"Don’t make trans switch easier, say public" Times poll

[Igneococcus]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/don-t-make-trans-switch-easier-say-public-w2rrpfrf5?shareToken=38a49b279d5f0884908b32d8624d33d9

Do you think a person should or should not have to obtain a doctor’s approval to change their legal gender?
Should: 65%
Should not: 14%
Don’t know: 21%

I wish they would have used sex rather than gender in that question.

Is this a different poll to the one that was crowdfunded on here? I thought the responses to that one were more gender critical.

" a poll for The Times has found"

I would assume The Times founded this. YouGov carried it out.

"Respondents in the poll were more relaxed about transgender women using women’s changing rooms and lavatories, with 42 per cent saying they should be allowed to use the changing rooms and 33 per cent saying they should not. For lavatories it was 47 per cent for and 46 per cent against."

I would like to see this broken down along the sex of the respondents.

Would also be interesting to see what the respondents thought „transgender“ meant. The vast majority of people understand it to mean post operative, no penis, following hormone treatment etc.

They do not realise it can mean intact males and self identifiers.

I agree, williteverend

Do you think transgender women should be allowed to . . .

Take part in women’s sporting events? Yes: 27%
Use women’s changing rooms? 42%
Use women’s lavatories? 47%
Use women’s refuges for victims of rape or assault (if they are a victim themselves)? 47%

I find that figure for refuges astonishingly high, tbh. I can't believe the respondents understood the implications.

Did they explain first that ‘transgender women’ are those who are biologically male?

Many people assume it means the other way round.

The crowdfunded poll specifically asked about trans women who still have a penis. I think that's what makes the difference.

IIRC they actually had some trouble finding a polling agency that was willing to include that in the questions because it was transphobic to mention it or some nonsense! But it's obviously an important determinant of how people feel about this.

I often get invited to YouGov polls but I wasn't to this one.
I would like to see the questions, and definitions if there were any. Sometimes they add a definition of terms used in the questions to the poll.

This is why "transgender woman" is such a bullshit term.

There are some GC comments appearing now.

Looks like they are premoderating them, my comment took an hour to appear so don't be surprised if your comment vanished for a while after posting it

Given that 65% in this poll believe it shouldn't be easier to "change sex", then the respondents are thinking about old school transsexuals. So the status quo indeed.

They have no idea about lady dick

Two years ago, I would have said 'yes' to all of those thinking we were talking about the old school transsexuals who were usually gay, and not seeing it as a big deal.
I'm guessing that's what most of the respondents were thinking. I'm betting few of them have become aware of the Jonathan/Jessica Yanivs of the world yet, or the responses would be very different.

Language is important. I think the responses would be very different if the questions were:

"Do you think that a man should be able to use the same changing rooms and lavatories as women?"

"If that same person (who was born male) now says that they feel like they are a woman should that person be able to use the same changing rooms and lavatories as women?"

Because, correct me if I'm wrong, that is a correct description of the proposal.

And I imagine the very large majority of people would say, "erm what now?" to that rephrasing.

I would have voted yes a couple of years ago because I would have thought it was transsexuals.

Two years ago, I would have said 'yes' to all of those thinking we were talking about the old school transsexuals who were usually gay, and not seeing it as a big deal.

Three years ago I'd have said the same thing. That's why it's so important that we keep talking about this.

If there is no explanation of terms I think that few respondents will know the real situation. I suspect most are thinking of individuals who have had a full 'sex change'. These polls should ensure that respondents know exactly what they are, or are not, agreeing to.

Apparently yougov are going to put the questions on their site tomorrow, according to Sam Coates in the comments.