Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Feminism: Sex and gender discussions

Feminism: chat

Original poster

YouGov - bye bye

30 replies

AuntieCJ · 13/02/2019 08:37

I've occasionally filled in YouGov surveys, especially political ones. I haven't done any for a while but did one this morning.

At the end it asked me my gender. "Female (including transwomen)" was one option. I filled in "other" and wrote "female not including transwomen".

It's plain daft to think that women and transwomen have similar opinions on all the things yougov survey about. I would have thought it was more important to survey accurately including the differences than pretending they are the same and will have the same opinions.

I filled in one survey about sanitary protection - what transwoman would have an opinion on that?

Is this a thin end of the wedge thing or am I particularly grumpy this morning?

OP posts:
SmellsLikeAdultSpirit · 13/02/2019 08:40

It is ridiculous to group women and trans women into a single group
We are no more alike than men and women and our needs are very different

theOtherPamAyres · 13/02/2019 10:52

How can commentators trust Yougov poll information when it has gathered unreliable information about self-identified gender rather than sex?

For instance, transwomen may have high levels of satisfaction with political parties like the Lib Dems, but women are more critical, in the light of Lynne Featherstone's statement that they are not welcome if they don't accept that TWAW.

Such details will be missing from Yougov polls since women and transwomen are lumped together. The distinction between the two is critical when it comes to politics and policy because there are conflicts of interests.

What makes Yougov think that men can be women?

Lumene · 13/02/2019 10:54

Did it also say Male (including trans men)?

If this is what yougov are doing it means they do not have reliable sex based data in their research anymore.

Not a brilliant commercial move really.

MillytantForceit · 13/02/2019 10:55

Psephologically illterate.

R0wantrees · 13/02/2019 11:22

It needs two boxes, sex M/F which is unchanging as humans can't change sex and then an open box for 'gender identity'. Many people would write none or n/a for gender identity.
This would enable accurate meaningful data collection which is also inclusive

Bebstar123 · 13/02/2019 11:31

I mentioned something similar on another thread a few days ago re: survey about my child's outdoor play habits. The only question that asked anything personal from the responder (other than their attitude to play), was What is Your Gender M/F? Nothing about sex, nothing about relationship to the child, nothing about ethnic background or age group, which I would have assumed were far more pertinent to the research than questions about gender.

NutsToThat · 13/02/2019 12:44

Bad survey questions are so common now, I decided to dig into it. I looked at where researchers are getting their guidance, here's the thread.

www.mu msnet.com/Talk/womens_rights/3503654-Survey-questions-on-sex-and-gender-why-they-are-so-badly-worded

That said, that YouGov one is particularly bad, even worse than wording outlined by the regulatory body. You could make a complain t if you feel strongly enough.

ClaraMatilda · 13/02/2019 13:01

I actually got a YouGov question this morning that I couldn't answer. It was one of the ones with an agree/disagree scale and the statement was:

There are only two genders.

Choose 'agree' and it'll be interpreted as saying that sex stereotypes are innate.
Choose 'disagree' and it'll be interpreted as advocating non-binary bollocks.

Where's the 'this question is based on false premises' option?

Ali1cedowntherabbithole · 13/02/2019 13:23

I filled one out the other evening and complained too AuntieCJ

I also ticked the other box and added the response, adult human female.

How on earth can they interpret responses from actual women if the category includes those who were born male?

Maxie1234 · 13/02/2019 14:28

Glad it's not just me. I had selected other and written Female excluding transwomen (as we are not the same) on a survey a couple of weeks ago. First time they asked that question.

ErrolTheDragon · 13/02/2019 16:28

'Female' is a sex category. Transwomen belong to the sex category 'Male'.
Not only does that question not work for women, it doesn't work for honest transsexuals either, who know they're male.Confused

Katvonfelttipeyebrows · 13/02/2019 16:34

At least my council did a sex:
Male / female
On a survey

But then the next question was is your gender different to the gender you were assigned at birth. I wasn't assigned a gender. My sex was noted. That is all.

ILoveMaxiBondi · 13/02/2019 16:41

I filled in one survey about sanitary protection - what transwoman would have an opinion on that?

Oh don’t even poke at that can of worms! It seems plenty of men have opinions on female sanitary products.

Igneococcus · 13/02/2019 16:48

I was invited to a short survey about breast cancer risk (not YouGov) and one question was about what I perceive to be the main risk factors for breast cancer were where one possible option was "gender" no mention of sex anywhere. So I had a bit of a rant in the free text box. I was astonished how much they let you write in these.

NoraEphronsneck · 13/02/2019 18:36

GrinGrinGrin Igneococcus

Oldermum156 · 13/02/2019 19:15

Oh some years back I found a faq page on menopause and the VERY FIRST FAQ was about men ("Can men have menopause?"). Men have to be first in everything, even things that have literally nothing to do with them.

Cwenthryth · 13/02/2019 20:17

This has reminded me that I put a complaint in a few weeks ago about a YouGov survey that had a daft gender question, can’t remember the detail but it made the question unanswerable. Just checked my emails and apart from the auto response saying they’ll reply in 3 days, nada response

Lolasaurous · 13/02/2019 21:23

The worst I've read was about Prospects careers advice website for school children/students/graduates.

"My sis let me know they were using a careers advice website for students/graduates that let's you answer questions and then tells you which career you are suited to and advises you the steps to achieve it. You had to sign up to view results and when signing up, instead of it asking gender, or sex, it asked "To which gender identity do you most identify?" , then options man, woman, custom (write own). This is asked to everyone remember, not just trans kids, so this is asking everyone to think about themselves in this way and decide what they are. My sis was confused and wondered how she would know what she identified with, what was this based on? and then she was annoyed, as she realised it makes it sound like there is a list of attributes/likes/dislikes/personality traits etc etc that we are supposed to know and follow that are different for men and women and everyone has to choose which one we most identify with to know if we are a man, woman or other, and therefore we can find out if we've been born wrong if we girls/women like things, or whatever, that society is conditioned to say is for boys/men, and vice versa. I think my sister peak transed then. she said it's seems sexist and this is like socially conditioning people to stay in their stereotypical boxes and if they deviate they are born wrong have to transition. She also said trans kid was offended by how this question was worded too as it trivialized who they were. Prospects, I think. This sort of stuff is going to confuse kids. It's not fair on them. No wonder there are so many suicidal.

Btw this site, Prospects was being used in high school, ages 11- 16. Don't know if used in primary. I checked and it asked me the question on kindle so I assume also on tablets, laptop and pc. On phone I didn't notice if it did but I was rushing . I can't stop thinking about this one. It's creeping me out, it's like social engineering"

Lolasaurous · 13/02/2019 21:30

"Female (including transwomen)" was one option."

On your example they probably put that because those with a GRC are female in law. I don't know what those without the GRC would do.

But now I notice the survey was about menstrual products, so now I'm confused and wonder how they would get the right responses which they require for the research.

GrumpyGran8 · 14/02/2019 11:08

I'm a YouGov member but I didn't get that one about menstrual products, more's the pity. (I probably got screened out because I'm well past that.) I often leave a complaint in the comments box, usually about not having enough options, and I'd have really enjoyed filling in the comments box on this one!
As I understand the process, it's the company that commissions the survey who have the last word on the style and wording. But I'm sure that if enough of us complain, YouGov will take notice and pass on the feedback. Another way of telling them is to log in, go to your homepage, click on My Feed, then go to Add An Opinion on the RH side.

ShowOfHands · 14/02/2019 11:18

I went on a course last week and they had an equal ops form with a gender question. Options were:
Male
Female
Transgender
Non-binary
Other

They weren't interested in my biological sex.

itwaseverthus · 14/02/2019 11:31

I got one this morning about audiobooks and they asked if I was Woman (including Transwomen) so I ticked OTHER and in the give more info box wrote ADULT HUMAN FEMALE. In the feedback box at the end I told them I was disgusted that my sex was being lumped with men. It also asked if I identified with the gender I was assigned at birth, I had to answer yes because 'Don't know' would probably feed into the whole gender confusion bullshit. I made them aware I was not assigned a gender at birth. My sex was observed and noted.

welshgendercrit · 15/02/2019 20:27

I got the audiobooks survey and under gender I chose Other and wrote "Biological woman. Gender is rubbish." Grin Have to say this is the first I've had which looks at gender.

2019Dancerz · 15/02/2019 20:59

I did a great one that was all about potatoes the other day.