News at 11: reporting on trans issues still of patchy quality; water still wet.
There’s a post which has recently been reappearing in my Tumblr dashboard on a regular basis. It’s a quote from an article in Guernica magazine (Trans-Formative Change) which in its opening sentence asserts that “The average life span of a transgendered person is twenty-three years“. The Tumblr quote is usually simply ‘liked’ and the few comments on it seem to be along the lines of “OMG teh poor trans ppl this is shocking“. While I’m broadly in agreement with the sentiment of the commenters, the authoritative tone of the assertion didn’t sit at all comfortably with me. Twenty-three years? Really?
From my point of view, part of the problem with much mainstream reporting on trans issues arises from a lack of understanding of basic terminology (although I also accept that there seem to be many definitions of transgender and transsexual; the recent flame wars on some other blogs bear witness to that), and another part of the problem is the lack of availability of long-term, coordinated research into the lived experiences of trans people.
I emailed the editors at Guernica to ask where the figure came from and they referred me to a 2010 article in The Daily Texan (caution: contains problematic reporting).
[...] Because of high rates of suicide, homicide and homelessness that impact the trans community, the international average life expectancy for a trans person is 23, according to the Equity (sic) Network.
Tracking back from there to the website of the Equality Network, it seems that the Daily Texan reporter has taken a speculative comment and rewritten it as if it’s an absolute, objective fact (this is not the first time I’ve seen journalists do this and I doubt it’ll be the last). The original wording on the Equality Network site is:
Globally average transgender person’s life expectancy believed to be around 23 – due to suicide, murder, and large percentages of transgender young teenagers in various countries ending up homeless and involved in drugs/prostitution/crime. [Via Crossing the Strands: Transgender workshops]
The key phrase there is “believed to be“: a significantly different emphasis from stating that it “is“. It’s also interesting to note that the Equality Network quote is from a 2007 report of a conference workshop although the origin of the “twenty-three years” figure is not attributed to any specific source. However, it’s interesting to note that, according to a 2007 UK survey, the average age for trans women undergoing surgery between 2004 and 2007 was 41 years. (Direct link to PDF of Feminizing genitoplasty in adult transsexuals: early and long-term surgical results – caution: contains graphic images)
I realise that it’s often accepted that the average age of transitioning (and by inference, the average age of trans people, too) is falling – due to such factors as increased awareness and acceptance – but I’m still finding it difficult to square the stated life expectancy of 23 with the age of surgery as 41. Even though not all trans people undergo surgery, it still seems a big discrepancy – and I do think that the continued publication of poorly-researched journalism, even when it adopts a generally supportive stance towards trans people, still manages to subliminally reinforce the erroneous ideas that many cis people have about us. Consequently, for all its good intentions, it actually contributes to obstructing, not supporting, us in our struggle for social justice and human rights.
Shorter Helen: I’ve not been able to verify the authenticity of the statement “The average life span of a transgendered person is twenty-three years“.
Homer Simpson: “Oh, people can come up with statistics to prove anything. 14% of people know that.”
As far as the discrepancy between the “average life expectancy” and the age of surgery goes… the former is apparently taking into account trans experiences around the world, including people in developing countries; while the latter focused on MTFs in one developed country who underwent surgery. There are a number of differing factors there, including access to health care (in terms of the surgery) and social mores.
Regardless, however, that average life expectancy of 23, assuming it is a reasonable estimate, is far, far too short.
Seamyst
15 Mar 11 at 9:25 am
I also emailed Guernica about this. They haven’t responded. It seemed to me a highly contentious figure to quote without following it with clear citations. A cursory search at the time for various keyword combinations brought up nothing that could be regarded as the source.
What I found most disturbing was that such a figure, which bears no resemblance to anything I have read in the past several years is being used as the pull-quote for the book being published that was the core of the article. I found the same quote now leading the blurb for the book on Amazon.
Based on such a figure, I would expect to see any figures for transgendered (or even transsexual) people broken down by age to show a marked skewing of the Bell curve to the left that could only be explained by mortality, which I can’t ever recall. I would also think such a figure would have been reflected in some way in the “Injustice at Every Turn” report, which is not the case.
Without seeing proper sources, such a quote falls under the definition of weasel words.
(Glad you said something about it though.)
Frances
15 Mar 11 at 11:36 am
I wonder if anyone has approached Dean Spade directly about that quote. I similarly was incredulous about that “statistic”, but I found the rest of the article/interview so good that I guess I just let it go.
If you look at the amazon description of Spade’s upcoming/new book (http://www.amazon.com/Gender-Compliance-Politics-Neoliberal-Landscape/dp/0896087964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300227162&sr=8-1) that “statistic” is the first sentence. I find it pretty unfortunate that Spade couldn’t fact check that a little more. When I passed around that guernica link, I got a lot of (rightful) backchannel talk about the veracity of that stat.
jayinchicago
15 Mar 11 at 3:15 pm
I basically just said what Frances had already said. I apologize; I hadn’t read the comments here. /:
jayinchicago
15 Mar 11 at 3:17 pm
I am reminded a little of the story of a similarly frivolous statistic; “Three-quarters of all people have never made a phone call.” This was said, entirely speculatively, at a conference in 1994 and has never been investigated; when quoted, it is never dated, exactly as if (even assuming it was accurate in the first place, which is very unlikely) there had been no further steps in global development or technology, no mobile telephony revolution – in a world defined by bad statistics, the earth stands still.
And what is the point of both these statements? To make us say ‘ooh how pitiable!’ of the Other People, Over There, and therefore reflect upon how much better off we are than them.
Thene
15 Mar 11 at 3:38 pm
heh. Obviously an unsourced and useless statistic.
Though it did make we wonder how long trans folks live in, oh, someplace where people get by on a buck or two a day and 40 is old. Probably not “23″, right? But bad reporting and unsourced nonsense aside, there’s a whole bunch of us about whom we know…almost nothing.
jessl
16 Mar 11 at 7:21 am
A few years ago, the SF Bay Guardian printed an “expose” about trans people and immigration which included a pull quote which boldly stated: “2/3rds of all trans people have through the criminal justice system”. When I contacted the author and asked her for her source of that dubious stat, she gave me the name of a city report. Upon reading the report, it specifically said the stat was not about the entire trans community, but about a very narrow community of trans women sex workers who lived in the Tenderloin (a very rough neighborhood). She refused to clarify or retract the statement and I’ve seen it repeatedly linked to and referred to as fact, especially because it was published by a publication with a progressive rep. Allies… can’t live with ‘em or without ‘em.
ginasf
16 Mar 11 at 1:28 pm
Should say, “2/3rds of all trans people have been through the criminal justice system”
ginasf
16 Mar 11 at 1:29 pm
I think Seamyst is onto something, that different populations are being compared as if they’re one and the same.
I’d also add that trans women who have GRS very strongly tend to be white, middle-class or above, and “passable” (f’ing horrible word, I know) by cis gatekeeper standards, and living in the global north. These same privileges (that is, being white, middle-class+, conventionally feminine by cis standards, and global-northerner) make it more likely that these trans people will experience less violence and less intense discrimination than those who are oppressed on multiple axes.
I don’t believe the stat (living an average of 23 years) is valid, and I’d sure like to see good, well-researched sources for that (ahem, Dean, are you listening?)
But, based on the additional risks that trans* folk of color, poor trans* folk, etc face, I can’t believe that there isn’t *any* difference in the average lifespans.
GallingGalla
18 Mar 11 at 3:26 pm
In a sexuality course, I was informed we would not be dealing with trans identities in the class on gender identity because trans people were a tiny minority — 1 in 100,000 people.
Really, I said. So there are only 70 trans people in the entire province and I know all of them.
I did a little digging and found out that the 1 in 100,000 figure came from a tally of the number of SRS performed. On trans men. In Sweden. In 1968.
Here’s my contribution: 87% of all statistics on trans people are derived from consulting chicken entrails.
Matt
20 Nov 11 at 9:05 pm
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