Why are ITV lying about transmen in prisons?

My son requested we helped him to pick government implants out of his skin with a bread knife. Fortunately schizophrenia is recognised as a mental illness and is treated. If he had been asking to mutilate his genitalia then they’d have been encouraging him. Unwell people often commit self harm, whether as a coping mechanism or because they cannot recognise it. It is the responsibility of those caring for them to make compassionate decisions in their best interests. So the fact that the prisoner requested it doesn’t wash with me or make the prison service any less negligent in my eyes.

She would have asked to go to a men's prison. Insisted on it, in fact.

I've found the figures for March 2023, the most recent available, for Scotland.
12 trans women in the men’s estate
7 in the women’s estate
1 trans man in the men’s estate
3 trans men in the women’s estate.

The Scottish Prison Service has a Policy for the Management of Transgender People in Custody which I can't link to but which you can find by searching for the title.

I don't know where it was, I'm sure it wasn't specified.

One guess where Scotland.

I'm sure I read on here that one transman was sent to a men's prison, and she was quickly removed for her own safety.

Of course it’s in Scotland. God help her. Women in prison are already highly vulnerable and so are trans-identified females. But sure let’s throw her in with violent men.

I can’t say I watch emmerdale but I don’t think that is accurate for all trans-identified females. Some use gender neutral toilets (the single user ones) for fear of assault. They may be trying to live as men but many recognise they are female and at risk.

Thanks

The guidance docs are here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-care-and-management-of-individuals-who-are-transgender

It says:

4.51 Before making an allocation decision to the men’s estate/AP for a transgender man (with or without a GRC), a Complex Case Board will decide if a further risk assessment is required, focussing on risks to the individual from other male prisoners/residents, as well as any risks to other male prisoners/residents, with oversight by the Regional Psychologist lead, prior to any transfer.

So they can be sent to the male estate but not automatically.

At the end of the hearing Matty is bundled into a prisoner transport van with lots of very nasty male criminals muttering threats while Matty sobs. Their wife and Mum clutch each other in despair wailing " but he's not SAFE!!"

Why would that be? Other vulnerable men have to deal with it. They are making our point for us.

I thought I recall being told on here that there is actually no legal mechanism to trans back.

or trans back again. It only takes a minute

I don't think there's currently any way to "undo" a GRC. Once you've transitioned, you're stuck with it.

I wish I could find the source but can't at the moment. However, I do know I read recently that there were no transmen in male prisons in England and Wales and one in a male prison in Scotland

Matty has been an annoying character right from the start, she was also a wet blanket. I haven't watched for a few years now, what happened?

I'm guessing they will do what they usually do in soaps and treat that character as being "away in prison" as opposed to following their life on the inside and showing the reality of pretending sex is arbitrary.

They will come back saying prison "was hard but they got through it" and the writers will never have to confront the obvious practical issues this scenario would cause in reality.

But I don't think the Emmerdale writers have thought this through. Surely the central plank of transgender philosophy is that you are who you say you are? That if you are born female, and identify as a trans man, then you are a trans man and should be treated in every respect the same as those born male. If the character is a trans man, then surely they would be delighted to have their gender identity validated by being sent to a men's prison.

Yes, exactly.

Interesting and will get people thinking. If a trans man is vulnerable in a men's prison, why would that be 🤔 This is a case where when sex matters it really matters.

Quite right too. Transmen are men after all. This is what equality looks like. Unless...

Men are far more likely to commit knife crime than women. Despite media / activist/ academic effort to convince ordinary people that both sexes are equally violent, there's such a depressing steady stream of men committing stabbings in the news that ordinary people do still understand this fact.

TV choosing to portray a stabby woman immediately makes you look, because it's unusual. Just like we do in the news. It also makes you analyse the female perhaps more than you would the stabby male (because we're so habituated to them).

So what's the underlying message, ITV? Is it about the character's innate manliness? Or about the risk of hormones? Danger of straying into transphobia here....

The first thing to note is that the numbers are tiny. According to this Telegraph piece on official data, there are 225 male-born transgender prisoners and 43 female-born transgender prisoners. These figures don't include prisoners with a GRC - apparently there are 13 of those in total.

The Telegraph story doesn't say where the female-born (ie trans men) prisoners are housed. But I don't think the Emmerdale writers have thought this through. Surely the central plank of transgender philosophy is that you are who you say you are? That if you are born female, and identify as a trans man, then you are a trans man and should be treated in every respect the same as those born male. If the character is a trans man, then surely they would be delighted to have their gender identity validated by being sent to a men's prison.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/28/prisons-now-housing-record-number-of-transgender-inmates/