Transgender

I have just learned from the Center for Women and Gender (the old WRC) that “In a year marked with TWO DOZEN [emphasis in original] reported anti-transgender murders, members of the transgendered community will be holding events on November 20th to honor those lost.” I somehow missed the events, but I have to question the statistics.

If twenty-four transgendered people were murdered, even at the normal homocide rate (i.e. no one was murdered because they were transgender) that means that there are approximately 400,000 transgender people in America (I’m using the 1999 FBI homocide rate of 5.7 murders per 100,000 people). This means that only 1/700 Americans are transgendered (bear in mind the term includes cross-dressers); somehow this seems like a vast underestimation.

So, by hosting these events are we discrediting many transgendered people, or are we simply promoting bullshit statistics and using them to promote a non-existent cause? Or, alternatively, am I simply wrong, and only 1/1000 or 1/10,000 people are transgender? If anyone has reliable data on the number of transgender people in America, I’d love to hear them.

Be the first to comment on "Transgender"

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.


*