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We’re proud to feature our very own Francesca Carter in our Lived and Learnt series, who gave a heartfelt, insightful and fun talk on dispelling myths surrounding trans people. She helps us to build the understanding and confidence needed to engage in conversations and allyship.
In this article, she walks us through the 10 common myths surrounding trans people today, and how we can be a helpful ally for trans people in today’s world. Let’s dive in!
The first thing to say is that while this presentation is largely about breaking down myths, it’s also worth saying that silence around transgender people and not having conversations about it can also be damaging. Fran was inspired to do this presentation following the recent UK Supreme Court’s ruling on biological sex, wanting to help dispel some common myths and disinformation that have been cropping up around transgender people in recent years and leading to increased discrimination.
Fran decided to come out in 2021 and identifies as a woman. She went on to start hormone therapy in December 2022, but is still waiting for NHS treatment. Fran discusses how transitioning has really improved her quality of life, wellbeing, and confidence.
She has seen that often, people want to be supportive but they don’t know how to talk about it out of fear of hurting feelings and causing offence.
And with that, this talk sets out to spark conversation, understanding and engagement! We’ll walk through 10 common myths surrounding the conversation to do this.
Let’s start with clarifying sex vs gender and some terminology around that. Sex is to do with our chromosomes and genitalia, in short, it’s about your body. Whereas gender is about how we feel and how we identify.
With our terms cleared up, let’s move, onto the 10 common myths!
Myth 1: Trans People Are Everywhere!
A lot of news gets dedicated to transgender people, with it sometimes getting characterised as like a tsunami that’s taking over society and moulding the minds of young people. In reality, trans people are very much a minority. In every 200 people, roughly just 1 out of them will be trans.
Some research has been done on how the news amplifies the idea that trans people are everywhere and causing harm. An example comes from the Daily Mail. Up to January 2013, there were 6 articles about trans people, none of them negative. Fast forward to January 2023, there were 115 articles, and 87% of them were negative.
Overall, transgender people aren’t much of a trend, a lot of it is people having the space to speak out and use a vocabulary that just wasn’t there before. We should be mindful there’s a potentially bigger trend of people talking about it (often unkindly)! We are written about, but rarely are we the ones doing the writing.
This is really a misconception. Proto-trans people have existed across history, and we say ‘proto’ as we didn’t have enough of the language or awareness that we have today.
But historically, we’ve had lots of examples of people who felt their gender identity differed from their assigned one at birth. They range from rulers to saints and thinkers; some examples include:
We have much more awareness now of transgender folks and ability to offer treatments such as hormone therapy compared to before, but it goes to show, that feeling a discrepancy between your assigned gender and the gender you resonate with is not a new thing at all.
Well, it is! The basis for treatment is gender dysphoria, which is assessable by a psychologist. The medical consensus has also evolved over time; for example, it used to be the case that homosexuality was often considered to be a mental illness.
Historically, it’s also true that some countries have had trans communities for centuries, such as the Hijra of India.
We often hear this especially with regards to children. But it’s important to remember that the average person transitioning is already well into adulthood, and waiting lists are really long for any form of healthcare transgender person, even by typical NHS standards.
Recent studies have shown that the average age at which a transgender person receives a gender dysphoria diagnosis is 26 years old – most people transitioning aren’t children to begin with!
They often have to wait 3 to 7 years just for their first appointment. Then there’s 1+ year for Hormone Replacement Therapy, another year plus for surgery referral, and then another year to 3 years for the actual surgery.
Regret rates, even for children, are very low (1 to 2%) for transgender folks and there’s plenty of time for them to consider their choice to transition. This is quite staggering that for such a life-changing treatment, it has lower regret rates than most forms of surgery, such as spinal or cosmetic surgery for instance.
A big focus in the news goes to examples like trans women using women’s toilets, and that this poses a threat to cis women.
For Fran, this was confusing, because trans women like herself had already been using women’s spaces without trouble for decades, and she had never had someone comment or make a scene about her presence in a particular bathroom. We see that statistically, women tend to be more comfortable than men with the idea of trans people using their own gender’s public toilets and facilities.
This is backed up by evidence too! Countries with more relaxed laws around gender identity and trans people’s access to public spaces see no increase in rates of crime against women before and after enacting these laws, which seems to debunk the idea that cis women would be under threat from equalising access to public spaces. It’s important to remember that headlines can anchor our perceptions about a whole group of people, by magnifying individual examples, exceptional examples, whereas the statistics tell a truer, fairer story.
For the record, you can’t! Cis women have been attacked, verbally and even physically because people thought they were trans. Male staff and patrons have sometimes even entered women’s toilets expressly for this purpose!
But this is besides the point, it’s hurtful to make a big deal out of it. Transitioning is a personal thing, and who are we to judge someone’s appearance and gender identity? It others other people when ultimately we’re no different than anyone else.
Elliot page is a great example of someone who’s transitioned publicly in their acting career, starring in famous roles before, during, and after their transition. Whether or not you think you could tell this based purely on appearances, the fact he is a trans man and was assigned female at birth shouldn’t be used as a ‘gotcha!’ moment. It is just a facet of his identity and who he is as a person.
Criticism isn’t censorship. It’s true that trans people and allies are advocating for trans rights, inclusivity and wellbeing. Misinformation is rampant, and it’s often the case that voices directly from trans people are filtered out of the public discourse.
Take for example the UK Supreme Court’s recent ruling on public spaces and grounding definitions of women in biological sex; in that decision, no trans women or advocates were consulted on the deliberations around trans women in public spaces, despite the fact it directly affects their lives more than anyone else. If this isn’t the definition of being silenced, what is?
We want equal access, not special treatment! We want free healthcare and to be able to pee in peace! Safe to say, it’s not the norm to have to debate with yourself about whether it’s safe to use a public restroom or to be on waiting lists for even the most basic treatments that can approach nearly a decade.
Other groups get protections along religious, age-based, disability, racial lines, and more; we’re simply asking for the same kinds of protections.
Well, hopefully not.
Outwardly, trans rights appear to be in a rough place right now in the UK, but we’ve been here before with rights for Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual people before they were embraced. UK legislation tends to lag behind society’s views.
Public support for trans people is warmer than people might believe from the content they get from algorithms, often designed to inflame tensions. But when asked directly, positive sympathy for trans rights outnumbers negative sentiments four to one.
And despite the rulings of the Supreme Court and the bad press, people are fighting back, and grassroots support is growing. Recently in London, over 100,000 people attended the Trans+ Pride rally in 2025!
I hope this has changed that a bit! Above all else, it’s not what you know or believe, it’s about your intent. If you’re looking to understand, you’re not going to go far wrong.
And on that note, listening can be more helpful than speaking. We’re not short of people putting words in our mouths, and if you listen to understand, you’re going to do better than most!
But if you want to speak and ask questions, that’s also great. We need to balance listening with sincere engagement so that silence doesn’t cause more harm.
This advice can also be applied to any marginalised group in society:
Some recommend books include:
Donations and causes: