I'm generally not a fan of quantifying oppression or looking at it as a scoreboard, but I frequently hear the claim that if you read the data, it will show that trans women are indisputably the most oppressed of all trans people, and isn't comparable to the level of oppression trans men face. And I looked at some data, from the UK's National LGBT Survey (I was referring to it for some data on transheterosexuality so I had it on hand).
The survey included 3,740 trans women and 3,170 trans men.
Being LGBT in the UK:
Average comfort level being LGBT on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the most satisfied: 3.10 for trans women, 3.15 for trans men
Average life satisfaction on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the most satisfied: 5.07 for trans men, 5.52 for trans women
The data from this survey indicates that similar proportions of trans men and trans women tended to struggle in their overall experiences living as a trans person.
Openness about gender identity
Entirely closeted with friends: 7.4% of trans women, 2.8% of trans men
Entirely closeted with family members that participant lived with: 20.1% of trans women, 14.5% of trans men)
Entirely closeted with family members that participant did not live with: 25.3% of trans women, 22.0% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity for fear of a negative reaction: 58.9% of trans women, 56.2% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in public premises or buildings: 67.6% of trans women, 62.4% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity on streets or outdoor public places: 68.1% of trans women, 61.8% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity on public transport: 68.7% of trans women, 58.7% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in neighborhood: 68.5% of trans women, 56.9% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in workplace: 60.6% of trans women, 53.0% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in cafes, restaurants, pubs, or clubs: 61.8% of trans women, 57.5% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in the park: 54.4% of trans women, 46.2% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in other environments: 9.0% of trans women, 8.9% of trans men
Avoiding being open about gender identity in athletic environments: 63.1% of trans men, 60.2% of trans women
Avoiding being open about gender identity in schools: 45.6% of trans men, 35.1% of trans women
Avoiding being open about gender identity at home: 38.9% of trans men, 32.4% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans women than trans men tended to struggle with being open about their gender identity.
Transphobia from people the participant lived with
Verbal harassment: 34.0% of trans men, 22.2% of trans women
Outing: 38.5% of trans men, 23.5% of trans women
Threats of violence: 7.0% of trans men, 6.1% of trans women
Coercive/controlling behavior: 25.0% of trans men, 18.2% of trans women
Physical violence: 6.1% of trans men, 4.2% of trans women
Sexual violence: 2.2% of trans men, 2.1% of trans women
Other transphobic incidents: 29.4% of trans men, 18.3% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans men than trans women tended to struggle with facing transphobia from people they lived with.
Transphobia from people the participant did not live with
Outing: 29.4% of trans men, 24.6% of trans women
Verbal harassment: 42.2% of trans women, 36.0% of trans men
Threats of violence: 13.7% of trans women, 10.5% of trans men
Physical violence: 7.2% of trans women, 5.6% of trans men
Sexual violence: 6.1% of trans women, 3.9% of trans men
Other transphobic incidents: 27.6% of trans women, 25.8% of trans men
Private sexual images shared without consent: 18.5% of trans women, 13.3% of trans men
Had conversion therapy: 5.0% of trans women, 4.1% of trans men
Offered conversion therapy: 9.3% of trans men, 7.6% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans women than trans men tended to struggle with facing transphobia from people they did not live with.
Experiences in school/educational institutions
Entirely closeted at school: 16.6% of trans women, 9.3% of trans men
Entirely negative reactions at school: 3.6% of trans women, 2.1% of trans men
Entirely positive reactions at school: 28.9% of trans men, 34.7% of trans women
Outing at school: 77.9% of trans men, 62.9% of trans women
Verbal harassment at school: 73.4% of trans women, 70.0% of trans men
Exclusion from activities at school: 31.7% of trans women, 24.3% of trans men
Threats of violence at school: 25.0% of trans women, 19.8% of trans men
Physical violence at school: 15.1% of trans women, 9.6% of trans men
Sexual violence at school: 12.4% of trans women, 5.0% of trans men
Other transphobic incidents at school: 50.0% of trans men, 47.3% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans women than trans men tended to struggle with being trans in schools/educational institutions.
Workplace experiences
Had a paid job: 56.9% of trans men, 65.3% of trans women
Entirely closeted with senior colleagues: 33.4% of trans men, 31.5% of trans women
Entirely closeted with colleagues at same/lower level: 30.6% of trans men, 26.6% of trans women
Entirely positive reactions in workplace: 34.7% of trans women, 36.3% of trans men
Entirely negative reactions in workplace: 5.1% of trans women, 3.9% of trans men
Outing at work: 59.9% of trans men, 55.5% of trans women
Verbal harassment at work: 49.6% of trans women, 45.6% of trans men
Exclusion from activities at work: 32.7% of trans women, 21.8% of trans men
Threats of violence at work: 9.6% of trans women, 7.7% of trans men
Physical violence at work: 5.5% of trans women, 3.2% of trans men
Sexual violence at work: 7.0% of trans women, 4.0% of trans men
Other transphobic incidents at work: 54.2% of trans men, 53.3% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that similar proportions of trans women and trans men tended to struggle with being trans in the workplace, with slightly more trans women struggling.
Public healthcare experiences
Needs ignored: 32.3% of trans men, 24.0% of trans women
Avoided treatment for fear of discrimination: 24.3% of trans men, 17.4% of trans women
Inappropriate questions/curiosity from healthcare workers: 29.0% of trans men, 18.9% of trans women
Discrimination from healthcare staff: 14.2% of trans men, 12.6% of trans women
Inappropriate referral to specialist services: 13.8% of trans men, 10.3% of trans women
Unwanted pressure for medical testing: 10.6% of trans men, 8.6% of trans women
Had to change GP: 10.9% of trans men, 9.7% of trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans men than trans women tended to struggle with public healthcare.
Mental healthcare experiences
Average ease accessing mental health services, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being very easy: 2.49 for trans men, 2.55 for trans women
Unsuccessful accessing mental health services: 28.6% of trans women, 27.7% of trans men
Anxious/embarrassed about accessing mental health services: 40.1% of trans men, 29.1% of trans women
Unsupportive mental health practitioner: 17.0% of trans men, 16.9% of trans women
Average mental health service ratings, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being completely positive: 3.22 for trans men, 3.40 for trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans men than trans women tended to struggle with mental healthcare.
Sexual healthcare experiences
Average ease accessing sexual health services, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being very easy: 3.72 for trans men, 3.75 for trans women
Unsuccessful accessing sexual health services: 14.6% of trans women, 12.3% of trans men
Anxious/embarrassed about sexual health services: 57.3% of trans men, 31.8% of trans women
Unsupportive sexual health practitioner: 15.1% of trans men, 11.9% of trans women
Rating of sexual health services, on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being completely positive: 4.05 for trans men, 4.10 for trans women
The data from this survey indicates that more trans men than trans women tended to struggle with sexual healthcare.
TLDR: According to the data from this survey, the areas in which trans women tended to face more struggles than trans men were in openness about gender identity, transphobia from people they don't live with, and being trans in educational institutions. The areas in which trans men tended to face more struggles than trans women were in transphobia from people they did live with, public healthcare services, mental healthcare services, and sexual healthcare services. Trans men and trans women struggled similarly with being trans in the workplace, and with their overall experience being trans in the UK, with trans women facing slightly more struggles in the workplace.
Obviously, this is only one survey, and doesn't represent all trans people as it was conducted only in the UK. It's possible that another survey might show trans women struggling more in healthcare, or trans men struggling more in schools.
But I would say this is strong evidence that trans women are not necessarily the most oppressed of all trans people by far in all areas of life. Trans men and trans women both face severe oppression, in some similar and some unique ways, and it helps no one to minimize the suffering of either.
Reading Comprehension Questions:
Did OP say that trans men are more oppressed than trans women? (Hint: No)
Did OP say that trans women oppress trans men? (Hint: Also no)
Did OP say that transmisogyny isn't a real issue, or that trans women shouldn't be allowed to talk about transmisogyny? (Hint: No again)
Did OP say that trans men's oppression is more important than trans women's and deserves to be talked about more? (Hint: Still no)
Did OP say that any issues are exclusive to trans men or trans women and that we have no overlap in our struggles? (Hint: You guessed it- no!)
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