Why are transgender people more likely to commit suicide?

[Jehanne]

I guess that being Trans must be a bit like being on the autism spectrum, specifically because the spectrum is so broad that it can be kinda hard to get ahold of a single narrative that says: "This is what being trans is like." At least, as long as you really want to figure it out and don't want to latch onto an easy-to-understand narrative to save time and effort, anyway.

Autism is a DSM-V diagnosis; being trans is not.  On the other hand, there are individuals who are autistic and are completely happy in life, in no need of any therapy, counseling, etc.  For those individuals, their autism is simply a different way of looking at the World, no better or worse than the so-called "normal" people.

[Rev. Rye]

Just so we're clear, here's what I meant when I compared being trans to being on the autism spectrum.

You remember Rain Man? (Don't worry, I have a point with this)



A lot of people on the higher end of the spectrum hate this movie, but I have more mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, as a portrayal of the lower-functioning end of the spectrum, it works pretty well. On the other, because autistic visibility was next to nothing before the movie came out, and this movie became so bloody popular, Raymond Babbit became the go-to example of what to expect from people with autism: savant skills in some areas and severely mentally stunted in every other.

Unfortunately, autism doesn't work like that. Even beyond seeing autism as a different point of view and just looking at how it's seen, it runs the gamut of people like Paul Dirac, a physicist whose contributions to the discipline rival Einstein's and whose personality was so introverted, seemingly staid, and literal-minded that it's hard to argue he wasn't on the spectrum, all the way to people who are far worse off than even Raymond Babbit. And on another aspect, Dirac's thinking was so concrete that he dismissed poetry, saying "The aim of science is to make difficult things understandable in a simpler way; the aim of poetry is to state simple things in an incomprehensible way. The two are incompatible." Meanwhile, Dan Harmon has been diagnosed with an ASD and he's responsible for a show as complicated, and, in its own way, poetic (at least by Dirac's definition), as Rick and Morty. And because autism is becoming more visible, it's becoming clear that the spectrum is so huge that it's ridiculous to just narrow it down to one idea of what constitutes autism.

And in parallel, for the longest time, I had a similar sort of singular narrative about trans people: that they'd spend most of their lives thinking that they should have been born as the opposite gender, and, either as soon as it became socially/economically feasible or they hit the breaking point where they had to transition to said opposite gender or die, they'd do so, and, of course, they'd have to have the genital surgery at some point to complete the process.

While I suspect this monomyth may be more common among trans people than Raymond Babbits are among people on the autism spectrum, in recent years, it's become obvious that the experience is so much broader than that, since it turns out a lot of people are more open to a fluid conception of gender than I would have expected (outside of the average British comedian, anyway). Not that long ago, I would have heard your identifying as "a woman with a penis" and concluded that your transition must still be incomplete or you must be a sex worker serving a particular niche. But trans visibility has made great leaps and bounds, and it's becoming clear that's not necessarily the case and that the label transgender covers a huge variety of gender- You get the point, right? ... Right?

Of course, unlike autism, I haven't lived with being trans for 30 1/2 years (or at all), so I don't know the nuances all that intimately. But at least I try to do so and recognise it's an ongoing process.

[Jehanne]

I am happily married and live in complete fidelity to my beloved wife. Being transgender is, for me, a non-issue. I only sometimes experience difficulties with my family members, wife included, and complete strangers. Our marriage endures in spite of these difficulties; as for strangers, I both ignore and sometimes fear them. As an individual, I am at complete peace with myself and my body.

[Cherub19]

It’s not surprising to me that the so-called transgenders have a high rate of committing suicide. Someone has suggested it is because they are apparently mistreated, bullied or discriminated against, but I am deeply skeptical of this explanation. For one thing, transgenders tend to be drawn from a very privileged demographic of the upper middle class and upper class. The laws in the Western hemisphere are quite stringent against any form of discrimination. Social norms in the 21st century are likewise such that they create an atmosphere of not only tolerance for the LGBTQ, but constant reverence and celebration of that identity. In my understanding, the cause of transgender misery which motivates them to self-harm is childhood psychological trauma which was also the cause of their gender dysphoria. When combined with dissatisfaction with their own body and biology, which does not conform to their own standard or ideal of what they feel as a woman in a man’s body, is a recipe for disaster. In summary, the cause for transgender suicide is entirely internal and not external.

[The Architect Of Fate]

1. You don't understand discrimination or transphobia 

2. You explanation is simply false

Keep your ignorant nonesense to yourself

[Cherub19]

1. You don't understand discrimination or transphobia 

2. You explanation is simply false

Keep your ignorant nonesense to yourself

Okay, I assume you are addressing me since you remarks are posted immediately after mine. Therefore let me respond by saying:

I think I can reasonably say that I do indeed understand discrimination. I have often been on the wrong end of it, including both social discrimination and discrimination (more accurately persecution) by the state. My intention is not to invalidate the experience of transgenders, but I can say with great confidence that the alleged discrimination that transgenders generally make a great hue and cry about pales in comparison to the actual discrimination experienced by much larger groups, which is racial, religious, and ideological discrimination.

I am highly skeptical of the term transphobia. It apparently suggests that there is a fairly widespread sentiment out there in which some people fear transgenders, or suffer anxiety that is directly caused by the presence or existence of transgenders. I do not think such a sentiment exists at the level that would justify the coining of this term transphobia and giving it a place in the English dictionary. At any rate, transphobia is certainly not the explanation for my thoughts and opinion on why transgenders are more likely than non-transgenders to commit suicide or engage in self-harming behavior. The actual basis for my thoughts and opinion on this subject is dispassionate research and unbiased observation of social dynamics.

[The Architect Of Fate]

It amazes me you could write all that and yet say absolutely nothing at all and convinces me even more you know nothing about this . Oh well you won't be staying long by my estimate so correcting your ignorance is waste of time .

[Rev. Rye]

Look, if you’re at all interested in trying to understand the issue, you need to educate yourself.

A brief general primer: https://www.hrc.org/resources/understand...-community

A survey of trans rights in America (fun fact: until a fucking MONTH ago, Less than half of all US states had a comprehensive ban on discriminating against trans people in employment): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgende...ted_States

A look at trans poverty (while you may be right about the majority of trans people coming from wealthy backgrounds, and even that I doubt, it doesn’t mean a damn thing if your wealthy parents disown you for being trans.): https://nwlc.org/blog/income-security-is...er-survey/

Some information on trans harassment (because even if you have equal rights under the law, it doesn’t mean a damn thing if the people around you don’t give a shit): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_bashing

Trans violence (because the shit that led to the death of Brandon Teena is still alive and well): https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-a...ty-in-2020

Medical discrimination (because last month, Trump rolled back a shitton of Obama-era protections in health care and many are still back at stage one): https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shot...nistration

Hopefully, this will enlighten you. Assuming you give a shit, of course.

[Cherub19]

Look, if you’re at all interested in trying to understand the issue, you need to educate yourself.

A brief general primer: https://www.hrc.org/resources/understand...-community

A survey of trans rights in America (fun fact: until a fucking MONTH ago, Less than half of all US states had a comprehensive ban on discriminating against trans people in employment): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgende...ted_States

A look at trans poverty (while you may be right about the majority of trans people coming from wealthy backgrounds, and even that I doubt, it doesn’t mean a damn thing if your wealthy parents disown you for being trans.): https://nwlc.org/blog/income-security-is...er-survey/

Some information on trans harassment (because even if you have equal rights under the law, it doesn’t mean a damn thing if the people around you don’t give a shit): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans_bashing

Trans violence (because the shit that led to the death of Brandon Teena is still alive and well): https://www.hrc.org/resources/violence-a...ty-in-2020

Medical discrimination (because last month, Trump rolled back a shitton of Obama-era protections in health care and many are still back at stage one): https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shot...nistration

Hopefully, this will enlighten you. Assuming you give a shit, of course.

Hello. Without the intention of boasting, I would characterize myself as a fairly broad minded individual, and considerably more broad minded relative to the rest of society. So, I look forward to the distinct possibility of learning something new in reading from the resources you have kindly shared with me.

Nonetheless, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that Wikipedia is not entirely an unbiased source of information. You might probably agree with me that initially it may have been so, but as with any encyclopedic source of knowledge that becomes commercialized and is both funded and administered by commercial interests, its content is manipulated to conform to a socio-political narrative that the commercial establishment has a vested interest in maintaining. I may add to this point by saying that if it was any other subject, I would most certainly give your Wikipedia sources the benefit of the doubt, and approach them as a student eager to learn and digest the information. But any content relating to issues surrounding the LGBTQ movement is bound to be considerably manipulated and distorted if that content is being produced by the commercial establishment. I hope to elaborate on this thesis of mine in the coming days, God willing.

Your remark that as recent as less than a month ago, less than half of US States had a comprehensive ban on employment discrimination against trans people ought to be analyzed carefully. But for now I would like to raise the following question as it pertains to anti-discrimination legislation: why is it necessary that each of the potentially endless number of socially discriminated against groups have specific legislation in their name to protect them from discrimination? In my view, the fact that the laws you speak about are relatively quite recent is not evidence that transgenders are a highly discriminated against category of people. On the contrary, it suggests that state legislators have either lost their sense or are feeling the pressure of the political and commercial establishment which manufactured the LGBTQ narrative in the first place. The fact of the matter is the general anti-discrimination laws which have been on the books for quite some time are sufficient and comprehensive in that they strongly protect all segments of society from employment discrimination.

[WinterHold]

Transgendered people don't understand who they are, and the media is either treating them as "handicapped children" or "a mistake and a shame that shouldn't exist".

Moreover; they increase the dose of depressive reality with taking hormones and drugs to change who they are.

Combine the two points above and you'll get a glimpse of why they kill themselves: they want to end it all and just let go.

I always ask myself: do trans people mutilate themselves because the surgeons said so or because the drugs said so or because the gap in their line of thoughts said so? Knowing that the "gap in the line of thoughts" resulted from the devastating media and faulty raising?

It's a very big issue.