So I've been noticing for a while that there seem to be far more F2M trans members M2F on this site. I've also noticed that there are far more gays than lesbians. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but it seems odd. especially because there are 3 times as many lesbians in the general population compared to gays. I was just wondering has anybody else noticed this on EC or am I just imagining things?
*shrug* It's all a matter of who finds the site and joins. Also, not everyone here is super active, or active at all, so the people you're seeing only represent a small portion of the people actually registered.
It's my understanding (based on absolutely no data whatsoever) that there seem to be more F2M transpeople in general. Not sure if that holds up statistically, but I have heard references to that a few times. If it is true, it might explain why we see more here. And yes, for whatever reason, EC has always had more gay men than lesbians. Again, not sure why. It is something that perplexes the staff team and something that we would eventually like to see more balanced. As the previous postr points out, for the moment, our traffic is pretty much dependent on who shows up and posts.
That's more or less my understanding, as well. And it does, in a way, make sense, that in patriarchal societies where masculinity is revered, there would be more trans men daring to come out than trans women. I've seen several trans women on here who identify as being internally female but not transitioning or so on, out of fear, (and I can relate to that fear as well). In Sweden, though, there seems to be a very even distribution. I saw in a report, I think it was for 2014 or around there, that, based on the number of people who had sex reassignment surgery, there were just a few more trans women who had it than trans men. That might be due to that fewer trans men choose to have bottom surgery (I think), though, for all I know, but that's how they concluded that there are more trans women in Sweden. Isn't it so that the LGBTQ+ community is very centered around gay men in general, and has been so for quite a while? That's what I've both heard and experienced, at least.
Ah, but you're forgetting something about many transmen. Transwomen tend to be more visibily active in the physical transgender community. Transwomen tend to be the ones going to support groups, marching at pride, and writing blogs. If anything, I tend to notice that a lot of transmen keep to themselves (I do at least) except when it comes to posting online. I think the reasons vary. After a transman's been on testosterone for a while, he's not always immediately identifiable as trans. Also, transmen aren't always thought about by the media/public. So a lot of people (like me) may have gone for years without even being aware transmen existed or that transmen factor in to the transgender community.
I've noticed this a lot! There do seem to be more trans guys on the site. I'm not sure how the ratio works out biologically, but we're pretty much invisible in the public eye, at the very least, and most trans men on hormones pass easily in comparison to trans women in general.
My guess re. lesbians is that, being women, they have more social connections and support in their everyday lives. I also think it's easier for lesbians to come out as compared to gay men. Just my opinion.
This is a really interesting point. There's considerable research to indicate that women are better at social interaction and emotionally intimate friendship, while men (the data is normed to straight men, but the issue applies similarly to many gay men) generally suck at emotionally intimate friendship; even with their close friends, most don't talk about vulnerable things, don't cry in the presence of each other. So it makes complete sense that men would be more likely to connect about vulnerable issues, such as sexual intimacy and sexual orientation, on a message board where they can be somewhat anonymous. I can't believe I've never really considered this point before. Thanks for making me think
As the previous poster points out. As the previous poster points out. AS THE PREVIOUS POSTER POINTS OUT. GUYS! THAT'S ME! CHIP NOTICED ME!!!!
The fact that there ARE so many FtMs here on EC actually is mindboggling to me as another transmasculine person because before I came to EC, finding active FtM groups, blogs, or anything otherwise online was like looking for needles in a haystack. I was forever bookmarking webpages and websites because they were so scarce to find... only to have them poof for some reason which was especially frustrating when it came to resource-related information. Then again, that was also five or more years ago, too. That said, I think there's a link between age, the history of trans visibility, the history of gender (female, especially), and the demographics of forum posters. I've questioned and considered myself genderqueer for almost ten years and I distinctly recall during the beginning of my questioning that 'young' (under 25) people who were questioning their gender were fairly few and far in between... especially those who were DFAB and questioning. This is totally based off of my own observations, but for people who are DFAB, there is - in at least some cultures and societies - SOME leniency regarding adherence to gender roles. Girls growing up in farming communities, for example, could get away with wearing overalls and getting dirty, etc. and without people - including herself - questioning her gender. If a boy was seen wearing a dress, on the other hand, he would immediately have his masculinity questioned and the questioning could very well likely start very early on. Additionally, within the lesbian community, there are women who embody 'stronger' and what I would call more 'yang' (others might say 'masculine') traits. Combine the greater acceptance of tomboys with the visibility of stronger women within the lesbian community and I don't think it's irrational to think that before trans visibility on the FtM side gained more traction, more people who were DFAB and questioning (and who would NOW likely be considered trans) likely either 'just lived with it' (perhaps uncomfortably) or identified as a 'strong' lesbian (perhaps also uncomfortably) and only those who REALLY couldn't 'just be a tomboy' and who absolutely were NOT lesbians ever dug any further. Once FtMs started gaining a bit more visibility (not sure where or exactly when it started, but in my opinion, the accessibility of the internet has certainly helped a lot) along with all the names for all the places on both the gender and sexuality spectrum, the trans community on a whole saw a surge of newcomers... and mostly those who were younger and more tech-savvy simply from having grown up in the age of the internet and with access to the internet. For myself, I ultimately wasn't comfortable being a 'straight tomboy' and I definitely wasn't a lesbian. I identified with being gay before I ever discovered 'trans' (if you don't have words for being 'more than a tomboy', then you just don't have the right words) and it was such a backwards thought that I was so sure that something was horribly wrong with me. I felt so queer and weird in all the worst ways that when I finally came across transmen and FtMs, I was like, "OMGWTF?! We exist?!" because truly, all of the trans-anything I had ever come across prior (and I even went to a very liberal university with a very active LGBTQ community!) was always transWOMEN or about transwomen.
