Feminism and Support for the Transgender Movement in Britain

Abstract

To what extent do feminists support the transgender movement? This visualization presents a recent British survey, which asked whether transgender women should be allowed to compete in female sports. Graphs depict how attitudes vary with feminism and age. Overall, feminists are more likely than nonfeminists to favor the rights of trans women, but this association conceals significant differences among generations. For young people, the relationship between feminism and support for transgender women is unequivocally positive. Among older people, by contrast, feminists are polarized. They are more likely than nonfeminists to strongly support trans women but also more likely to strongly oppose them. Whether this polarization is peculiar to Britain, where the transgender movement has met with particularly strong countermobilization, is a question for future research.