Posted by Daniella Transgender is a term inclusive of a range of transgender, transsexual, and gender variant identities of people who no longer express or identify their genders with their birth sex. Transgender people include transgender women (natal males with feminine gender identities, sometimes referred to as Male-to-Females, or MTFs); transgender men (natal females with masculine gender identities, often referred to as Female-to-Males, or FTMs); and others who self-identify using over 100 identity terms, including many that extend beyond the traditional gender binary choices.1 There are no reliable estimates of the size of this population, and previous population estimates have focused solely on the transsexual minority of those who present for diagnosis and treatment for medical transition to the opposite gender.2 Moreover, traditional epidemiology methods conflate sex and gender, viewing them not only as static but also limited to the traditional binary choices of male and female.
Nevertheless, public health research, spurred by the HIV/AIDS epidemic over the last 20 years, has shed light on the health disparities endured by this socially stigmatized and heavily marginalized population. This fact sheet reviews epidemiological data reported in behavioral risk studies and needs assessment surveys obtained from convenience samples of 50 to 517 transgender participants conducted in the U.S. and published from 1993 to 2010. The findings are grouped by Healthy People 2020 topic area.
Although sometimes included under the transgender umbrella, intersex people are not covered in this fact sheet, due to a general lack of epidemiological data. Most intersex conditions are rare and include different types of anomalies in sex chromosomes, gonads, reproductive ducts, and genitalia.3 Intersex persons are nearly always assigned a sex at birth, but when growing up, some intersex people determine their natal sex assignment was inappropriate for them. Like many transgender people, these intersex persons will medically and socially transition to the opposite binary gender, usually in adolescence. There also is some overlap between the intersex and transgender populations, with one study finding that 13 percent of its transgender participants had medically recognized intersex conditions.4
Access to Health Services
Medical Provider Discrimination, Hostility, and Insensitivity to Transgender People
Discrimination by health care providers who have denied medical care to transgender people has been reported in six studies ranging from 11 to 53 percent.4 5 6 7 8 9 For many transgender people, simply disrobing for a physical exam places them in an unsafe situation. Past experiences with provider insensitivity and hostility can produce intense fears of disclosure of transgender status, causing many to avoid health care altogether. Many studies have recommended the provision of cultural competency trainings for both professional and administrative staff as a means of reducing this barrier to accessing care.
I am a Post Op Transsexual woman (Men don't waste your or my time, simply not interested)
