Prevalence of Gender Nonconformity in Flanders, Belgium

Abstract

Gender nonconformity refers to the extent to which a person's gender identity, gender role and/or gender expression differs from the cultural norms prescribed for people of a particular sex, within a certain society and era. Most data on gender nonconformity focus on the prevalence of gender dysphoria (which also includes a distress factor) or on the number of legal sex changes. However, not every gender nonconforming individual experiences distress or applies for treatment. Population-based research on the broad spectrum of gender nonconformity is scarce and more information on the variance outside the gender binary is needed. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of gender incongruence (identifying stronger with the other sex than with the sex assigned at birth) and gender ambivalence (identifying equally with the other sex as with the sex assigned at birth) based on two population-based surveys, one of 1,832 Flemish persons and one of 2,472 sexual minority individuals in Flanders. In the general population, gender ambivalence was present in 2.2% of male and 1.9% of female participants, whereas gender incongruence was found in 0.7% of men and 0.6% of women. In sexual minority individuals, the prevalence of gender ambivalence and gender incongruence was 1.8% and 0.9% in men and 4.1% and 2.1% in women, respectively. With a current Flemish population of about 6 million, our results indicate a total of between 17,150 and 17,665 gender incongruent men and between 14,473 and 15,221 gender incongruent women in Flanders.

Non-binary or genderqueer genders

“…There is also a significant increase in people who self-diagnose as suffering from gender dysphoria and gender incongruence (Kuyper & Wijsen, 2014;Van Caenegem et al, 2015).…”

“…Kuyper & Wijsen (2014) examined self-reported gender identity and dysphoria in a large Dutch population sample (N ¼ 8064, aged 15-70 years old), and found that 4.6% of people assigned male at birth and 3.2% of people assigned female at birth reported an 'ambivalent gender identity' (defined as equal identification with the other sex as with the sex assigned to them at birth) and 1.1% of people assigned male at birth and 0.8% of people assigned female at birth reported an 'incongruent gender identity' (defined as stronger identification with the other sex as with the sex assigned to them at birth). Recently, Van Caenegem et al (2015) reported results based on two population-based surveys, one of 1832 Flemish individuals and one of 2472 sexual minority individuals in Flanders, Belgium, examining the prevalence of 'gender incongruence' (defined as identifying stronger with the other sex than with the sex assigned at birth) and 'gender ambivalence' (defined as identifying equally with the other sex as with the sex assigned at birth). Their findings showed that the prevalence of 'gender ambivalence' or non-binary gender was 1.8% in natal men and 4.1% in natal women.…”

Gender Dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…ASD has a prevalence of 20.6:10,000 with a male to female ratio of 4.2 to 1 [14], although a recent report has suggested that rates may be as high as 1 in 50 for males and 1 in 150 for females [15].…”

Risk Factors for Non-Suicidal Self-Injury Among Trans Youth

“…Population studies suggest a significantly higher prevalence despite the fact that it remains unknown how many people who identify as trans go on to seek cross-sex hormone treatment and/or gender-related surgery [3,4]. Research has already reported high levels of mental health problems, particularly depression and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), among the trans population [5,6,7,8,9,10,11].…”