UK not polarised over trans equality

As with any survey, the results can be gamed, depending on what you ask and what information and definitions you give to the respondants.

This is no different.

The report was written by an ex stonewall employee who is clearly biased as can be seen by the questions have you seen the times article on this

Well indeed.

I don't think answering "yes" to the two questions you mention means that it's all hunky dory!

Yes, there are limitations of surveys. It's not possible to check respondents understanding of questions and by necessity, wording can't be too complex. I would hope in a situation like this that qualitative work was done alongside to add more nuance, but it doesn't look that that was the case.

one in four knows a trans person personally

I call bullshit on this - who the hell did they ask?? On generous estimates only 0.007% of the population are trans. This is therefore statistically impossible.

How does that help, though, without defining terms? 'a trans woman is a woman' is incorrect if a woman means female, and meaningless if a woman means 'feeling like a person who feels like they think a woman should feel'.

Did they actually explain to people that 'trans woman' means transitioned male person and not transitioned female person, as I definitely know people who assume it's the other way round?

So my personal opinion is that yes, I think schools should talk to pupils about transgender issues and yes, I know a transgender person personally.

However, I do still think there are concerns around serious issues such as safeguarding and fairness in sport. I don't think answering "yes" to the two questions you mention means that it's all hunky dory!

According to the Times, Brighton was one of the centres for the survey. I suggest this means it was totally unrepresentative of average UK attitudes. Try repeating it in Bradford, for example!

Published on Thursday, the report reveals widespread acceptance that a trans woman is a woman and a trans man is a man, with 46% agreeing, 32% disagreeing, and 22% who don’t know, with agreement highest among younger generations.

Do the people agreeing TWAW and TMAM realise that all you have to do is say you’re the opposite sex rather than have surgery? I doubt it. Most people don’t seem to think identity trumps biology.

And? It's possible to be compassionate and fair and to also think women need single-sex (not gender) spaces away from males.

I found this survey very reassuring and it fits quite well with my own views.

I don't think there's anything surprising in that, it's exactly what plenty of people on here have been saying for years (despite this apparently being a hot bed of transphobia).

However, I note that there is no reference to more sensitive sex specific spaces that women's refuges and rape counselling/crisis centres. That's a key issue for me.

That’s nice
Nuanced is the best way to go, as is reasoned debate. Unfortunately some people seem to think you have to hold an absolute position
I also hope that the people questioned had all the relevant facts and properly understood the question. For example did the ones who believed Transwomen should be allowed in women only spaces understand that this meant people who were the same physically as they were before transition? Would the question have been more valid if physical characteristics had been referenced?

That's very comforting, thank you for posting. The debate online is so toxic that it's good to hear real people think in a more nuanced way.

What's your AIBU?