Trans Male Privilege: An Analysis
One of the crucial arguments for the concept that trans men experience male privilege is that they, as a marginalized class of men, experience privilege in relation to women of the same marginalized class - that being trans women.
So we're going to use statistical analysis to see if trans men benefit from male privilege in relation to trans women. We'll be looking at several categories that male privilege typically manifests in, such as economics, Healthcare, rates of victimization, and more.
Disclaimer that most of these statistics will be regarding the USA since that is where I'm able to find the most comprehensive studies.
Let's start with political office. Cis men still hold the vast majority of political power and are over represented in both elected and appointed public office. So we should expect trans men to be similarly over represented.
According to this list of transgender public office holders, there have been 77 trans and nonbinary people in USA public office as of 2021.
Of these 77 people, 7 of them were trans men, 9 are nonbinary, and 61 are trans women. About 10% of trans public officials are trans men - meaning trans men are actually severely underrepresented. In fact, the rate of trans men in public office is significantly lower than that of cis women.
In 2023, Cis women represent 28% of the US senate, 28.5% of the House, and 32.7% of the state legislature.
By comparison, trans men are clearly not benefiting from the political power that cis men have by being over represented in public office.
In this study, trans men make 70 cents to the dollar of the average worker. While trans women only make 60 cents to the dollar. That's a 10 cent gap.
In comparison, cis women make 85 cents to the dollar of the average cis man's wage. That's a 15 cent gap.
So there is a clear difference there! Its smaller than the gap between cis men and women, but still notable.
However, the very same study says that nonbinary and genderqueer people also make 70 cents to the dollar, same as trans men. If we're going to use this as example of trans male privilege, it would have to mean that nonbinary people in general are also experiencing male privilege in relation to trans women.
Its also important to note that the wage gap trans men experience (70 cents to the dollar) is also significantly larger than the gap cis women experience (85 cents to the dollar).
Wages aren't the only part of the story when it comes to the economic experience of trans people.
According to this study, 33.7% of trans men reported living in poverty, in comparison to 29.6% of trans women. According to the study itself, this gap is not statistically significant. The gap between gender identities is not nearly significant as the gap between transgender and cisgender people. The study finds that 15.7% of straight cisgender people live in poverty, marking a much larger disparity.
Despite the apparent wage gap between trans men and trans women, they still have very similar rates of poverty overall - indicating that the wage gap, on its own, does not present any significant benefit to trans men.
Cis men experience the privilege of not facing medical misogyny. They experience better Healthcare overall, have more research into their health needs, and have less fears about seeking Healthcare.
This study on Health and Well being in the trans community tracks numerous factors. Let's look at some comparisons.
53% of trans men reported negative experiences with healthcare providers, vs. 41% of trans women
32% of trans men avoided pursuing care due to fear of mistreatment, vs. 20% of trans women
Transgender women have the highest rates of living with HIV (2.4%), vs. trans men which was only 0.3%
72% of trans women reported good overall health, vs. 64% of trans men
31% of trans men reported not seeing a healthcare provider due to cost, vs. 22% of trans women
13% of trans men were denied HRT, vs. 9% of trans women
The tables regarding desired gender affirming care vs. received gender affirming care are pretty complex. The largest disparity was trans men who desired a hysterectomy, 55%, but only 10% received it. However, transgender women seemed to experience a higher frequency of disparities. For example, 48% desired vaginoplasty but only 11% received it. 58% desire voice surgery but only 19% received.
There's a lot more to go over in this study. The overall impression is that while there are some gaps, the important takeaway is that trans men and women experience very similar rates of healthcare-related issues. All trans people experience high rates of mistreatment and lack of access. There is no evidence to suggest that trans men are experiencing any male privilege in this category - especially considering there are categories where they are marginally more affected than trans women.
We'll be looking at the 2015 USTS report to analyze general forms of discrimination among the community.
18% had a relationship end solely because of being trans, as opposed to 9% of trans men
28% of trans women had their children spend less time with them due to being trans, as opposed to only 6% of trans men
38% of trans women were attacked in school due to being trans, vs. 20% of trans men
21% of trans women were sexually assaulted in school due to being trans, as opposed 9% of trans men
22% of trans women left school due to harassment, vs. 15% of trans men
21% of trans women left college due to harassment, vs 16% of trans men
18% of trans women lost a job due to being trans, as opposed to 9% of trans men
36% of trans men hid their transition to avoid discrimination in employment , vs. 29% of trans women
62% of trans men reported never or rarely being treated with respect by law enforcement, vs. 51% of trans women
32% of trans men were denied HRT, vs. 18% of trans women
57% of trans men were denied surgery coverage, vs. 54% of trans women
42% of trans men reported negative experiences with healthcare providers, vs. 36% of trans women.
52% of trans men report issues with airport security, vs. 31% of trans women.
Trans men (54%) have the highest rate of suicide attempts with the next highest being trans women (40%).
There are some notable differences between trans women and trans men, with trans women overall facing more interpersonal discrimination, and harassment specifically on account of being trans. Trans men overall have more negative experiences in other areas, such as healthcare, and treatment from authorities.
51% of trans men reported being sexually assaulted in their life time, vs. 37% of trans women
From the National Crime Victimization Survey:
Trans men experienced slightly higher rates of violent victimization (107.5 per 1,000 people) vs. trans women (86.1 per 1000 people) though the study itself does not find this difference to be statistically significant
However, the rates are significantly higher than cisgender women and men (23.7 and 19.8 per 1,000 people, respectively)
Notably, the gap between trans men and trans women, is bigger than the gap between cis men and cis women.
From the FORGE 2011 survey:
83% of victims (372 victims since 2013) of fatal violence were transgender women. This is one of the most widely cited statistics regarding trans violence. This is a horrendous injustice faced by trans women, especially Black trans women who were 61% of victims.
This statistic is often cited with regards to how trans men benefit from male privilege in comparison to trans women. However, when we compare this to global murder statistics, we find that 81% of murder victims are [cis] men.
So I don't believe that this statistic alone can be used as an indicator of trans men benefiting from male privilege, considering that cis men are the most statistically likely to be murder victims worldwide.
The murder rate of trans women is absolutely an indicator of violent transmisogyny, and should be treated very seriously.
I could not find other studies that made a distinction between trans men and trans women. Every study on violence faced by trans people, however, indicates that trans people overall face significantly higher rates of violence, regardless of specific gender identity.
Race is a much more significant factor than gender identity in determining rates of violence. Trans people of color ubiquitously face higher rates of violence and discrimination than white trans people.
While there are various areas in which transgender women experience more discrimination or difficulty than transgender men overall, the same can be said for the reverse. The greater conclusion is that trans people in general face much higher rates of discrimination, and that the disparity between trans men and trans women is often not as significant as one would think.
So far, there is not enough evidence to suggest that trans men experience male privilege in relation to trans women, at the very least on a systemic scale. And they especially do not experience male privilege in relation to cis women, as their statistics of discrimination and violence are almost universally higher than cis women. In all the areas one would expect male privilege to manifest, trans men are not experiencing any significant benefit.
