Cervical screening health promotion using Transgender model - counterproductive?

I suspect they have an ad campaign aimed at trans men and have just swapped out the text, clapping themselves on the back at how inclusive they are. Representation obviously doesn’t matter if you’re a Middle Age woman.

I honestly wonder whether people will interpret the model as a boyfriend figure (yes, the hair is a bit OTT, but they have stubble

Yes I thought that too.

RedToothBrush

I expect to have some of our recent posters come and tell you that you are wrong (even though you are right). And there are many older transitioned females. They are friends with many.

Of course there will be very few, if any, stock images of older transitioned females. As you say… the invisible age of women.

Let’s see if you get a compelling rebuttal though?

If you are aiming an ad, not this ad, at the very small group of transitioned females who also need the message and are not on any lists you might.

They're unlikely to want to be called "women". Which is of course the correct term as adult human female people, but it wouldn't be a choice likely to appeal to this group.

X post

The photo does not match the text - to make the ad effective it needs to show a menopausal woman in her 50s.

This ad? This ad is a red hot mess.

Maybe stick a picture of a middle aged, menopausal woman on there and I would notice it.
But middle aged menopausal women are invisible so nobody would notice it.

Unless of course, many transmen actually accept they are still women and aren't as militant as many campaigner would have us believe...

And if the value of the health of these women was taken seriously they'd stump up the cash for an appropriate photo.

Its also worth considering why a stock photo company wont have an image of a transman of the right age to begin with. We know the demographics on transitioning... And how mysteriously its not middle age women unlike for males.

Schrodingers middle age woman does spring to mind here to me in a different way. Important enough and numerous enough to target in a dedicated campaign, but not enough of them to have the right photo which will best capture their attention and help them identify with the campaign properly to do the whole 'person like me' thing. Valued and yet not valued enough.

Its massively superficial.

This would be fine if it was an advert for transmen. With text appropriate to that group.

Not as an advert for menopausal/ peri menopausal women. The text and photographs need to match. This advert does not work for any group.

No let’s not use a transman who is ‘known’. Most people don’t know any Transmen. Let’s keep it as simple as possible, that’s what these campaigns should be. Reach your target audience in the most efficient, simplest way that us understood by everyone. If we’re going to use 1 person then use a woman who looks late 40s/50s. Ok you could use someone well known like Davina or Trish Goddard.

I honestly wonder whether people will interpret the model as a boyfriend figure (yes, the hair is a bit OTT, but they have stubble), and take "I'm doing it for me" to be a rebuke to him, like "Take that, Daddy-O, I'm going to my smear test no matter what you say, because I'm worth it!".

How completely random. Given the context (i.e. no mention of transgenderism), the average person is going to look at that, see a man, and be completely baffled.

I'm baffled for a different reason - that they've used good old-fashioned "woman" in the text despite the photo. I mean, I'm glad they did. But they're not going to please the genderists. Perhaps they're about to find that out.

Schrodinger's middle aged woman .... both completely invisible; and yet part of an army of dinosaurs defending Terf Island.

(ive pretty much done this exact job in the past).

As i say, it would be quicker to do a targeted hand delivered letter or personalised call, for the numbers affected in the target age group.

And I agree. If they are accessible that way. Are they even registered for cervical screening, though?

Do these young people need an awareness campaign to build awareness in the first place?

As I said, it is not an onerous task time or budget to do a small very targeted campaign on social media if you have someone with the skills and you don’t have to outsource.

I also was very clear on the first page in saying this particular ad was a failure.

Instead theyve blown how much on this, and alienated / confused the message with how many other - arguably higher risk women who would like to make an informed decision on this.

Its a very good example of throwing women under the bus to show off your inclusive credentials. Rather that thinking about womens health and the best way to communicate a message.

Now im not a fan of the cervical screening programme to begin with. I have a massive issue with how its promoted in a sexist way and how women's concerns are minimised / belittled etc at the best of times. This is yet another example of a campaign which isn't really putting limited resources to best use and isn't centring women properly.

They are an afterthought to political ideas rather than consideration given to how you best convey a health message and the risks of fucking it up badly.

I’d be happier if there was no beard if I’m honest - there must be some iconic, cool and interesting photos of gender non conforming women with short hair/blue hair/no hair/ face tattoos/ playing football/ scholing beers etc.

Sorry my mistake. , I meant transman.

why did they not choose an older menopausal transwoman as well as pictures of menopausal women.

Transman—which is why I suggested Sam Hall as being in around the correct age demographic. Sam Hall writes in a number of outlets and was an author of the Brighton and Hove report on pre-natal rather than maternity services.

Because they do need to have the information.

Of course they do but if that is the case why did they not choose an older menopausal transwoman as well as pictures of menopausal women.

why is it valuable to feature such a minuscule group?

Because it's a hot topic in health care research that TM and NB are not presenting for screening. (I'm setting aside the issue of the risk-benefit of screening right here but there's a discussion on another thread.) Now some of the research indicates that this is more around dysphoria than lack of awareness of eligibility, IYSWIM, but some weren't aware of the impact of a M marker.

Of 134 participants, 82 (61%) were aware that TMNB registered with their GP as male are not routinely called for cervical screening appointments. This did not differ significantly between those above and below the age for screening eligibility (P = 0.86) (data not shown).

Attitudes of transgender men and non-binary people to cervical screening: a cross-sectional mixed-methods study in the UK

Alison M Berner, et al
British Journal of General Practice 2021; 71 (709): e614-e625. DOI: doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2020.0905

bjgp.org/content/71/709/e614

Do we need the word ‘woman’ in healthcare? Sara Dahlen

A deeper concern is whether gender inclusive linguistic changes could have the unintended consequence of making biological sex conceptually less visible and much more difficult to clearly explain in healthcare and medical education.

pmj.bmj.com/content/postgradmedj/97/1150/483.full.pdf

So, overall, and to demonstrate inclusivity, this probably drove the thinking about a small group of people. I would be interested to see the piloting of the general impact if there are no other materials available (as per Dahlen article).

So again, why is it valuable to feature such a minuscule group?

Because they do need to have the information.

However, the budget needed to get to them via social media only may not be out of reach because they are small and if you can target them it will not be a huge cost. If someone on the marketing team is savvy with photoshop etc.

Of course, the majority of the budget needs to be allocated to getting the message out to those most in need.

But a very small tweak of an image and text and some targeting to particular followers of a particular charity in a certain region or something very targeted and it can be done with a small budget.

As to the image, if a well known person in the target audience donated their image for use it would be even better.

Although, as someone else pointed out, it could also be cost effective to call them up specifically. Not as many ‘signaling’ points though.