Being a tomboy is more socially accepted than being a sissy.

Aight, ima casually address the disparity in information. I'm in pain, so I'm not fucking with digging up links or reverifying stuff I've looked up a dozen times in the past, so keep that in mind regarding details.

So, is there a difference?

Maybe. There's really limited study done on the matter. This means that, depending on where you go looking for information about the distribution of trans people, you'll see either that the numbers are roughly the same (with mtf, ftm, and nb each being roughly a third of the trans population), or that there are roughly 2 trans women for each trans man, the most commonly given ratio of 2:1. I have seen it expressed as more 1.5:1 or as high as 3:1, but 2:1 is what I ran into most often when looking for info.

If there is a difference, there are multiple probable factors.

The big one is that there still isn't a difference in occurrence, only in reporting. This means that it's possible that the numbers are still roughly the same, but that trans men aren't always speaking up and/or being counted.

But there are suggestions that the underlying in utero changes that create trans people (and supposedly other variants of the human gender and sexuality spectrum) may simply occur more often in pregnancies where the fertilized egg is XY. That may is a big one, it should be MAY! There's a lot still unknown about what all variations can occur in utero vs being hard coded, so I can't pretend there's scientific certainty about how trans people develop vs cis people.

Now, beyond that it could also be social/cultural. It is often more acceptable for a woman to present in culturally "masculine" ways, so individuals may feel that they don't need to do anything beyond that for their personal path. It is unusual for men to be accepted for presenting in culturally "feminine" ways, and thus trans women may need to do more than some trans men do, including actually declaring themselves trans rather than quietly passing (which is why is possible it's purely a reporting issue).

And yes, as much as I hate to bring up passing since passing isn't mandatory to be your self, it's necessary to mention it. It isn't even a term I like, it just feels shitty to claim that anyone gets to decide what is and isn't the "correct" presentation of a gender. But for this purpose, it's the one that'll need the least explanation.

Anyway, there are trans men that can both be satisfied with, and pass with no more than changing their name and manner of dress. This is also possible among trans women, but less often as far as anything I've seen covering this subject has said. And it is possible that the number of trans women that aren't counted among trans women by virtue of passing is high enough that it would skew the ratio back to higher. But it is, again, often brought up as a possible explanation for any numeric imbalances.

The other factor I've run across is that trans men may be less aware of being trans, in part because of being more free to engage in traditionally masculine pursuits with less social stigma. By being able to freely live in ways that "feel" right to the person, less dissonance occurs and thus the need to discover one's transness is delayed or even negated. The dysphoria may never reach a point where it drives the person to transition in any way, they just do "guy stuff" and continue with their birth name and assigned gender, thus being uncounted. This is actually different from the kind of life aforementioned where the person does transition, but passes and remains uncounted.

That's the stuff I've run across in conversation and reading over the years. First in trying to understand the trans experience better, to internalize it so I could better empathize. Then out of personal curiosity about the medical side of things, which ties into the sociological and psychological factors. I can't be arsed to go link digging though, as my initial disclaimer said, so if you quote any of this, be aware of that.

Visibility paradox. Believe it or not, it's about 50/50. Trans women are just more visible than trans men, and because of this, more likely to vocally reach out for help.

It's a reflection of patriarchy, unfortunately. But regardless, support your trans friends. It's a hard thing to come to understand, and whether they want to wear a dress or grow a beard, they deserve your love and support.

Statistics says no! Actually pretty balanced. Maybe you just notice trans fem people more?

Do you have a statistic on that or have you just heard of more mtf than ftm?

I don’t know for sure if there’s more of one than the other, but I will say that ftm folks tend to hang out in different communities than here and Reddit. I find them on tumblr and Bluesky mostly, and especially art communities. I think because those communities are pretty friendly to afab folks exploring other sexualities and expressions, so it feels safe to come out as ftm there. Those communities are generally very supportive and open, I see binder safety advice, passing tips, or just general encouragement roll onto my feed completely unsolicited, and I just follow people for art.

Are there?

That's not the case... There used to be more trans women visiting gender clinics than trans men, which we got old stats from, but nowadays all the stats you can see show it pretty much 50/50.

One would have to use science to attempt to answer that question. Science is on hold right now, due to right wing fascists permeating every facet of govevernment, please hold while this situation eventually resolves itself

I thought that being trans was more prevalent with those who grew up as girls? And I thought some scientists speculated that this may be because men have more freedoms in society?

It's hilarious that "fifi" is slang for "pussy" in one of my first languages.🤭

are there? I may have met some trans people but if so I am not specifically aware of it. I mean heck I have only known so many gay people and that is a much larger population. I really don't know the ratios.