Scaremongering is often used by anti-trans activists to promote a feeling of fear: something which motivates people to act. Furthermore, psychology has shown that repeated tropes, whether true or not if repeated often enough tend to stick in people's minds and affect their subconscious thoughts, motivations and actions. In our series about TERF lies, we previously polled trans, ts and non-binary people about surgery and HRT, finding out that 97% of trans people want either HRT or surgery. This recent poll, of 75 trans, ts and non-binary women was specifically to address the lie that "most" ts/trans/non-binary women don't have lower surgery, and the results, although highly unsurprising to us, speak volumes both about the extent of the propaganda machine against trans women, but also about how important physical transition is for all trans people: be they ts, non-binary or identify as trans.
Method: A self-reporting poll was conducted on our members. Replying to the poll was not mandatory. Previous results of such polls, such as those about sexuality have previously mirrored results from large scale studies. Members were allowed to select one choice only. The answers used were:
I've had lower surgery
I want lower surgery
I'm undecided
I don't want lower surgery. The poll was run over 2 days, and had 75 respondents. Only one response could be made per member of the group. The group is inclusive of all trans people, including non-binary, transsexual and transgender people. Only women and transfeminine people were asked to respond. Many who replied to the poll were known by the group owner to have had lower surgery. Lower surgery for trans people means any surgery related to genitalia including orchidectomy, labioplasty, and formation of a vagina through surgical means. Results: 97.3% of people identifying as transsexual, non-binary or transgender either had surgery, wanted surgery, or were considering surgery, leaving only 2 respondents saying they definitely didn't want lower surgery.
Discussion: The poll had a comments section, and some respondents replied saying that their any surgeries were private and confidential and they didn't want to share that kind of information. The reason for the poll was clearly laid out and many said that TERF's wouldn't care about the facts because they don't listen to reason anyway, being part of the ultra-right wing. It was made clear that the reason for such polling was to address some of the lies and propaganda circulating on social media, and that social media in itself is a powerful tool in itself.
Interestingly, the ~3% of people who do not want surgery mirrored our earlier poll regarding HRT and surgery, which polled all trans,ts and non-binary people, regardless of assignation at birth. What this might reflect is that, overall, most trans people, regardless of assignation, seek some kind of treatment in order to feel comfortable with themselves. It seems that, certainly among the group, physical dysphoria is a shared experience, regardless of assignation at birth.
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