Author:
According to the British Social attitudes survey, except it seems towards transgender people.
'The study notes, however, that attitudes towards transgender people – recorded only since 2016 – appear more volatile, with a recent sharp decline in public support. The proportion of the British public describing themselves as “not prejudiced” towards transgender people fell from 82% to 64% between 2021 and 2022, when the latest survey took place.
Similarly, while 58% of the British public agreed in 2016 that transgender people should be able to have the sex on their birth certificate changed if they wanted, that figure had dropped to 30% by 2022, suggesting “an overall gradual erosion in support towards transgender rights” since 2018.
This change may reflect the “intense political debate and media discussion” of the topic and increasing public “ambivalence or uncertainty”, the study suggests. Women were more likely to express liberal views on transgender people – 71% said they were “not prejudiced” against 57% of men. Among people aged 18 to 34, the figure was 69%, compared with 51% among the over-70s.'
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/sep/21/britain-is-m...
Comments
I think that a lot of that change
has to do with the very high profile that TG issues (sorry outright hatred and wanting to eliminate us from the face of the earth) have in the USA.
With Pox Spews (and possibly other very right of centre channels) available on streaming services here, it is little wonder that many people follow suit.
Hopefully (and yes, this is a big hope) that when their dear leader is sent to jail for any of the almost 100 counts against him, his rabid cult will struggle to find a new leader and implode on itself with infighting. I refuse to mention his name or cult name here. What will only attract the bots.
Samantha
Don't know 'bout you...
But I don't gauge life based on polls. Before retirement I worked in the quality field ,(statistics). Too often the results are tilted toward someone's view of the poll or the pollster or the day of the week or the time of day or even if they're underwear is riding up. Some people are even perverse enough to vote contrast just to fool with the poll.
To be valid over time the polling has to be duplicate (questions, pollsters, and pollees or method of selection). The sampling size is important. Some pollsters cut corners or even drop data that doesn't agree with preconceived ideals. Along with "yea" or "nay" you have to add in the "what?"," no comment ", and " who cares". And then what per cent are poorly informed, misinformed, or vote 'with the base'.
This poll may be right. What is obvious is that positive p.r. for transgender issues is needed both before and after the poll. But then I just may be preaching to the choir.
Ron
Stop talking about it!
There is a brilliant video on YouTube in which the actor Morgan Freeman is asked how to deal with the problems of racism. His answer is simply “Stop talking about it”. He hit the nail on the head. The more people keep going on and on about ANY subject, the more people get hacked off with it and the more their (probably) previously ambivalent opinions will harden one way or the other.
I know this isn’t what some people on here want to read (and I have every sympathy with people who are transgendered or however different from the “norm”), but if you keep going on and on about a particular subject people eventually get fed up with it, often to the detriment of the argument you are trying to put forward.
You are so right. That is
You are so right. That is exactly how women got the right to vote, they just quit talking or doing anything about it. That is also how the Civil Rights laws got passed in the 60's. That is also how unions got us labor reforms. I also got a nice raise at work only after I quit telling my boss that I was being underpaid.
Your post is not what people want to hear for one reason. It is wrong, any change in society did not come from being quiet about what was wrong in society.
So….
So, with everything that is constantly being said in the media about trans rights and trans issues in general, how do you think it is working out for trans people? Look at Angharad’s piece again, and read the parts which clearly state how attitudes have become more negative over time. The reason for that? It is constantly in the media, and people are getting fed up hearing or reading about it.
Look at what is happening in USA, where there is so much backlash against transwomen using female bathrooms. The backlash generally is increasing, and it is because people are having it constantly thrust in their faces. A more measured, less confrontational approach would be more appreciated and more likely to be successful.
Victim Blaming???
eom
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Err….
Not at all. Imagine, though, that people you don’t generally have any interest in keep going on and on and on about a particular subject. Eventually you are probably going to wish they would just shut up and go away. I am not saying it is right, just that people gradually get worn down by subjects they have no interest in being plastered all over the media to the point that they will start to have negative feelings about them.
Or maybe not. What do I know?
I Do See Your Point
There was a time I thought things would be better if drag queens would tone down their acts.
That was almost thirty years ago.
Then I learned the history of the Stonewall Riots. Those "transvestites" could have been silent. They could have avoided a riot. But they pushed things and advanced to homosexual rights argument in a way never seen before.
Good trouble!
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Victim blaming
The issue is a simple one. It was stated clearly in the USA by the 'Family Values' people: "The way to untangle the LGBTQ.... alphabet soup is to pick on the weakest letter, the T"
It's a wedge issue. By attacking us, they give the electorate a "LOOK SQUIRREL!" distraction from their failures, and they open the door to the removal of human rights elsewhere. Women's rights are being rolled back in many places, particularly reproductive rights. There are attempts to outlaw equal (gay) marriage AND fully legalise child brides and child labour.
In the UK, the main front for anti-trans views is based in 55 Tufton St, a base for a colletiion of extreme right 'think tanks'. The main organiser of public events works directly with people from literal Nazis to the Proud Boys.
We in the UK average 1,000 anti-trans articles a month in the MSM. Our government is explicitly against our rights. Transphobic hate crime rose 800% from 2010 to 2020, and is still soaring. There are specific calls for our "numbers to be reduced"
It has nothing to do with trans people getting stroppy.
It started with TERF
In the UK please do not forget that the first main front which is also still one of the main front were TERFs. People like Ms. Parker and Dr. Long. I forget what TERF had a rally where neo-nazi showed up and J.K Rowlings tried to defend that speaker when she let them stay for their support.
TERFs make me sad for they act shock when those far-right wing and right-wing groups still disagree with them. It is like they voted for the Leopards Eating Your Face Off Party and are dumbfounded when the Leopards do so when they get power.
What to do...
...WHEN state legislatures across the country pass laws that ban gender-affirming medical care despite the APA, the AMA, and the American Board of Pediatrics explaining the proven efficacy to trans kids?
WHERE a preecalmpsia woman who has been refused a THERAPUTIC termination has company on the bus heading out of state with an eleven-year old and her mom and sibs having to move just to get necessary medical care?
The mere mention of a kid wanting to talk about gender might force the teacher to quash any discussion and maybe even put the kid at risk by outing them to their non-affrming guardian.
Perhaps it's the inordinate number of trans kids that are at high risk to be trafficked because after their parents do kick them out of the house, NO shelter will accept them in any manner unless they present as their birth-gender? (This after the government agency distributes literature to help the shelter identify and refuse helpto a transgender person)
Or possibly it's getting beat up on the subway merely for wearing a dress?
The reason things are the way they are is due to four years of artificially ginned -up incessant disinformation regarding gender non-conformity. Where ideologues with guns show up at school board meetings and libraries and shout hateful screed. Where a candidate specifically promises to protect trans rights during his campaign only to have any links on the government website to provide support are suddenly removed the day after he takes office. (Promises were made to the young lady who sang at his ceremony that her sister would not have to worry about losing protectiona as a transwoman.)
Some media and politiicans deliberatelu referred to doctor approved treatment as 'cemical castration,' as if that twelve-year-old girl was the same as a rapist
There are a significant number of folks here who had no choice but to keep quiet to retain our well-being; our own generation being unkind Eight years of advances and restored riights suddenly went away at the turn of a calender. LIES upon LIES about MY COMMUNITY have led to renewed heartache and fear; fueeld by ignorance. I'm fine, but the trans kids in this country deserve better than 'just be quiet; it's your fault you're a target.'
As a survivor, I see the parallel between sexual assault and the denial of my and others' rights regarding gender issues.
A mantra... what we hear or read or live every day!
It never happened (OR it isn't what you say it is)
But even if it did happen (or is happening,) it's not that bad.
But even if it is that bad, it's ALL YOUR FAULT!
Sorry about the rant.
Love, Andrea Lena
NOT a Rant
Heck -- you didn't even get into the book banning.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
The same logic was used against all those movements I cited
The same logic was used against all those movements I cited. If those movements stayed quiet they would not have gotten the gains they did. MLK had a disapproval rating of over 50% in 1968 because he was not silent. Here are some quotes from MLK about being silent and/or taking a more moderate approach
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."
"There comes a time when silence is betrayal."
"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict."
"First, I must confess that over the last few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in the stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I can't agree with your methods of direct action;" who paternalistically feels he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by the myth of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait until a "more convenient season."
I'll stop talking about it when Matt Walsh does
And believe me, nothing would make me happier. But riling up the rubes with transphobic fear + hate is a cash cow for guys like him and is an easy way for incompetent politicians with no real solutions to any non-imaginary issues to build a base of those who buy into the demonization of trans folk.
~Pass the kitty litter, I gotta use the sandbox; Veronica
And remember...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifLqzLEB3E0
Huh?
“All that is necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Martin....
You have already expressed your opinion on 'cisgender' and non-binary people. Would it be rude to suggest that when discussing prejudice against a minority group that you allow members of the group tell you how they feel and what they have experienced, rather than you simply victim blaming?
As I posted in another comment in this thread, we weren't talking about it in the UK (or the USA, for that matter) until it became a topic for the far right and fundamentalist evangelicals, both of whose idea of the ideal women is barefoot, pregnant again, in the kitchen till called to the bedroom, and white. Our gender recognition act ran without problems until the hatred started up.
We aren't 'going on and on about it'. 1,000 items per month on TV, radio and in the papers, all directing hatred at us, is not our fault.
Martin....
You have already expressed your opinion on 'cisgender' and non-binary people. Would it be rude to suggest that when discussing prejudice against a minority group that you allow members of the group tell you how they feel and what they have experienced, rather than you simply victim blaming?
As I posted in another comment in this thread, we weren't talking about it in the UK (or the USA, for that matter) until it became a topic for the far right and fundamentalist evangelicals, both of whose idea of the ideal women is barefoot, pregnant again, in the kitchen till called to the bedroom, and white. Our gender recognition act ran without problems until the hatred started up.
We aren't 'going on and on about it'. 1,000 items per month on TV, radio and in the papers, all directing hatred at us, is not our fault.