Sunday, June 01, 2008

We Are Out And We Are Everywhere!

A new research study was just published on the prevalence of transsexualism…
Transsexualism far more common than believed, say researchers
By Ng Yi-Sheng

A new statistical study by Prof Femke Olyslager and Prof Emeritus Lynn Conway suggests Singapore rates for male-to-female transsexuals are over 1 in 2,000, whereas rates for female-to-male transsexuals are over 1 in 4,000.

It doesn’t help that the most commonly cited study for the natural frequency of transsexuals (done in the Netherlands in 1993) suggests that only 1 in 11,900 biological men are male-to-female transsexuals, and only 1 in 30,400 biological women are female-to-male transsexuals. Applying those statistics to Singapore, it translates into a paltry 188 MTF transsexuals and an even more insignificant 74 FTM transsexuals.

But last year, Prof Femke Olyslager and Prof Emeritus Lynn Conway presented a new statistical study completely overturning those numbers. Hailing respectively from Ghent University, Belgium and the University of Michigan, USA, the two are respected researchers in Electrical Engineering who also happen to be transsexual women. As Prof Olyslager was in Singapore for a physics conference last week, Lo persuaded her as a friend to present her findings to the local and international press.

Using their new method, Olyslager and Conway have calculated these rates as being 1 in 2,000 and 1 in 5,600 for MTF and FTM transsexuals respectively. Re-calibrating to allow for surgeries abroad and transsexuals who choose not to have surgery, they estimate that Singapore rates are closer to 1 in 2,000 to 1 in 1,000 for MTF transsexuals, and 1 in 4,000 to 1 in 2,000 for FTM transsexuals.
I think that this study even under estimates the occurrence of transsexualism, I think that the rate of FtM’s is a lot closer to the rate of MtF’s.

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