Gender Priming's (Limited) Effects on Public Opinion Toward Transgender Rights

• In Event: Sexual Diversity and Electoral Politics

Abstract

Across the United States, the rights of transgender individuals to access gender-segregated spaces of public accommodation have come under attack. More significantly, they have become contingent upon public opinion, with locations such as Massachusetts even putting transgender restroom access on the ballot. Opponents of transgender rights have particularly seized on the image of transgender women in public restrooms—often depicted, in their arguments, as monstrous men in dresses—to persuade citizens to support bans on transgender individuals accessing restrooms that align with their gender identities. The folk logic underlying this choice seems to be that priming citizens to think of transgender women when evaluating whether transgender people deserve access to public accommodations will result in opposition to transgender-inclusive policies. The present study evaluates the effectiveness of such priming in an effort to better understand the dynamics underlying public opinion on transgender rights issues.

Using data from the 2016 American Trends Panel collected by the Pew Research Center (N = 4,235), we analyzed the results of a survey-embedded experiment in which half of respondents were primed to consider transgender women accessing women’s restrooms (n = 2,041) before reporting opinions on transgender restroom access, while the other half were primed to consider transgender men accessing men’s restrooms (n = 2,194). Respondents reported their agreement with both pro-transgender and anti-transgender arguments about restroom access, as well as whether, on the whole, they believe transgender people should have access to the restroom consistent with their gender identity or be forced to use the restroom consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth.

Our analyses revealed statistically significant differences on all three variables between the two differently primed groups. Counter to expectations, however, respondents primed to consider transgender men—not transgender women—reported less agreement with pro-transgender arguments, reported more agreement with anti-transgender arguments, and were more likely to report the opinion that transgender people should be required to use the restroom consistent with the gender they were assigned at birth. However, relative to demographic variables and interpersonal contact, respondents’ priming condition was a weak predictor of opinion toward restroom access. Moreover, the relationship between priming condition and opinion toward restroom access was mediated neither by agreement with pro-transgender arguments nor by agreement with anti-transgender arguments. Taken together, the results of this study complicate conventional logics—as well as past research findings—on the relationship between prejudice against transgender women and public opinion on transgender rights issues, and further illustrate the weakness of priming effects on public opinion.

Authors

• Thomas J Billard, University of Southern California

• Sam Nesfield