Push and pull factors in transitioning

[GCScot]

People's motivations in making a change can be categorised into 'push' and 'pull' factors. 'Push' factors are your dissatisfaction with your current state. 'Pull' factors are the perceived advantages of another state.

I started thinking about the possible push and pull factors for people transitioning their gender. It made me realise that there are two distinct groups:

Group 1 = mainly motivated by push factors. i.e. they are unhappy with their sexed body. They include:

• Women/girls with internalised misogyny

• Gay people with internalised homophobia

• Non-genderconforming autistic people who have internalised sexist stereotypes as fact

• Survivors of abuse/trauma who are trying to protect themselves from future abuse/trauma

Group 2 = mainly motivated by pull factors. i.e. they are attracted to being/being perceived to be the opposite sex. They include:

• People who are sexually aroused by the idea of themselves being the opposite sex (AGP/AAP)

• People who think they can gain a personal advantage (sporting/competitive/sexual access) by claiming to be the opposite sex

Group 1 are mainly children and young adults, especially girls. They have gender dysphoria. Because they are trying to permanently and convincingly escape their sexed bodies, they are more likely to undergo medical modifications (surgery, artificial hormones). They have a diverse range of vulnerabilities as a result of their own personal life experiences and the prejudices of society

Group 2 are mainly adult men. We might say they have gender euphoria. Because they aren't trying to escape their sexed bodies they are unlikely to undergo medical modification, preferring temporary and superficial modifications such as clothes, make up, prosthetics, names and pronouns. The majority of the aggressive vocal TRAs come from this group

TRAs deliberately merge the two groups

They know they can utilise the sincerity, vulnerability and innocence of Group 1:
Trans appears in childhood - it must be innate!
Trans appears in childhood - it can't be sexually motivated!
Trans people have gender dysphoria - they're vulnerable!
Look at the lengths they'll go to (surgery, hormones) - they must be genuine!

But when it comes to the motivations of trans people, the TRAs suddenly switch track. They emphasise the pull factor acting on Group 2 ("wanting to be a wo/man") rather than the push factor acting on Group 1 (trying to escape your sexed body). Because any detailed discussion of just why someone might want to escape their body would raise awkward questions about whether wanting to transition is really a cause for celebration and affirmation.

I think it's very important we distinguish between the two groups when discussing objections to gender ideology. They are very different groups with different motivations and consequences. I think part of the reason so many trans allies are resistant to changing their opinions or even discussing the issue is because most of the trans people they know are Group 1s. They recognise these people's sincerity and vulnerability and have been duped by Group 2 TRAs into not examining the underlying push and pull factors of transition

The men in the second category aren't going to admit it.

Eddie izzard leans heavily on the factor that his mother died when he was young, rather than any other possible reason.

Its why the lots of men say they 'knew' when they were three. Its not true, or what they remember of their 3 year old self isnt what motivates them as adults. But it bats away any possibility its porn related.

Meanwhile there are millions of videos of men in stilettos and tight skirts preening in toilets or walk seductively to the camera.

“Seductively” needs to be in quote marks

Yes and arguably why a lot of these types of men are so invested in “trans youth” issues, who are mostly teenage girls who have very different reasons for “transitioning”.

I was making a very specific point about respecting someone’s identify. Paula is still a trans woman, but I don’t feel any obligation to refer to him that way.

A community of vulnerable teens and adult men. What could go wrong?

I actually had a rather hilarious experience related to this yesterday.

I was on a fandom forum where people can discuss anything, fandom-related or not. Someone posted about trans people, and it predictably devolved into a fight - but not the one I expected! On one hand, you had people arguing that anyone who isn't cis is trans (so similar to the view expressed in your post, TwoLoons) and only internalised transphobia would stop them from identifying as trans. On the other hand were those who said that people are free to define themselves, that there is more than just cis and trans, and that telling people what you think they are is beyond rude. I was laughing my head off as the accusations of transphobia and bigotry were flying back and forth :P

cis people don’t ever question their identity

Hell, people couldn't even agree on that either! Some said that "cis" meant specifically "feeling like one's gender aligns with one's sex", while others argued that "cis" covers everyone who doesn't actively question their gender.

The best part? The post that said that they used to support transidentity, but they coudn't quite get their head around it, so they went looking for more and more info in the works of trans people and supporters (Judith Butler was mentioned)... and concluded that it makes absolutely no sense! I doubt the insane battle going on helped convince them otherwise :D

OP, what are your sources?

Are you basing any of your analysis on the lived experience of trans people?

Here are some of the factors which may explain the great increase in the number of girls presenting with gender incongruence/confusion/dysphoria:

...the impacts on girls who, as recent statistics showed, were now much more likely to seek treatment from gender dysphoria services than boys. NHS England was encouraged to investigate and publicise the degree to which possible causations such as internalised homophobia, exposure to social media, trauma, bullying, difficulties in navigating bodily changes at puberty, experiencing sexual objectification, familial and social situations and social contagion had played a part in this trend”.
EHIA: Children and Young People’s Gender Service: Service Specification for the National Referral Support Service

That is indeed hilarious!

The “I doubt, therefore I’m trans” is an interesting conundrum though - I suspect it acts as a sort of internal thought-terminating shibboleth, in the same way that “no debate” is meant to shut down external discussion with GC people. By which I mean, if you have doubts, then (under normal circumstances) you might explore those doubts, and discover that you’re not trans (or not trans enough?). Safer to say that, if you have doubts, those doubts are themselves evidence of your true transness - and then you don’t explore the doubts.

Lots of people here falling for the debate on "gender identity".

It's the same as the debate about religion. Does god exist? Prove he doesn't!

No. You have no evidence to begin with that god exists. I can't prove a negative. Therefore, you must provide evidence for your assertion.

I can’t speak for the OP, but it sounds like she’s read up on the stories of lots of different people.
Many trans people share their lived experience in TikTok’s, blogs, magazine articles, fora… It’s all out there to be read and considered.

In addition to that, most of us have experiences with family members and friends.

Agreed. You don't explore the doubts - and you don't explore the alternative explanations either, even though there are many of them. Which would already be bad in itself, but is made so much worse by the fact that this one conclusion is the only one that encourages body modifications. It should be the last option examined, not the first, let alone the only.

I would include in the "pull factors" the way people feel that their bodies or minds have been improved in some way by hormones. The clear skin that a man with acne gets from oestrogen. The energy boost and anti-depressant effects that either sex can get from testosterone. These are medical mood effects of taking anabolic steroids which transmen may confuse with happiness about their new gender and parents may say "I didn't approve but look how much happier my child is now, not depressed any more and much more energetic. They must be truly trans!"

(edited for mssing word)

Ahaha. Come on, this is just silly. You're either a believer, or you aren't.

This is a typical MALE crime. 99% of sexual crimes are committed by males which is why we keep males out of places where women and girls are vilulnerable. Transwomen are male. You are asking to open up women's spaces to these sorts of crimes and then use the criminal justice system after the damage has been done. How about a simpler solutuon. Keep males out of female spaces. Was that difficult to follow?

No one here has asked to open up women’s spaces. You’ve come here and hijacked a discussion on the reasons why people transition.

No it was your failure to acknowledge the broad range of people that claim a trans identity. Precisely on point.

I agree, OP- interesting points.

I tell you what I'm fed up of, and it's trolls deliberately going off on a silly argument to derail threads on this topic.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Are you arguing that mental illnesses are unfalsifiable? Because, well, that's just not true, is it?

@MyKindHiker & @MagpiePi I don't think trans-identifying is as much of an advantage to women as it is to men:

• it doesn't give them a sporting advantage over males as they still don't have the physical advantages of male puberty

• women don't need to pretend to be male in order to get sexual access to men

• simply identifying as male isn't enough to gain them the cultural advantages that men have. If they don't 'pass' they will still face all the obstacles other women face. They can be vulnerable in male spaces, as evidenced by the recent heartbreaking case of the trans-identifying woman who was raped within 24 hours of being placed in a male prison

• women are explicitly legally forbidden from identifying as men in order to claim aristocratic male hereditary advantages (titles and property)

Can you clarify point 2?
Does anyone need to pretend to be a different sex to get sexual access to anyone? I don’t think many men increase their chances of sexual access to men or women by transitioning. In fact I always thought it tragic they are likely to significantly reduce their chances of finding someone compatible.

Increased opportunities for voyeurism, I suppose.

The young women I know who claim.trans or non-binary identities have all suffered from mental health issues and in several cases abuse. It seemed clear to me they were running away from, rather than towards.

In Time To Think, Hannah Barnes discusses this with stats to back it up. These girls are damaged and desperately trying to find a way to live safely. It's a tragedy that the lie they've been sold as something to help, will instead harm them.

I do think there are fewer middle-aged transmen than transwomen, but one important factor is visibility.

First, lots of transmen can easily pass as queer women, so they wouldn't necessarily be counted as transmen to begin with. Transwomen, especially middle-aged ones, are much more visibly transwomen rather than gay men for example.

Another factor is, well, exhibitionism. There are plenty of "quiet" transwomen who don't try to attract anybody's attention, but there is also an awful lot of "loud" ones who want to be seen. Transmen, by contrast, tend to be mostly on the quieter side, not as showy or attention-demanding (we were, after all, socialised as women.)

So all in all, I think that even if there were the same number of middle-aged TM and TW, there would appear to be a lot more TW.

women don't need to pretend to be male in order to get sexual access to men

Not quite true. Young women do it to get access to gay men, just like men do it to get access to lesbians.

The perceived advantage of not having to perform femininity (or having to believe you have failed at performing femininity) cannot be discounted though.

There is also a new phenomenon in young trans-identifying girls, that they dress extremely femininely - low cut tops, very short skirts, heavy makeup, super high heels - while simultaneously stating that they are boys. If you think about it, this makes a weird kind of sense: if they are boys dressing like this, then it is a choice - “I am a boy who chooses to dress femme” rather than “I am a girl who is conforming to the world’s expectation of how I should present.”

This all feels like a “running away” from femaleness, and all its accompanying baggage. A push, but not towards something, rather away from it.