An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese people are strongly skeptical of granting rights traditionally reserved for biological women to so-called trans women. This is according to a comprehensive study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior.
The survey, conducted between April 16 and April 30, 2022, included participants from Taiwan and surrounding islands. The researchers collected a total of 10,158 valid responses addressing issues related to trans women’s rights and safety, the science journal PsyPost reports.
Respondents were asked to consider 14 statements such as “Trans women can be housed in female prisons”, with responses recorded on a binary scale where participants either agreed or disagreed with the statement.
The study was divided into three main categories: women’s safety, women’s rights and law and society issues.
The results show strong opposition to granting trans women, i.e. biological males who self-identify as women, rights and assets traditionally reserved for biological females.
A full 91.6% of respondents disagreed with all statements in the survey, indicating strong opposition to, for example, allowing trans women to use women’s public restrooms, which only 6.1% supported. Only 4.2% were in favor of allowing trans women to participate in female sporting events.
The survey points to deep skepticism about self-proclaimed gender identification among Taiwanese citizens, which could influence any legislative changes in this area.
A new study published in Archives of Sexual Behaviour reveals that an overwhelming majority of Taiwanese respondents strongly oppose gender self-identification for transgender women. https://t.co/OzbWoKeGIh
— PsyPost.org (@PsyPost) August 18, 2024
Skepticism highest among women
Taiwan’s Gender Recognition Act, which requires sex reassignment surgery (SRS) for legal gender reassignment on identity documents, has long been controversial. The legal requirement faced further criticism after a high-profile court decision in 2021, in which a transgender person was allowed to change their legal gender without undergoing SRS, provided psychiatric evaluations were attached.
The study also revealed that opposition was stronger among women, parents and older individuals (over 36 years old). People with higher education showed no major differences in their responses compared to those without, and even supporters of same-sex marriage and gender identity education had generally low levels of support for gender identification.
Open feedback also showed a concern for women’s safety and rights, as well as a fear of gender identity issues considered to negatively affect children.
The researchers note some limitation in the sample, which consisted of a predominantly female participant base, which could potentially affect the results and its representativeness of the entire Taiwanese population.
At the same time, the study points to potentially significant public opposition to future legislative changes that would allow a more flexible approach to so-called gender identification.
