Agreed with the main point of your comment: even mildly-rare events can be distributed in such a way that some of us literally never experience them, and others of us see it so often it appears near-universal. This is both a true variance in distribution AND a filter effect of what gets highlighted and what downplayed in different social groups. See also https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/typical-mind-fallacy .
For myself, in Seattle (San-Francisco-Lite), I’d only very rarely noticed that someone was trans until the early ’00s, when a friend transitioned, and like a switch I was far more aware and noticed a fair number of transwomen out in public (and eventually made friends which included more). There’s enough of a continuum that MANY instances won’t be certain unless you spend a fair bit of time with someone. I can imagine that in many locations, it’s uncomfortable enough that only the more passing segment spends much time in non-explicitly-safe locations.
So both: there may be fewer trans people where you are, they may not tend to go where you often do. But also, until you get used to it and have a number of examples to compare with, you may just not notice.
Importantly, and to your point, this generalizes. Our experiences are different, both objectively AND subjectively in terms of what we notice, focus on, and learn from those experiences. This variance is routinely overlooked.
Agreed with the main point of your comment: even mildly-rare events can be distributed in such a way that some of us literally never experience them, and others of us see it so often it appears near-universal. This is both a true variance in distribution AND a filter effect of what gets highlighted and what downplayed in different social groups. See also https://www.lesswrong.com/tag/typical-mind-fallacy .
For myself, in Seattle (San-Francisco-Lite), I’d only very rarely noticed that someone was trans until the early ’00s, when a friend transitioned, and like a switch I was far more aware and noticed a fair number of transwomen out in public (and eventually made friends which included more). There’s enough of a continuum that MANY instances won’t be certain unless you spend a fair bit of time with someone. I can imagine that in many locations, it’s uncomfortable enough that only the more passing segment spends much time in non-explicitly-safe locations.
So both: there may be fewer trans people where you are, they may not tend to go where you often do. But also, until you get used to it and have a number of examples to compare with, you may just not notice.
Importantly, and to your point, this generalizes. Our experiences are different, both objectively AND subjectively in terms of what we notice, focus on, and learn from those experiences. This variance is routinely overlooked.