My Life CBBC Transgender

[MrsPatterson2014]

I have been reading these threads for months, never felt brave enough to post. Have been promted by my 7 and 9 year old telling me that people can be born in the wrong body and they are Transgender. They both repeated this as a matter of faith as being 7 and 9 their critical faculties are still very much in development. Hence a conversation with them about how no one can be born in the wrong body etc. Have only watched about 10 mind of the programme ( will watch the rest later) but was presented very uncritically. Am rambling a bit as in a hurry but I think my point is, should CBBC really be presenting this issue as fact to young and susceptible children?

From the Trans Murder Monitoring section of the Trans Respect site:

'On the occasion of the International Trans Day of Remembrance
.(TDoR),1 held every year on 20 November, the Transrespect versus Transphobia Worldwide (TvT) research project publishes updated data gathered through the Trans Murder Monitoring (TMM).2

The TDoR 2020 update reveals a total of 350 trans and gender-diverse people registered murdered between 1 October 2019 and 30 September 2020, representing a 6% increase in reported murders from the 2019 update.

The majority of the murders occurred in Brazil (152), Mexico (57), and the United States (28), adding up to a total of 3664 reported cases in 75 countries and territories worldwide between 1 January 2008 and 30 September 2020.

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TDoR 2020 data shows that:

350 trans and gender-diverse people were murdered, 6% more than in the TMM update 2019;

98% of those murdered globally were trans women or trans feminine people;

62% of murdered trans people whose occupation is known were sex workers;

People of colour make up 79% of the 28 trans people murdered in the USA;

11 trans people murdered in Europe; 50% were migrants;

82% of all the murders registered happened in Central and South America; 43% in Brazil;

38% of the murders took place on the street and 22% in their own residence;

The average age of those murdered is 31 years old; the youngest being 15 years old.

transrespect.org/en/tmm-update-tdor-2020/

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"In America black transwomen have a life expectancy of THIRTY FIVE because so many trans individuals are murdered"

That statement was made by Patricia Arquette at the 2019 Emmy awards (backstage) and has been uncritically repeated in numerous media outlets, but no factual source for that claim has ever been found.

It strongly appears that Arquette has extrapolated certain figures relating to transwomen of color in South American countries, figures which Do Not give the average age of death of trans people in the US, but which do give the age range of trans people of color who have been murdered in those countries (in particular Brazil).

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This article 'Is the Life Expectancy of Trans Women in the U.S. Just 35? No.' investigates possible sources of Patricia Arquette's claim, especially a report called:

“An Overview of Violence against LGBTI Persons in the Americas: a Registry Documenting Acts of Violence between January 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.”

The article states (about the Report): ......

'That report was compiled by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2015, and in it, researchers examined 594 homicides in which LGBTQ people were victims over a 15-month period. The countries surveyed included Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, the United States, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and here’s what the actual report states:

'Latin American organizations report that the life expectancy of trans women in the region is between 30 and 35 years of age. According to the data collected by the IACHR, 80% of trans persons killed during a 15-month period were 35 years of age or younger. The IACHR has received consistent reports showing that trans women who are sex workers are particularly vulnerable to community violence, including killings by individuals, their clients, illegal armed groups or gangs.'

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Ok, so let’s parse this out. First: “Latin American organizations report that the life expectancy of trans women in the region is between 30 and 35 years of age.” There are no data attached, but evidently outlets and people who repeat this claim are extrapolating the life expectancy for trans women in the United States based on organizations that have made that claim about an entirely different region, one with some of the highest murder rates in the world. Sounds airtight.

As for the second claim, that 80 percent of trans persons killed during a 15-month period were 35 years of age or younger, that’s not particularly surprising. Homicides drop precipitously with age across all demographics: Globally, over 80 percent of all homicide victims are under the age of 44, with the bulk of victims being 29 and younger. But still, that statistic has nothing to do with the average trans woman because the average trans woman is not the victim of murder.

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The IACHR did not respond to requests for comment, but this seems to be an example of reporters and activist groups failing to do basic due diligence. It becomes a big game of telephone: An activist group cites a poorly sourced press release, a reporter or blogger assumes that it’s fact, and a false statistic spreads like a particularly virulent virus. You may think that because violence against trans people is a real issue (and it is), it doesn't matter if the media exaggerates facts in order to dramatize the issue. But it does matter. Besides the fact that repeating this statistic shows gaping holes in the media’s ability to convey basic information, this incorrect statistic also has the pernicious side effect of sowing terror among trans women, who are told over and over that they can expect to die before they are old enough to run for President.'

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This Trans Respect mapping page shows incidence of trans murders country by country, yearly.    For 2019 the mapping shows 30 murders of trans people in the US (from a total US population of 331 million people).    

<a class="break-all" href="https://transrespect.org/en/map/trans-murder-monitoring/?submap=tmm_2019" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">transrespect.org/en/map/trans-murder-monitoring/?submap=tmm_2019</a>

Due to an absolutely ridiculous individual who sued the NHS in a global pandemic children can’t get puberty blockers

Even the Tavistock and Mermaids managed to express a bit of sympathy for Keira.

In America black transwomen have a life expectancy of THIRTY FIVE because so many trans individuals are murdered.

There are about 25-30 trans individuals sadly murdered every year in the whole of the US. How do you think that figure could be true exactly? Do you think there are only a few hundred trans people? As pp have pointed out, it's literal nonsense.

Ok, so let’s parse this out. First: “Latin American organizations report that the life expectancy of trans women in the region is between 30 and 35 years of age.” There are no data attached, but evidently outlets and people who repeat this claim are extrapolating the life expectancy for trans women in the United States based on organizations that have made that claim about an entirely different region, one with some of the highest murder rates in the world. Sounds airtight.

I've been shown evidence, but not sure how to find it as person no longer on Twitter, that this statistic comes from either or both of two small sample surveys. One was conducted in Buenos Aires and one in Rio de Janeiro. They both dealt with small groups (where survey participants were all
using the same service) of MTF trans prostitutes. One of them ISTR they were all HIV positive. It's not difficult to see that they were at higher risk of dying young. The "lifespan" figure isn't representative even of all trans people in Latin America.

It's a lie. And its use is deeply irresponsible. Why do they want to terrify trans people that they're at high risk of be murdered?

And I think we are very aware of the number of trans people murdered in the uk in the last couple of years.

Thankfully it is zero. So I’m not sure who those senior politicians and organisations were doing making videos and putting up flags in remembrance of but it wasn’t trans people in the uk.
On the flip side there were quite a few women murdered in the same time frame - and they didn’t get a mention of if they did it was through gritted teeth and qualified with something like ‘but also remember the transwomen’.

Are you worried about that much Britishkid? Or have you disappeared again?

@Ereshkigalangcleg I've been shown evidence, but not sure how to find it as person no longer on Twitter, that this statistic comes from either or both of two small sample surveys. One was conducted in Buenos Aires and one in Rio de Janeiro. They both dealt with small groups (where survey participants were all using the same service) of MTF trans prostitutes. One of them ISTR they were all HIV positive. It's not difficult to see that they were at higher risk of dying young. The "lifespan" figure isn't representative even of all trans people in Latin America.

Could you expand on this please, as in were they diagnosed HIV+ and on antiretrovirals?

Due to an absolutely ridiculous individual who sued the NHS in a global pandemic children can’t get puberty blockers

1. She didn't sue the NHS, she forced a judicial review to examine their clinical malpractice.

2. How totally fucked in the head do you have to be to describe someone who has suffered irreversible medical damage and possible sterility at the hands of doctors who should have known better as a "ridiculous individual"? Shame on you.

Could you expand on this please, as in were they diagnosed HIV+ and on antiretrovirals?

As I said, I don't have access to the evidence now, nor do I know where it came from. So I don't know the answer to your question off hand. You could see if you can find it yourself. If you do, let me know.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Ok, so let’s parse this out. First: “Latin American organizations report that the life expectancy of trans women in the region is between 30 and 35 years of age.” There are no data attached, but evidently outlets and people who repeat this claim are extrapolating the life expectancy for trans women in the United States based on organizations that have made that claim about an entirely different region, one with some of the highest murder rates in the world. Sounds airtight.

I've been shown evidence, but not sure how to find it as person no longer on Twitter, that this statistic comes from either or both of two small sample surveys. One was conducted in Buenos Aires and one in Rio de Janeiro. They both dealt with small groups (where survey participants were all
using the same service) of MTF trans prostitutes. One of them ISTR they were all HIV positive. It's not difficult to see that they were at higher risk of dying young. The "lifespan" figure isn't representative even of all trans people in Latin America.

It's a lie. And its use is deeply irresponsible. Why do they want to terrify trans people that they're at high risk of be murdered?

That's very interesting. I'd love to have checked those surveys out.

FWIW, I followed several of the articles making these life expectancy claims all the way back to their sources and it was in every case entirely based on the average age of murder victims who identify as trans.

It's not necessarily done on purpose, if we give the benefit of the doubt here, but seems based on a limited understanding of the data. What is noteworthy of course is that the average age of murder victims in general is actually lower than that figure of 35 years, but nobody is claiming that people in general have a life expectancy of less than 35 years because of it.

FWIW, I followed several of the articles making these life expectancy claims all the way back to their sources and it was in every case entirely based on the average age of murder victims who identify as trans.

YY. It's the average life expectancy of trans murder victims, which is a very small group of the overall trans population. I've had TRAs suggest that it actually refers to murder plus suicide when their murder claim is debunked. It doesn't, though that's going to be a larger population.

@Ereshkigalangcleg

Could you expand on this please, as in were they diagnosed HIV+ and on antiretrovirals?

As I said, I don't have access to the evidence now, nor do I know where it came from. So I don't know the answer to your question off hand. You could see if you can find it yourself. If you do, let me know.

@Ereshkigalangcleg I was just wondering why you wrote this:

One of them ISTR they were all HIV positive. It's not difficult to see that they were at higher risk of dying young.

Just because anyone is HIV+ it shouldn't be assumed that they will be at higher risk of dying young. People living with HIV can have a normal lifespan today but this will depend on different factors like being on, and adherent to, medication.

These people had chaotic lives in a variety of ways. They lived on the margins of society. I can't remember the dates we're talking about, it could have been 30 years ago. It's not necessarily comparable with someone in the U.K. taking antiretroviral drugs as prescribed by the NHS.

I don't have the full details, so I can't elaborate any further. But in many ways they were at higher risk of dying earlier than other trans people in their country, or people generally. Thank you for your clarification re HIV and it's fantastic that people are now able to have a normal lifespan, which obviously wasn't always the case.