, most transgender people who transition permanently, begin as cross-dressers. However, the previous deficient international research on transgender people mistakenly provides varied support for the divergent expressions of transgenderism.
This article assists correcting that deficiency.
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This article assists correcting that deficiency.
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The Online Questionnaires for Transgender and Transgender Friendly Identities
Taken from Appendix 3 of the doctorate by Dr. Lee R J Middlehurst
The quantitative experiences previously detailed have assisted my qualitative analysis of transgenderism. My extensive quantitative and qualitative studies abilities have enabled designing suitable international questionnaires regarding trans* people. I liaised with Katie Glover, the organiser for the Gender Society website, which seems to have a substantial international membership.[1] Resulting from this liaison, I designed six different multiple-choice trans* themed questionnaires in November/December 2006, which were hosted on this website from 2nd January 2007 to approximately 12th December 2010. As I co-own these questionnaires and I am able to quote them within my qualitative sociological research examined in this thesis.
While my qualitative research analyses localised data, these quantitative questionnaires produce information that is international.[2] These questionnaires concern:
- ‘Significant Others’ [49 questions]
- FTM transsexual people [80 questions]
- MTF transsexual people [84 questions]
- MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists [83 questions]
- FTM transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists [75 questions]
- ‘Trans Admirers’ [50 questions]
These multiple-choice questions were designed to enable quick completion by respondents. The questions were phrased and arranged in the questionnaires to maximise productive responses. Some questions were deliberately intended to be subtle, such as those that included options that seemed to repeat certain queries. However, this was deliberate in order to check the consistency of the respondents’ answers.
Shortly after they were launched on the Gender Society website, there were comments by a few trans* people who were concerned about the appropriateness of my knowledge. With courteous interactions with them, they were reassured that my design of these questionnaires was guided by personal experience and by ethical values.
The questionnaires gained 390,227 data inputs from the respondents. Some provisional data has been partially re-presented in articles on the Gender Society website, predominantly to encourage more respondents. The article featured below is partially copied from the paper that was presented to Government representatives on Sunday 10th July 2011 at Sparkle 2011. The contents of this article are gathered from the presently complete data gathering prior to processing them in more depth through the SPSS statistical analysis computer program. This article does not use the ‘trans*’ term so the applications of ‘trans’ in it derive from the abbreviation of ‘transgender’ and not references to gender transitioning.
The Six Transgender Identity Questionnaires
It’s a strange feeling for me knowing that these online questionnaires have closed for now. They may be re-launched at a future date. Firstly, the present data will be assessed and then other areas may need to be touched upon that were not detailed in the original questionnaires. Tell us what you think! What’s important to you? Please contact me.
At the moment I’m working very hard on my PhD about transgender (‘trans’) people in Manchester’s Gay Village. Though, I feel that name is becoming less and less relevant now - more of a ‘Gay friendly Village’ as one interviewee said to me. I am finding that I am combining some of my PhD work with these questionnaires, which was inevitable. Whilst they are not formally linked, one does inform the other.
In previous reviews, I mentioned that the questionnaires were designed to be processed through the sophisticated program SPSS. It allows presenting further and more detailed interesting results. The time constraints of my PhD have slowed down my analysis. This may be partly remedied when I am close to a completion date for my studies.
I can barely believe what’s happened over the last … eight years - I have to check in my head! Yep. Late 2003 I began my Masters in Gender Studies. There, I chose to write about trans people, simply because … I’m trans and I’ve made so many special trans friends in Manchester and beyond. On msn, I regularly chat with a trans woman who lives in the US. She does lot of work in New York, researching for a writer. I got to know her after she emailed me saying she’d done one of these questionnaires and asked could she help in some way. Now, she’s become a friend.
So, what am I going to write about the questionnaires here? What's due to happen with them? There are several options that are in the pipeline connected with serious support and recognition for your efforts. I cannot say in detail what they are because final decisions are yet to be made.
So let’s look at some more present results from them.
Firstly, I will show some results that are a little different from my previous articles. Let’s start by looking at Female To Male (FTM) trans people. Why you ask? You’d be surprised.
Age ranges:
It’s interesting that seemingly in two patterns the numbers increase with age – those from 20 to 34 and those 35 to 60+. This could be a blip in the results that might not be obvious in a larger sample. However, I wonder if there maybe some significant social factor going on here affecting gender expression. Looking at the age ranges, I could guess some issues during the late 1980s, early 1990s but I can only be more certain following interviews.
As with Male-To-Female (MTF) trans people, the educational levels of FTM trans people are above average. Reviewing results of those having at least an undergraduate degree, we find:
I should stress again that educational levels do not always indicate intellectual levels. There will certainly be an educational bias of doing this sort of data collection. Now, the first two figures differing by 6% is quite curious. Could that indicate a closer educational range for respondents who identify as MTF transsexual people to normal variations? There is certainly some subtle factor playing here.
All this brings me onto talking about sample size and sample bias. This is a complex area of discussion. So-called medical ‘experts’ often give major conclusions about us resulting from extremely small sample sizes. I’ve read conclusions based upon results gained from studying just seven individuals. I’ve read PhDs with massive generalisations about us as well and they’re supposed to be less biased than medical ‘experts’. There are some PhD writings concerning trans issues that have been excellent but several are quite insufficient in their data gathering.
The tests can also being shaped by the types of people chosen to assess. Past medical ‘experts’ for instance, have gained data from psychiatric patients analysed within hospitals. No chance of gaining realistic data there then...
Some sociologists try to get more complete data by studying individuals in heterosexual transvestite clubs. Yup, this has happened. Several times. AND they were full of assumptions and judgements.
Much larger sample sizes have been gained - 1073 on one occasion. However, they were limited by not being international and only gained from ‘acceptable’ respondents. Assessors with their own criteria set them up. One who was notably homophobic and against any suggestion of trans sexual issues - contradicting her own written trans experiences. The other being infamous for his conclusions about trans people…
So is my data better? Well the samples sizes are large and international. (Thank you!) I should note that I’ve not quoted survey data from the ‘significant others’ questionnaire I’ve designed because the sample size is far too small. A shame really but as a lot of us are aware that many significant others either aren’t aware of their partners’ trans identities or chose not to be (or are not) actively involved. The above FTM data combined both FTM transsexual people and FTM transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. I would have liked to have much bigger data here to use. However, a lot of FTM trans people aren’t interested in any sites that have any connections with femininity which sadly meant the collective nature of these questionnaires on a site with a large MTF membership could have inhibited FTM trans participants. At some stage I’d like to discuss the data collection in texts but only in a more general way and not drawing major conclusions from such a small sample size.
Data size is largest from MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists, then MTF transsexual people and then ‘Trans Admirers’.
Coincidently, I’ve recently met several ‘Trans Admirers’ just recently (met not dated!). One woman, who was in her late teens when I met her, I found she was attracted to MTF trans people. She’s bisexual and now in her early 20s. I have a friend who doesn’t cross-dress himself but his girlfriend admits that she fancies MTF cross-dressers. I’ve met FTM transsexual people who fancy some MTF trans people. I’ve met some women who identify as lesbian but are also attracted to trans people (some to MTF trans people; some to FTM trans people). I should add that many lesbians have an indifference to MTF trans people. Some are strongly against us, which is ironic because mainstream societal prejudice against trans people and against women comes from the same source.
That’s enough of me going on about statistics and stuff! Let’s deal with more actual data results!
Looking at occupations of various trangendered people:
For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
As with Male-To-Female (MTF) trans people, the educational levels of FTM trans people are above average. Reviewing results of those having at least an undergraduate degree, we find:
- 40% of FTM trans people
- 34% of MTF transsexual people
- 41% of MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists
I should stress again that educational levels do not always indicate intellectual levels. There will certainly be an educational bias of doing this sort of data collection. Now, the first two figures differing by 6% is quite curious. Could that indicate a closer educational range for respondents who identify as MTF transsexual people to normal variations? There is certainly some subtle factor playing here.
All this brings me onto talking about sample size and sample bias. This is a complex area of discussion. So-called medical ‘experts’ often give major conclusions about us resulting from extremely small sample sizes. I’ve read conclusions based upon results gained from studying just seven individuals. I’ve read PhDs with massive generalisations about us as well and they’re supposed to be less biased than medical ‘experts’. There are some PhD writings concerning trans issues that have been excellent but several are quite insufficient in their data gathering.
The tests can also being shaped by the types of people chosen to assess. Past medical ‘experts’ for instance, have gained data from psychiatric patients analysed within hospitals. No chance of gaining realistic data there then...
Some sociologists try to get more complete data by studying individuals in heterosexual transvestite clubs. Yup, this has happened. Several times. AND they were full of assumptions and judgements.
Much larger sample sizes have been gained - 1073 on one occasion. However, they were limited by not being international and only gained from ‘acceptable’ respondents. Assessors with their own criteria set them up. One who was notably homophobic and against any suggestion of trans sexual issues - contradicting her own written trans experiences. The other being infamous for his conclusions about trans people…
So is my data better? Well the samples sizes are large and international. (Thank you!) I should note that I’ve not quoted survey data from the ‘significant others’ questionnaire I’ve designed because the sample size is far too small. A shame really but as a lot of us are aware that many significant others either aren’t aware of their partners’ trans identities or chose not to be (or are not) actively involved. The above FTM data combined both FTM transsexual people and FTM transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. I would have liked to have much bigger data here to use. However, a lot of FTM trans people aren’t interested in any sites that have any connections with femininity which sadly meant the collective nature of these questionnaires on a site with a large MTF membership could have inhibited FTM trans participants. At some stage I’d like to discuss the data collection in texts but only in a more general way and not drawing major conclusions from such a small sample size.
Data size is largest from MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists, then MTF transsexual people and then ‘Trans Admirers’.
Coincidently, I’ve recently met several ‘Trans Admirers’ just recently (met not dated!). One woman, who was in her late teens when I met her, I found she was attracted to MTF trans people. She’s bisexual and now in her early 20s. I have a friend who doesn’t cross-dress himself but his girlfriend admits that she fancies MTF cross-dressers. I’ve met FTM transsexual people who fancy some MTF trans people. I’ve met some women who identify as lesbian but are also attracted to trans people (some to MTF trans people; some to FTM trans people). I should add that many lesbians have an indifference to MTF trans people. Some are strongly against us, which is ironic because mainstream societal prejudice against trans people and against women comes from the same source.
That’s enough of me going on about statistics and stuff! Let’s deal with more actual data results!
Looking at occupations of various trangendered people:
For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
For MTF transsexual people:
The ranges of occupations here are extremely similar. Again, this perhaps re-emphasises that, to some extent, all trans people are gender dysphoric.
Look at these tables concerning MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. Here, I asked ‘Do you feel more relaxed cross-dressed than in male mode?’:
Look at these tables concerning MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. Here, I asked ‘Do you feel more relaxed cross-dressed than in male mode?’:
Now I need to stress here that I’m not suggesting for a moment that MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists will transition. Most will not. For many transitioning will never be the correct choice. Now consider this table in response to the question ‘Do you feel more confident cross-dressed than in male mode?’
The response is not so definite for being relaxed. I can think of possible reasons for this variation but I would need more information coming from face to face interviews.
The first table does clearly suggest that MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists also feel gender dysphoria, some stronger than others. Perhaps it is not so strong that they wish to transition. As I have written before, my own first memory of cross-dressing is when I was four years old and cross-dressed quite a number of times before puberty. So my cross-dressing was definitely not related to sexual feelings! I strongly considered transitioning when I was 24 but I decided not to for several reasons. I do not regret my decision. Just recently, a post-operative transsexual friend expressed to me that if I decided to transition she would support me. I still will not transition. My work for other trans people (and my environmental work as well) is far more important than me.
I did wonder if, perhaps, the two pie charts shown previously give a possible clue about many trans people’s self perceptions and how they regard the various forms of transgenderism.
I’ll explain specifically what I theorise may be an influence. ‘Out of the closet’ transsexual people often encounter significant (unfair, unwarranted) prejudice. That prejudice by many in the mainstream conventional societies denies many trans people employment (and residence etc.) security. Many trans people are too aware of this situation and it is even more pronounced in countries, like the US, where security from the benefits system or medical support to transition are unavailable or have limited availability. Many who regard themselves as transsexual do not dare to be ‘out’ for fear of losing that security, plus losing the financial ability to have surgeries to assist transitioning.
I would suggest then that many trans people are not (completely) ‘out’ and that includes many of those who define themselves as transsexual.
Now, this links with something I’ve just been reading about – definitions of transgender identity. This definitely does differ from country to country. Unfortunately, the preconceptions, held by many in the ‘mainstream’, is that all trans people are transvestites and all get a sexual thrill from cross‑dressing. Oh, yes, and we’re apparently all gay as well! Sadly, this misinformed attitude is still shown in some academic and medical writings.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone being gay, and we know that a few trans people are known as transvestic fetishists. OK, fair enough. Unfortunately, that affects how we view the term ‘transsexual’. We have come to associate ‘sexual’ with referring to ‘sexual intercourse’ rather than ‘sexual identity’. There is so much uncertainty about the appropriate terms to use. Within academia the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ mean different things. ‘Sex’ is regarded as the physical identity (female/male) whereas gender is regarded as how we act (feminine/masculine). But, then it can be strongly affected by the cultures in different countries. For instance, do Americans have a different view of ‘masculine’ behaviour than British people? How marked are their views?
OK, getting back onto more data results. I asked respondents ‘How did your transgendered identity affect a relationship?’ Below are the responses:
For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
The first table does clearly suggest that MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists also feel gender dysphoria, some stronger than others. Perhaps it is not so strong that they wish to transition. As I have written before, my own first memory of cross-dressing is when I was four years old and cross-dressed quite a number of times before puberty. So my cross-dressing was definitely not related to sexual feelings! I strongly considered transitioning when I was 24 but I decided not to for several reasons. I do not regret my decision. Just recently, a post-operative transsexual friend expressed to me that if I decided to transition she would support me. I still will not transition. My work for other trans people (and my environmental work as well) is far more important than me.
I did wonder if, perhaps, the two pie charts shown previously give a possible clue about many trans people’s self perceptions and how they regard the various forms of transgenderism.
I’ll explain specifically what I theorise may be an influence. ‘Out of the closet’ transsexual people often encounter significant (unfair, unwarranted) prejudice. That prejudice by many in the mainstream conventional societies denies many trans people employment (and residence etc.) security. Many trans people are too aware of this situation and it is even more pronounced in countries, like the US, where security from the benefits system or medical support to transition are unavailable or have limited availability. Many who regard themselves as transsexual do not dare to be ‘out’ for fear of losing that security, plus losing the financial ability to have surgeries to assist transitioning.
I would suggest then that many trans people are not (completely) ‘out’ and that includes many of those who define themselves as transsexual.
Now, this links with something I’ve just been reading about – definitions of transgender identity. This definitely does differ from country to country. Unfortunately, the preconceptions, held by many in the ‘mainstream’, is that all trans people are transvestites and all get a sexual thrill from cross‑dressing. Oh, yes, and we’re apparently all gay as well! Sadly, this misinformed attitude is still shown in some academic and medical writings.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with someone being gay, and we know that a few trans people are known as transvestic fetishists. OK, fair enough. Unfortunately, that affects how we view the term ‘transsexual’. We have come to associate ‘sexual’ with referring to ‘sexual intercourse’ rather than ‘sexual identity’. There is so much uncertainty about the appropriate terms to use. Within academia the words ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ mean different things. ‘Sex’ is regarded as the physical identity (female/male) whereas gender is regarded as how we act (feminine/masculine). But, then it can be strongly affected by the cultures in different countries. For instance, do Americans have a different view of ‘masculine’ behaviour than British people? How marked are their views?
OK, getting back onto more data results. I asked respondents ‘How did your transgendered identity affect a relationship?’ Below are the responses:
For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
‘Other’ responses have been quite interesting. It was expressed that the transgender identity has been kept secret which a frequent situation I’ve come across during my PhD research. One respondent intriguingly expressed ‘lower sex drive/life’ for a reason. Being ‘widowed’ has also been mentioned as the reason for why the transgender identity surfaced. I have also come across this last situation a couple of times before when a person cross-dressed because that was how he felt close to his beloved late wife.
For MTF transsexual people:
For MTF transsexual people:
One ‘Other’ response included ‘led me to being with a Trans woman’. This I have encountered several times during my PhD work in Manchester. There is something to be said for being with someone who completely understands you and does not judge who you are, especially with the transphobic prejudices often expressed within mainstream societies.
Again these last two diagrams of relationships show strong similarities between MTF transsexual people and MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. Not surprisingly transsexual people show a slightly lower response to whether their transgender identity had no effect on their relationship and a very slightly higher response to it causing an unpleasant breakup. However, the latter figures are within statistical variation (~4%) so we must be careful about drawing too many conclusions from such small differences.
The following data concerns sexuality for MTF trans people. For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
Again these last two diagrams of relationships show strong similarities between MTF transsexual people and MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists. Not surprisingly transsexual people show a slightly lower response to whether their transgender identity had no effect on their relationship and a very slightly higher response to it causing an unpleasant breakup. However, the latter figures are within statistical variation (~4%) so we must be careful about drawing too many conclusions from such small differences.
The following data concerns sexuality for MTF trans people. For MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists:
Now, for the entries regarding sexuality when cross-dressed I suspect that many of the respondents gave multiple entries. So, someone who identifies as bisexual may also fill out the ‘attracted to men’ and ‘attracted to women’ entries as well! It is interesting that the results for attracted to women when cross-dressed are the largest column. Is this added result from respondents who are always cross-dressed?
For MTF transsexual people, the results are:
For MTF transsexual people, the results are:
The design of this section was made with prior slightly unfortunate assumptions on my part. Being from the UK, I drew a distinction between MTF transsexual people and MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists in the variation between cross‑dressed and not cross‑dressed. It had not occurred to me that so many transsexual people from outside the UK (and I’m sure several in the UK as well) might have different perceptions of sexuality when they are expressing their transgenderism ‘visually’ and in ‘male mode’. However, I designed these questionnaires to be as flexible as possible. Therefore, I may, hopefully, be able to gain some further related insights into sexuality through other data.
I have designed data gathering about sexuality within this questionnaire because I wanted to show a fuller picture of transgenderism. I want data to contradict stereotypical assumptions about trans people. The data clearly shows that most MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists are not gay (contradicting mainstream bigotries), nor are they strongly sexually driven (contradicting some so called medical and academic ‘experts’). Additionally, similar data for MTF transsexual people show that just like any non-trans human being, there is a range of sexual desires and stimulations.
In other words, all trans people are so like ‘normal’ people in many ways – in most ways.
For all the similarities regarding MTF transsexual people and MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists there is a finding that shows a quite disturbing difference. The difference regards counselling/therapy.
Here are the results for MTF transvestites/cross-dressers/transgenderists regarding their effectiveness:
I have designed data gathering about sexuality within this questionnaire because I wanted to show a fuller picture of transgenderism. I want data to contradict stereotypical assumptions about trans people. The data clearly shows that most MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists are not gay (contradicting mainstream bigotries), nor are they strongly sexually driven (contradicting some so called medical and academic ‘experts’). Additionally, similar data for MTF transsexual people show that just like any non-trans human being, there is a range of sexual desires and stimulations.
In other words, all trans people are so like ‘normal’ people in many ways – in most ways.
For all the similarities regarding MTF transsexual people and MTF transvestites/crossdressers/transgenderists there is a finding that shows a quite disturbing difference. The difference regards counselling/therapy.
Here are the results for MTF transvestites/cross-dressers/transgenderists regarding their effectiveness:
Below are the results for MTF transsexual people:
These results suggest that MTF transvestites/cross-dressers/transgenderists are significantly less likely to receive helpful ‘expert’ therapy/counselling than MTF transsexual people. This apparent lack of suitable support could suggest less appropriate knowledge of other forms of transgenderism than transsexualism or possibly greater prejudices against other forms of transgenderism than transsexualism.
However, perhaps this form of potential transphobia is significantly over shadowed by prejudices from hegemonic heteronormativity.
However, perhaps this form of potential transphobia is significantly over shadowed by prejudices from hegemonic heteronormativity.
Take care of yourselves and others,
Lee R J Middlehurst
[email protected]
10 Jun. 2011
Lee R J Middlehurst
[email protected]
10 Jun. 2011
Notes:
[1] Glover, K (2012) “Networking and Support for TG People.” from http://gendersociety.com/
[1] From Middlehurst, L. (Jul. 2011). The Six Transgender Identity Questionnaires: 16.
[1] From Middlehurst, L. (Jul. 2011). The Six Transgender Identity Questionnaires: 16.