A third of Britons don’t know that transgender women were born male

[RoyalCorgi]

Really interesting piece of research from Murray Blackburn Mackenzie (MBM), asking people if they knew what a "transgender woman" was. They found that 35 per cent wrongly believed that a transgender woman was someone born female, or they were unsure. Apparently, they're even more confused about the term “trans woman”, with 40 per cent either being unsure or believing it meant someone who was registered female at birth.

In other words, when pollsters ask questions like "Do you think trans women should be allowed to use women's toilets/take part in women's sport/be housed in women's prisons?" a huge chunk of the answers are from people who think that trans women are biologically females.

[[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/08/06/third-of-britons-dont-know-trans-women-born-male/

Wow, I'd suspected that, but not seen any hard evidence before.

I can entirely believe this.

Yeah, probably have other things to worry about.

I’ve seen it on here, posters saying a transwoman is a woman who has transed into a man, and a transman is a man who has transed into a woman. I think quite a few people get confused about the terms.

I can well believe it. Thank you, MBM. It makes sense of other survey results.

But "born male"? Just "male", please.

I think clearer language will help.

If you want to argue that Men With Gender Identities are Women, fair enough. The argument is there to be made. At least then it's clear what you are arguing for.

Saying Trans Women Are Women is far from clear, since a large part of the population don't know what a Trans Woman is, or think they know and are actually wrong.

“In other words, when pollsters ask questions like "Do you think trans women should be allowed to use women's toilets/take part in women's sport/be housed in women's prisons?" a huge chunk of the answers are from people who think that trans women are biologically females.”

Depends on how good the polls/surveys are as many have the definition of terms laid out before the questions. You’d hope that at least half of people would read that bit before answering.

I just asked my 9 & 12 year olds "do you know what a transgender woman is?"
The 9 year old said "a boy" and the 12 year old said "a woman"
I can see how the term transgender woman can cause confusion as the emphasis seems to be on the word woman so it can seem as though a woman who has transd into a man.

Very useful survey thanks OP. We have had surveys that specify that TW are male in the questions and - strangely enough - this massively affects the responses. We need a lot more surveys like this - hopefully the ONS are watching (though given their staff they are probably a lost cause).

Plenty of people don’t. I’ve designed surveys. People are not invested in surveys ( unless it’s something very personally significant to them).

Survey questions need to be short, simple, and unambiguous. People will be skimming through them. They are not spending time reading definitions and detailed guidance. Why would they?

Plus. A lot of people now are on lists of people sent surveys to answer, for recompense of some sort. I’ve done these. You answer them really quickly. You have almost no investment in the topic. Why would you?

It’s good to have what we suspected confirmed. You see the confusion on here a lot. So basically when women are asked if TW should be in womens spaces a third of them effectively think you’re asking if women should be in women’s spaces. The confusion with language is a deliberate tactic by the TRA

The most confused age cohort was the 25 to 35 year olds, with the 18 to 24 year olds doing 'better' (unquantified in the DM report), and the over 52-year olds doing best, but still with only 62-70 percent understanding (depending on whether transwoman or transgender woman was being used).

I cannot imagine how any clarity can be brought to this.

Yes, I'm pretty sure that would make a huge difference. Which is why the term is objected to so strongly by the monitors on here.

I've mentioned this (boringly) many times before but when I was out on the streets asking people to complete the GRA consultation, loads did not understand that that transwomen = men.

Surveys don't come with a glossary @MillicentBystandr

It’s why I say TW are men on here. No confusion, no ambiguity.

It would. And does. Which is why gender zealots hate it and try to ban it.

No offence, but a third of Britons don't care

This is the link to the data.

https://murrayblackburnmackenzie.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Survation-full-data-June-2023-1.xlsx

I think this was obvious, even though we didn't have the evidence.

Depending on who did the poll, twaw would sometimes get about 30 %. The only thing that possibly makes sense is that that 30 % didn't have a clue what anyone was talking about.

Like everyone has been saying all along, anyone who gives TWAW the slightest bit of thought, knows it's not true.

Care to tell us why you think they don’t care?

And yet here you are

That used to be the preferred term on here until MN decreed that it was unacceptable to some TRAs. For the obvious reason that you state.

It is easy "not to care" when you are unaware of the context and surrounding issues. Most people pay very little attention to matters of politics and current affairs; it always amazes me just how little awareness people have have.

This is actually really relevant. As these are the people who are propping up the TRA side. They don't care, don't know anything about it, but have heard somewhere that it's nice to say TR are HR, and just parrot that without any thought.