Hi everyone,

My name is Brian Rood and I am a clinical psychology doctoral student at Suffolk University in Boston. I am part of an LGBT-affirmative research group and I am currently researching how trans individuals experience and respond to discrimination, and develop into more resilient individuals. If you would like to participate, here is the link to the online study:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/transhealthstudy

It takes about 15 minutes to complete and there is the possibility to receive a gift card for Amazon.com as a thank-you for your time. I would greatly appreciate your help in participating in the research study. Also, please feel free to distribute/post the link elsewhere. If you have any questions/concerns, please contact me at [email protected].

Many thanks!

Brian forgot to mention that this survey is only available to US citizen's, if you live outside the US you cannot go further than the first section.

Thank you, Carol, for the message! Yes, unfortunately, the online study is only for US-based individuals. Given the many variations of trans communities and populations throughout the world, we had to limit the study to the US as a way to control for too much variability in the data. Hopefully in the future, we can expand the study!  

I wish you luck, Brian, but after nearly 10 yrs at GS I think you will find we pretty much deal with things like any other person who grows up with guilt, fear, rejection and supression of self.  It would not suprise me at all if your findings, when modified for the increased number of gay/lesbian people to interact with, if they are identical with the results for gay/lesbian persons and, for that matter, pretty much any human being who is discriminated against.  Also consider that if you are cisgendered, you can walk down the street and not be identified as gay.  That is why GLBT's wear red clothing to Disneyland in October....so everryone will know we are LGBT.  TG's exercising their gender identity in public usually do not need to wear a red skirt to be identified by a long look.

However, it is nice that people are finally asking instead of telling us what we think and feel.  Now if only M.D.s will read your results, perhaps we will have a drop in suicide rates.  I believe that there is an increase in risk taking behavior in our community due to ridiculous hoop-jumping behavior forced on the community...one size fits all. I hope your project yields valuable data that will assist therapist in understanding their clients.  I know you must be aware that the world is full of "facts" that  Ph.D's came up with to graduate and often to make their department head and supervisory persons happy.  They also learn from books/papers written earlier and have reality distorted by those documents.  I came here about 10 yrs ago to learn and scrupulously avoided any published material.  Even being TG, I had to learn a new jargon that we often disagree on.  But my hope was to become a gender therapist with information from the "target group".  I wanted my "facts" from people, not dissertations. I am still learning after many many hours over years and even following a friend through SRS via computer video chat (something for which we were both grateful)  Oh, yes, some transexuals will get very upset with you if called transgendered. 

I see their point while, at he same time, desiring an all encompassing term.  Who wins.  The humans who have strong feelings or the academics who want concise jargon?  You are probably too young to have lived with it but African Americans, in my life time, have been (using only the polite terms) negro/colored, black, african american)  who has the right to pick what someone is called.  The academics or the humans themselves.  We have discussed it endlessly here with the result that people end up going to their corner but nobody throws in the towel.  Me.  I am somewere in the middle and call myself Two-Spirit because of my spiritual beliefs.  The scientist in me sulks in the corner and goes "Can't we agree on a term" while my therapist says "tell me more about your gender" :-D.

You may want to avoid jargon as, outside your field it can do exactly the opposite of what it does in it.... exchange complex information efficiently.  I am guilty of it too in my field.  We forget it is essentially a foreign language to our clients.  Keep it simple and clear.  Have someone in the music department proofread. In a room without a dictionary or internet connection.  Remember that MOST of us are not college graduates. Avoid SAT syndrome in your work when gathering information.  Remember you are dealing with a big difference between a football jock who is drunk and wearing panties on his head and a transwoman who has growing up knowing she was a girl before she knew there was a physical difference.  It is a spectrum. and very different.  There are crossdressing groups that will not admit anyone who is not cisgendered and heterosexual.  I hope you know this or can learn it.  I am still learning.  About myself as well as others.  Aren't we all?

I will participate in your study, and if you wish give you feedback.  Thank you for caring about us and searching for the truth and finding ways to help our community.  It is about time more people listened to us instead of telling us about us.

(Fair Disclosure):

Do not let the hostility you will probably encounter throw you.  We have a lot of damaged and angry people in our community.  I am one of them but therapy and Zen have helped immeasurably in directing my anger into positive efforts and controlling my fear, the next  thing to anger.  I have a lot of friends here and I am fairly certain it is because I genuinely listen even if I do not agree.  I recommend that highly.   It is their reality to choose and I respect that.  Years ago I had to make a desicion.  I chose to risk losing my cisgendered friends/family, perhaps my job,  over losing my TG/TS community and my self.  I have yet to regret that.  For the first time in a long life I feel accepted and can talk freely about my feelings on being TG.  Here I find love and friendship and understanding.  Why would I make the other choice? 

 p.s   This is me beng brief, ask anyone and be  glad I need to sleep :-)

Brian oh Brian.

I have a great idea for you and it will save you time. Right all you have to do is live your life as a female for just one week. I am sure you will get all if not most of your answers and then some.

And here is the best part ....... Are you sitting down? You can award yourself an Amazon gift card .

Have fun , Julia

Thank you to everyone who has particpated so far! The online survey is still up and active. Feel free to give it a look or pass along the link to others.

As previously noted, the online study is for U.S.-based individuals only.

Thanks!

Brian 

After having read their confidentiality information and the manner of presentation I can say that I have no problem with participating in ANY part of the study.  One item that was not clarified in the initial information was that the SKYPE interview is AUDIO ONLY and even that is transcribed and erased.  Unfortunately this information was not delivered until AFTER you make your decision to participate in the SKYPE interview or not.  I have concerns that this could have an effect on the results as it seems that only the more self-assured individuals will choose the SKYPE interview anticipating, incorrectly, that it will be a VIDEO interview.

If you want to help the community this is probably a very safe way to do it, and their concern for the individuals participating is obvious in their methodology.  Could a disaster occur?  Yes.  The odds are about the same as a zombie outbreak tomorrow. I think it is a  worthy effort on their part.  Take a second look, girls...and guys...and the rest of us.