Poll: How many straight birth-gendered females are on the Escapist?

UnloadedDevice

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Apr 11, 2013
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Edit: by "birth-gendered" I mean you 'identify' with your birth gender and have no desires or intentions to transition to another one.

I lurk alot and it seems that the number of LGBT females on this site outnumbers the number of straight birth-gendered females.

My estimate would put around half of the frequent posters who's profile gender is set to female are trans, a further half of the remaining are LGB, leaving a quarter as straight birth-gendered females.

I'm curious to see what the actual numbers will be.
 

JoJo

and the Amazing Technicolour Dream Goat 🐐
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Mar 31, 2010
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A couple of years ago I made a wide-ranging gender thread with a poll included. It revealed that among respondants about a third of the female population here were trans. Both cis and trans women were far outnumbered by us men of course. Unfortunately the thread was later necroed, locked and autodeleted so I don't have a direct link, I may have a screenshot on my laptop which I can dig out later.
 

ThatOtherGirl

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Jul 20, 2015
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UnloadedDevice said:
I lurk alot and it seems that the number of LGBT females on this site outnumbers the number of straight normal-gendered females.

My estimate would put around half of the frequent posters who's profile gender is set to female are trans, a further half of the remaining are LGB, leaving a quarter as straight normal-gendered females.

I'm curious to see what the actual numbers will be.
Ok, this is a completely valid thing to ask, I have no problem with it. It would be interesting to know better the demographics of the escapist community. But I do have one small comment, something that you may not have been aware of.

I get that not normal can mean just unusual without any negative connotations, but frequently "not normal" has been an attack used against trans people with all the negative connotations intended (deviant, disgusting, etc.) With that in mind the best term to use for gender identity if you can is cisgender or transgender. Cis meaning "not trans" in the same way trans means "not cis".

Thanks for listening, sorry to interrupt!
 

Evonisia

Your sinner, in secret
Jun 24, 2013
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I'm curious as to why you put men in the poll when you're asking about the women of The Escapist specifically.
 

UnloadedDevice

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Apr 11, 2013
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ThatOtherGirl said:
Ok, this is a completely valid thing to ask, I have no problem with it. It would be interesting to know better the demographics of the escapist community. But I do have one small comment, something that you may not have been aware of.

I get that not normal can mean just unusual without any negative connotations, but frequently "not normal" has been an attack used against trans people with all the negative connotations intended (deviant, disgusting, etc.) With that in mind the best term to use for gender identity if you can is cisgender or transgender. Cis meaning "not trans" in the same way trans means "not cis".

Thanks for listening, sorry to interrupt!
I really hate the term cis, it sounds like cyst. cis is not a common prefix in the English language, unlike trans. I don't want to be labeled with such a bizarre term that makes it sound like I have a medical condition for simply being a part of the vast majority. It almost sounds like a slur. So I won't use cisgender.

I have thought of an alternative to normal-gendered though, so I will change my OP.
Edit: Whether the poll will change is up to the whims of fate though.


MarsAtlas said:
I'm a typical gender but I can't say that I'm straight, sorry.
Whaaaa? Not transgender???
Your profile details said:
Location:
"that typically online-trans"
Occupation:
"dishonest, despicable raging c*nt"
Bio:
"insane transseuxal"
Did you not vote in the poll? Because there is only one vote for a trans option, and yet two(?) transgendered users have posted in the thread already.

Evonisia said:
I'm curious as to why you put men in the poll when you're asking about the women of The Escapist specifically.
Because people like to click on the polls. This way I still get the information I want, but everybody gets to click. Also it may be interesting to see the rest of the data anyway.
 

Phasmal

Sailor Jupiter Woman
Jun 10, 2011
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Bit curious as to why you ask, but sure-

*Raises hand*

Here.

I'm assuming by 'normal', you mean cis. So yeah. Cis straight lady here.
 

Evonisia

Your sinner, in secret
Jun 24, 2013
3,257
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UnloadedDevice said:
Evonisia said:
I'm curious as to why you put men in the poll when you're asking about the women of The Escapist specifically.
Because people like to click on the polls. This way I still get the information I want, but everybody gets to click. Also it may be interesting to see the rest of the data anyway.
Fair dues. Though it looks like it's being dominated by straight men and non-straight men (like myself), as I suppose could be expected.
 

Ten Foot Bunny

I'm more of a dishwasher girl
Mar 19, 2014
807
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Baffle said:
I'm also ten feet tall, but don't let that put you off.
HEY NO FAIR!!! ;)

As for myself, I'm just a run-of-the-mill lesbian. But I'm not ten feet tall... I only made it to 6'.
 

Musette

Pacifist Percussionist
Apr 19, 2010
278
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Well, when I joined the Escapist, I thought I was a straight girl. Turned out to be wrong in both the orientation and gender department, go figure. Still, even if some parts of the results are very predictable, these polls are always fun, even as someone who has a tendency to lurk more than post.
 

KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime

Lolita Style, The Best Style!
Jan 12, 2010
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UnloadedDevice said:
ThatOtherGirl said:
Ok, this is a completely valid thing to ask, I have no problem with it. It would be interesting to know better the demographics of the escapist community. But I do have one small comment, something that you may not have been aware of.

I get that not normal can mean just unusual without any negative connotations, but frequently "not normal" has been an attack used against trans people with all the negative connotations intended (deviant, disgusting, etc.) With that in mind the best term to use for gender identity if you can is cisgender or transgender. Cis meaning "not trans" in the same way trans means "not cis".

Thanks for listening, sorry to interrupt!
I really hate the term cis, it sounds like cyst. cis is not a common prefix in the English language, unlike trans. I don't want to be labeled with such a bizarre term that makes it sound like I have a medical condition for simply being a part of the vast majority. It almost sounds like a slur. So I won't use cisgender.

I have thought of an alternative to normal-gendered though, so I will change my OP.
Edit: Whether the poll will change is up to the whims of fate though.
Well there in lies a problem, because "normal" is also a term used to exclude trans folk, as well as trans is used as a term to exclude trans folk. The vast majority of trans people want to be respected as the gender we identify as, without having to add the "trans" part. Really the venomous way people have said trans when referring to me as a trans woman almost makes trans sound like a slur, but I still use trans and transgender. Also cis means near-side, trans means opposite-sise, if that helps.

Though fun is being a trans woman who's also asexual, panromantic, and polyromantic. By fun I mean horrible, most people get the trans part, but most people don't get the rest. Asexual meaning I'm not really intrested in sex, period, panromantic meaning gender identity and physical sex don't factor into who I can fall in love with romantically, and polyromantic means I'm not strictly monogamous... Bleh.

On a side note, I know a lot of cisgender straight female gamers who pose as male on line and refuse to reveal their true gender and orientation. Mostly because when they do reveal even their actual gender, they get hounded and harassed to the point where they can't enjoy the game.
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
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Why do cisgenderfolk get multiple sexuality options? I've been robbed! Robbed, dammit!

Evonisia said:
I'm curious as to why you put men in the poll when you're asking about the women of The Escapist specifically.
I imagine because you can't weigh a negative vote. Including men ostensibly gives you a ratio to work with, except...

KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
On a side note, I know a lot of cisgender straight female gamers who pose as male on line and refuse to reveal their true gender and orientation. Mostly because when they do reveal even their actual gender, they get hounded and harassed to the point where they can't enjoy the game.
That. The issue here is relying upon people with a reason to not self-report self-reporting anyway. This is especially an issue because over the last few years this site's community has become rather...unwelcoming to trans users, women, and anyone who happens to be both. Quite a few from either/both groups have stopped posting actively, retreated to usergroups, adopted other identities (boy, am I doing this wrong!), etc.

Ten Foot Bunny said:
I only made it to 6'.
I'm 6'5". The testosterone-aided growth might count as cheating, but my mom's 6' even and I have three aunts all at least that tall.

Im Lang said:
If I actually know someone personally, then of course I'm interested in their private things, all kinds of private things.
I suppose my real question is how much this difference is weighted. What difference it makes if your friends are trans as opposed to strangers.

At the same time, this is why so many of us make a big deal of it. Even to strangers. You don't get accepted by society by being some hypothetical bogeyperson. You do it by reminding people that we're your family, your friends, your neighbours, your coworkers, and even just strangers. That we're out there in number.

And plotting to enslave ciskind. Mwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

...wait, did I say that last part aloud?
 

Ihateregistering1

New member
Mar 30, 2011
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UnloadedDevice said:
ThatOtherGirl said:
Ok, this is a completely valid thing to ask, I have no problem with it. It would be interesting to know better the demographics of the escapist community. But I do have one small comment, something that you may not have been aware of.

I get that not normal can mean just unusual without any negative connotations, but frequently "not normal" has been an attack used against trans people with all the negative connotations intended (deviant, disgusting, etc.) With that in mind the best term to use for gender identity if you can is cisgender or transgender. Cis meaning "not trans" in the same way trans means "not cis".

Thanks for listening, sorry to interrupt!
I really hate the term cis, it sounds like cyst. cis is not a common prefix in the English language, unlike trans. I don't want to be labeled with such a bizarre term that makes it sound like I have a medical condition for simply being a part of the vast majority. It almost sounds like a slur. So I won't use cisgender.
"Cis" and "trans" are used in medicine and science as well in a whole bunch of different fields (Genetics and Organic Chemistry, to name a few). "Cis" basically just means "this side of", and trans means "opposite side of".
 

ThatOtherGirl

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Jul 20, 2015
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Ihateregistering1 said:
UnloadedDevice said:
ThatOtherGirl said:
Ok, this is a completely valid thing to ask, I have no problem with it. It would be interesting to know better the demographics of the escapist community. But I do have one small comment, something that you may not have been aware of.

I get that not normal can mean just unusual without any negative connotations, but frequently "not normal" has been an attack used against trans people with all the negative connotations intended (deviant, disgusting, etc.) With that in mind the best term to use for gender identity if you can is cisgender or transgender. Cis meaning "not trans" in the same way trans means "not cis".

Thanks for listening, sorry to interrupt!
I really hate the term cis, it sounds like cyst. cis is not a common prefix in the English language, unlike trans. I don't want to be labeled with such a bizarre term that makes it sound like I have a medical condition for simply being a part of the vast majority. It almost sounds like a slur. So I won't use cisgender.
"Cis" and "trans" are used in medicine and science as well in a whole bunch of different fields (Genetics and Organic Chemistry, to name a few). "Cis" basically just means "this side of", and trans means "opposite side of".
I actually learned the prefixes "cis" and "trans" through organic chemistry myself before I learned them in relation to gender identity, so I see cis and trans as supremely neutral terms.

But if UnloadedDevice doesn't like the term, that's fine. Their thread, they can call it what they want. I didn't even care if they renamed it, I just wanted to make sure people know why we don't like that particular language. Education is good! Though I do appreciate the change, very nice of them.

Also, I think it is hilarious that the current poll reflects exactly UnloadedDevice's predicted outcome. I wonder if people are keeping it that way on purpose.

Edit: Crap, someone ruined it!
 

IceForce

Is this memes?
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Dec 11, 2012
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UnloadedDevice said:
Your profile details said:
Location:
"that typically online-trans"
Occupation:
"dishonest, despicable raging c*nt"
Bio:
"insane transseuxal"
Did you not vote in the poll? Because there is only one vote for a trans option, and yet two(?) transgendered users have posted in the thread already.
If you expect a forum poll to be scientifically accurate, then you're going to be disappointed. There's no way of stopping people from making 'incorrect' votes in your poll and skewing the results.
 

UnloadedDevice

Regular Member
Apr 11, 2013
99
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KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
Well there in lies a problem, because "normal" is also a term used to exclude trans folk, as well as trans is used as a term to exclude trans folk. The vast majority of trans people want to be respected as the gender we identify as, without having to add the "trans" part. Really the venomous way people have said trans when referring to me as a trans woman almost makes trans sound like a slur, but I still use trans and transgender. Also cis means near-side, trans means opposite-sise, if that helps.
I thought about typing out my full thoughts in response here, but uuuhhgg, it would have to be an essay to get my points across without stepping on too many toes, and I saw the last thread on the semantics of cisgender and I really don't want to be at the center of that.

It'll have to suffice that I don't like cisgender for many reasons, and if the transgender community came up with a term they like better than trans I wouldn't have a problem using it.

KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime said:
On a side note, I know a lot of cisgender straight female gamers who pose as male on line and refuse to reveal their true gender and orientation. Mostly because when they do reveal even their actual gender, they get hounded and harassed to the point where they can't enjoy the game.
It's a good thing that the polls are anonymous then, people can vote truthfully without fear of harassment!
Something Amyss said:
Why do cisgenderfolk get multiple sexuality options? I've been robbed! Robbed, dammit!
I did consider doing the same for transgender, but 1) there aren't enough poll options(only 8) and 2) I started getting a headache thinking of all the different permutations I would have to write and all the complaints I would get if I messed it up in some way.
Ihateregistering1 said:
"Cis" and "trans" are used in medicine and science as well in a whole bunch of different fields (Genetics and Organic Chemistry, to name a few). "Cis" basically just means "this side of", and trans means "opposite side of".
Know what field it's not used in? Literature. Name one commonly used word that starts with the prefix "cis." Trans, on the other hand begins more words than I can list: transcend, transparent, transition, transdimensional, transverse, transport etc. Also it does not simply mean "opposite side of," that is over simplifying the prefix. Dictionary.com lists several of it's meanings as: across, beyond, through, changing thoroughly, and transverse.

Scientific fields don't choose their terms based on appeal to the general public either, they use a dead language to form their jargon so that they aren't muddled by common usage.

Edit:
IceForce said:
If you expect a form poll to be scientifically accurate, then you're going to be disappointed. There's no way of stopping people from making 'incorrect' votes in your poll and skewing the results.
What if I say pretty please?
 

Something Amyss

Aswyng and Amyss
Dec 3, 2008
24,759
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IceForce said:
If you expect a form poll to be scientifically accurate, then you're going to be disappointed. There's no way of stopping people from making 'incorrect' votes in your poll and skewing the results.
Also, I can't imagine why trans people might not want to participate in this poll.