Six percent of trans men get pelvic floor dysfunction from testosterone
Helen Joyce said:
“6 percent of female people who take testosterone for gender affirming care will get pelvic floor dysfunction.”
A specific percentage sounds like a precise finding from a clinical study, and pelvic floor dysfunction is a real and serious condition, so the figure carries the authority of a concrete statistic.
Six percent sounds like a finding, and pelvic floor health during testosterone use is a genuine clinical question worth taking seriously. But when a single figure cannot be traced to a named study with a known sample size, it is not a statistic: it is an anecdote wearing a statistic's clothes. Research into how testosterone affects pelvic tissue is still developing, the picture is genuinely incomplete, and that incompleteness cuts both ways: it is not a reason to assume harm any more than it is a reason to dismiss concern. Trans men and transmasculine people who encounter this figure and take it at face value may be frightened away from care that the actual evidence supports, and that is a real cost paid by real people.
What I said at the time:
“I've never heard this statistic that's come forward. How many patients were in this study? Do you know?”
Trans men and transmasculine people who may be frightened away from medically appropriate care by a statistic that has not been subjected to peer scrutiny.