The Beijing LGBT Centre, along with Peking University, has released the results of an online survey they conducted about Chinese transgender people - and the statistics are startling, and heartbreaking.
Over 2,000 transgender participants were surveyed by the university and LGBTQ centre.
According to the survey, 61.5 per cent of the participants were experiencing varying levels of depression, and 73.2 per cent experienced anxiety. A whopping 46.2 per cent had considered suicide, and 12.7 per cent of participants — which equates to 261 people — answered that they had attempted suicide.
The survey also released the following data:
- Nearly 90 per cent of participants answered that their family could not full accept them as a transgender person.
- Of the respondents who had a partner, spouse or child, only four (3.8 per cent) said they had not experienced violence of some kind.
- 70.8 per cent of the total respondents reported that they experienced some form of violence during their school years.
The survey indicated that very few participants felt comfortable seeking help or mental health treatments, with the major reason being that the respondent believed that therapists would not understand their difficulties.
Many participants also reported a lack of accessibility in regard to trans-friendly healthcare, with several people saying economic and financial barriers kept them from accessing hormone treatments and surgeries - which are legally needed in order to change the gender on their birth certificate.
- 62 per cent of respondents said they needed access to hormone therapies.
- 51 per cent of respondents said they needed access to gender-affirming surgery.
- Only 6 per cent of respondents said they were satisfied with their experience, and ability to access hormone therapies in China.
- Only 2 per cent said they felt there was enough resources in order to access gender-affirming surgery.
The Beijing LGBT Centre and Peking University released part of the survey data in video format, and posted the short video on Facebook earlier this week. The film acts as an educational tool, explaining the differences between sexuality and gender identity for Chinese audiences.
You can watch the full subtitled video here:
