The practice may have been publicly denounced, but conversion practices (CPs) remain prevalent for sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, according to a report that also estimated that one in 10 SGM individuals continue to experience these.
The report – “A systematic review of the prevalence of lifetime experience with ‘conversion’ practices among sexual and gender minority populations” by Travis Salway, David J. Kinitz, Hannah Kia, et al – appeared in PLOS ONE.
As background: CPs are organized attempts to deter people from adopting or expressing non-heterosexual identities or gender identities that differ from their gender/sex assigned at birth. Even if various jurisdictions already enacted legislative CP bans in recent years, reports continue to surface about the continuation of CPs.
Here, therefore, the researchers hoped to conduct a systematic review describing CP prevalence estimates internationally and exploring heterogeneity across country and socially relevant subgroups. Literature searches were performed in eight databases (Medline, Embase, PsycInfo, Social Work Abstracts, CINAHL, Web of Science, LGBTQ+ Source, and Proquest Dissertations) and included studies from all jurisdictions, globally, conducted after 2,000 with a sampling frame of sexual and gender minority (SGM) people, as well as studies of practitioners seeing SGM patients. The Hoy, et al risk of bias tool was used for prevalence studies and summarized distribution of estimates using median and range.
The researchers found that:
- 14 articles that reported prevalence estimates among SGM populations, and two articles that reported prevalence estimates from studies of mental health practitioners
- prevalence estimates among SGM samples ranged 2%-34% (median: 8.5)
- prevalence estimates were greater in studies conducted in the US (median: 13%), compared to Canada (median: 7%), and greater among transgender (median: 12%), compared to cisgender (median: 4%) subsamples
- prevalence estimates were greatest among people assigned male at birth, whether transgender (median: 10%) or cisgender (median: 8%), as compared to people assigned female at birth (medians: 5% among transgender participants, 3% among cisgender participants)
- differences were observed by race (medians: 8% among Indigenous and other racial minorities, 5% among white groups) but not by sexual orientation
“CPs remain prevalent, despite denouncements from professional bodies,” stressed the researchers, who similarly noted that “social inequities in CP prevalence signal the need for targeted efforts to protect transgender, Indigenous and racial minority, and assigned-male-at-birth subgroups.”
