Transpeople

How Many States Cover Transgender Medical Care?

Estradiol estrogen pill (Open Minded Health)

As the transgender community continues to gain visibility in mainstream culture, the issues they face will become more common. Receiving proper medical care is one such issue that will continue to gain prominence.

Last week, Oregon became the latest state to cover transgender care under Medicaid. According to NPR, services include hormone therapy (for example, giving a transwoman estrogen pills), puberty suppression and gender reassignment surgery. Other states with health coverage that cover transgender care include California, Colorado, Connecticut, New York and Vermont. (New York made the decision to cover gender reassignment surgery just last month.)

Only 14% of the United States covers transgender medical care by state. Let’s hope the population’s new visibility helps other states make the right decision to include medical care for transpeople.

India Elects First Transgender Mayor

Indian hijras (Deviant Didg/Nikki Rixon)

An Indian transgender woman has made history: She is the first trans woman to be elected as mayor within the country.

Madhu Bai Kinnar will represent Raigarh in the state of Chhattisgarh. She beat her rival by 4.5K+ votes.

It’s estimated that India has around 2M transgender people. India’s population in 2013 was 1.252B, so transgender people would comprise around .15% of the total.

It’s not only a victory for trans people, but also for those in the lower classes. Kinnar was a member of the Dalit lowest caste, sometimes termed “the untouchables.”

India has made great strides in trans issues recently. Last year, the Indian Supreme Court ruled to recognize transgender persons as “third-gender,” termed “hijra.” The ruling came five years after the country introduced the “other” option for gender on ballot forms.

Leelah Alcorn Suicide: Transgender Teen Suicide Stats

Leelah Alcorn (Yahoo News)

Leelah Alcorn was a 17-year-old transgender teen who committed suicide Dec. 28 of this past year. Born a boy named Joseph, she came out to her parents as transgender at 14 years old, and felt she was “a girl trapped in a boy’s body” since the age of four.

Alcorn wrote a suicide note on her Tumblr, published after her death, that called for better dialogue surrounding gender education and trans civil rights. She hoped her death (which could’ve been easily avoided) would spark a discussion and changes.

It’s pretty well-known that LGBT teens have a higher rate of suicides and suicide attempts than straight teens. According to The Trevor Project, LGBT youth (defined as ages 10-24) are “three times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers.”

For transgender teens, the numbers get more grim: The Youth Suicide Prevention Program cites national statistics that claim “more than 50% of transgender youth will have had at least one suicide attempt by their 20th birthday.” There seems to be discrepancy here, as The Trevor Project notes that 25% of transgender teens have attempted suicide, and almost 50% have thought about it. Either way, that’s pretty scary.

Familial (and friends’) support plays a big role in all teens’ lives, but is particularly needed for transgender teens. The Trevor Project cites a stat which posits that LGB teens who have “highly rejecting families” are 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide. Though the site doesn’t include trans teens within this stat, it’s safe to say they probably face similar odds.

Leelah Alcorn’s death didn’t have to happen. It shouldn’t have happened at all. But I hope it begins the discussion she wanted and rightfully deserved.

John Jolie-Pitt: Transgender Children Statistics

John Jolie-Pitt (Refinery 29)

Happy 2015! I hope everyone had a fun and relaxing holiday season.

Now, let’s get back to business. The business of sex and numbers.

Last month, actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt stepped out with their family for the premiere of Jolie’s new film (and directorial debut) “Unbroken.” Many media outlets commented on their eight-year-old daughter Shiloh wearing a tux to the event. Shiloh has been asked to be referred to as “John” and self-identifies as a boy. (Wonderfully supportive parents Jolie and Pitt have readily obliged.)

John has not publicly identified himself as transgender, and his parents have not identified him as such either.

But how many children might identify as, or fit the label of, transgender?

At the moment, there’s really no hard data answering this question. Either researchers aren’t delving into this topic, or they might not be using the term “transgender” when asking a child to self-identify.

But gender identity tends to be fixed early in life. A PDF on children’s transgender identity for parents from Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) San Francisco notes the following:

“Most people have a sense of their gender identity between ages two and four. If your child expresses a transgender identity since early childhood, it is unlikely they will change their mind as they age. Their sense of themselves will only deepen.”

This makes sense as it relates to John, as Jolie observing that he “wants to be a boy” in a 2010 “Vanity Fair” interview.

It’ll be interesting to watch John Jolie-Pitt grow up and how his gender identity changes or stays the same. No matter which happens, it’s great to see a notable example of a supportive family surrounding him. Hopefully, it’ll change and open some minds.

Sex & Stats’ 2014 Year in Review

Beyonce's 'Flawless' performance at the 2014 MTV Video Music Award

Beyoncé’s ‘Flawless’ performance at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards

We’re almost done with 2014, so let’s take a look back at some important movements in the world of sexuality.

Trans Issues:

After a long time, the trans community has come into the spotlight.

It started back in early March, when Jared Leto took home the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for playing trans woman Rayon in “Dallas Buyers Club.” This was the first time an actor won an Oscar for a trans role, and the second time an actor playing a trans character had been nominated for an Academy Award. (The first time was when Felicity Huffman played a trans woman in 2005’s “Transamerica,” and garnered a Best Actress nomination.) The film also sparked a dialogue about cisgendered actors playing trans roles.

The community has been making strides on a local level as well. This fall, a Texas high school elected its first trans homecoming king.

Anal Play:

“We’ve been experimenting with the butt,” a good friend of mine said recently. Though she was referring to what she and her partner were getting up to, this statement also applies to our culture’s newfound fascination with anal play.

Ever since a stripper alleged that Drake enjoyed having his salad tossed, it seems like anal play and rappers are having a major intersectionality moment. Nicki Minaj has proven this most frequently with her singles “Anaconda” and “Only,” positing herself in the power position of receiving, and greatly enjoying, having her asshole eaten out.

Anal sex also appeared on our broadcast TV screens in mainstream American homes this fall. The “How To Get Away With Murder” pilot and an episode of “The Mindy Project” both featured the formerly taboo act (the former more explicitly than the latter). Bonus points for both featuring interracial couples as well.

Feminism:

This is technically a holdover from 2013, but feminism continued to stake its claim in culture this year.

“Harry Potter” actress Emma Watson gave an inspiring speech to the United Nations launching the HeForShe campaign, mobilizing men to do their part for feminism. Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld ended his spring 2015 runway show with models holding up signs painted with feminist slogans. Singer John Legend declared that society would be better if all men were be feminists.

Of course, Beyoncé also had a hand in this. (No surprise there, as her 2013 self-titled album sampled Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie’s now-famous TED talk on feminism.) She started it off strong in January authoring an essay on workplace inequality for “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Pushes Back From the Brink.”

But that was small compared to what was to come: During the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, Beyoncé performed “***Flawless” in front of a giant lit marquee, branding herself as a FEMINIST. IN ALL CAPS. It certainly raised consciousness for many people, because Google searches for “feminist” and “beyonce feminist” majorly spiked that week.

2014 has been very eventful, and let’s hope society keeps making sex-positive strides forward in 2015. See you next year!

How Common are Sexual Reassignment Surgeries (SRS)?

Lili Elbe, 1926

Last week, it was announced that English actor Eddie Redmayne will play Lili Elbe in an upcoming film. Elbe, a Dutch painter, was one of the first recipients of sexual reassignment surgery (SRS). Elbe was born Elnar Mogens Wegener in 1882 and started the surgery in 1930 in Germany. SRS was very experimental at the time, and she went through a series of five operations that spanned over two years.

Naturally, this made me wonder how common SRS surgeries (both male-to-female and female-to-male) are in the U.S.

In 2008, Dr. Mary Ann Horton published a paper on just that, where she examined all SRS surgeries performed within calendar year 2001.

She found that 1.1K+ overall SRS surgeries were performed, 740 being MTF and 430 being FTM.

The incidence of SRS followed an overall ratio to 1:240K. This broke down to 1:190 for MTF and 1:330 for FTM.

Unfortunately, it’s not clear how we can project these numbers to grow and/or change moving forward.

In any case, the development with Redmayne’s casting is significant is that cis-woman Nicole Kidman was initially cast in the role five years ago. Cis-man Redmayne’s casting might signal a shift in how Hollywood perceives depictions of tradespeople.

Texas’s First Trans Homecoming King

Texas homecoming king Mel

Recently, high school student Mel won the title of his school’s homecoming king. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it?

But it actually is: Mel is the first transgender student to win the title in the entire state of Texas.

This is big considering the fact that Texas isn’t known as the most tolerant state. As “The Cut” notes, “it’s one of 32 states where a person can be fired for being openly transgender, and one of 29 states where you can fired for being openly gay or lesbian.” (“The Cut” also has a more detailed account of Mel’s story.)

But this shows that attitudes are changing, starting with the youth. I can’t wait to see how Texas, and other states, progress.

Transmen and Transwomen: Projected Long-Term Population Trends

Transman Buck Angel

A study done in the late 1990s estimated that between 2-5% of the population is transgender. The 2010 Census counted over 151.7M men and over 156.9M women. The population increased over 9% for both genders from 2000 to 2010.

How many transpeople might be counted in the 2020 census?

First, let’s assume linear progression, in that the U.S. population will continue to increase at the same rate. So we’ll assume that the increase from 2010 to 2020 is the same as 2000 to 2010:

Cis Population 2000-2010

Next, let’s find the number of tradespeople at both the low (2% of the population) and high (5%) of the scale for 2000 and 2010.

Trans Population Range 2000-2010

We’ll also assume that the 2%-5% range holds.

Next, let’s find the 2020 overall population for men and women, using the same growth rate as 2000-2010:

Cis Projected Population 2020

And then the same tradespeople ranges:

Trans Projected Population Range 2020

As we can see, the trans population will continue to grow, and looks to increase between 3M and 8M within this decade.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.