Why society has a long way to go in terms of acceptance for Trans People

The Hangout Archive
, , ,
1

Warning: This topic discusses some serious issues with transphobia, if this is triggering for you, please do not read it.

I think it’s pretty well known that majority of trans people struggle when it comes to coming out, acceptance, transitioning ect. But why is that? Why do we have to fear for our safety when we come out? Why do we have to face so much rejection just to be ourselves? H-ll, in most countries they debate whether we should be allowed to exist, and yea, at this point, saying that I’m getting pretty annoyed is a gross understatement.

According to this site:

  • In 2019, 331 trans people were murdered in the USA
  • In 2020, that number rose to 350
  • By the third of February, 2021, 14 trans people had already died
  • The average age of those murdered is only 31, and the youngest was only 15. I’m 15. It’s terrifying.

And these are only the US’s stats. Supposedly one of the ‘best countries in the world’. Doesn’t say much for the rest of the world.
(I would have posted the UK’s stats but I couldn’t find any. Please post below if you can)

Another ‘interesting’ point is that the UK does not acknowledge non binary genders. There is no ‘X’ option for us here, and the government will only allow someone to state if they are male or female.

In case you would like evidence

Another thing - Most countries don’t acknowledge our existence. We are not ‘officially’ killed in any country, simply because they don’t allow us an official existence. Instead, we are criminalised in around 70 countries (from what I could gather at this site), where in 12 we could face the death penalty, all for being assumed gay.

Maybe these countries aren’t ‘First World’, but that does not mean we don’t care about them. Trans people are being killed worldwide, and we cannot just stand by and allow them to suffer without help. Personally, I have hope that some day this will gain the same traction that ‘Black Lives Matter’ has, hopefully even greater - but the realist in me knows that it’s unlikely. Not for a long time yet, simply because not enough people care. I will never stop fighting, but most people will never start. Society needs to do better

Now, even apart from our lack of legal protection, there are hundreds of issues and difficulties that trans people experience outside of the law. It’s a lot to get into, but here are some statistics:

  • According to here, 85% of Trans homicide victims were misgendered in the intial reports of their deaths in 2017

  • 12% of trans people made (TW) an attempt to take their own life in the last year, compared to 2% of LGB people who aren’t trans according to this

  • Almost half of trans people (46%) have had thoughts about (TW) taking their own life in the last year, compared to 31% of LGB people who aren’t trans according to this

  • More than a third of trans people (35%) have (TW) self-harmed in the last year, compared to 14% of LGB people who aren’t trans according to this

  • Two thirds of trans people (67%) have experienced depression in the last year. this

  • Seven in ten trans people (71%) have experienced anxiety in the last year. this

  • One in five trans people (19%) have experienced an eating disorder in the last year. this

  • This PDF has a number more stats on Trans people - Just a warning, they include uncensored mentions of Assault (verbal, physical and general), Suicide and self harm, Mental illnesses

Despite rumours floating around about trans life expectancies, the sad truth is we aren’t even acknowledged enough to know. Our deaths aren’t recorded as ‘trans deaths’. Just deaths. Sometimes we get a mention of being a ‘man in woman’s clothing’, or a ‘little girl known for being a tom-boy’. That’s about it. This site explains it in better terms

In conclusion - us being trans is not the problem.
Society is.
We need to unlearn transphobic beliefs, and raise our children to at the very least be accepting of people who are different. Lives are at stake. I want to be able to live in a world where I am not hated by the majority, but I honestly don’t know if it’s gonna happen. I hope for my future childrens’ sakes that they get to experience it

@Discussions @LGBTCommunity

10 Likes
2

Tags added! :innocent:

3

I think society still has a long way to go in terms of acceptance for trans people because, when it comes down to it, people are afraid of what they don’t understand and there are still a lot of people out there who won’t make an attempt to understand trans people. We also have a long way to go because there are still people out there insisting that it’s ‘too complex’ for children to understand and refusing to educate them about trans people. As a result of that, children with transphobic parents are growing up holding the same prejudice as their parents and it creates this cycle of hatred that won’t be broken unless we start educating people about trans people early in life.

1 Like
4

yes!!
So many people will promote transphobic things and pat themselves on the back afterwards, thinking they’ve done the world a justice
So many parents will openly admit that they’d disown or even kill their child if they came out as trans.
It’s not just one individual’s thoughts and actions - it’s society as a whole

1 Like
5

Also the fact people are still so vexed over pronouns like

If you mess up someone’s pronouns like once or twice but correct yourself after, nobody is gonna yell at you.

It’s when people just do it on purpose then when they’re corrected they make a f*ckin, attack helicopter joke and say how people are so offended these days. It may not sound as bad as murder but it still has the same reasoning, treating someone badly or abnormally because they’re trans.

1 Like
6

my thing exactly! Yo tbh its not even a joke tho like. :see_no_evil:

7

Closed due to inactivity