What are the prevalence rates of sexual abuse among trans men versus trans women in recent studies?

1. What the headline numbers say — lifetime prevalence ranges

Large surveys and public reports typically place lifetime sexual assault prevalence for transgender people in the 40–50% range: for example, one cohort found 47% of respondents reported having been sexually assaulted at some point ^[1], the National Transgender Discrimination / U.S. Transgender Survey family of reports and summary fact sheets commonly cite roughly half of trans people experiencing sexual violence ^{[5] [6]}, and the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey figures frequently quoted show 51% of trans men and 37% of trans women reporting lifetime sexual assault ^[2].

2. Recent, focused studies — divergent subgroup patterns

More recent, peer‑reviewed studies nuance those headline rates: a California population survey detected markedly higher past‑year sexual‑violence reports among transgender men (42%) than transgender women (14%) in that sample ^[4], while a cohort study that was majority transmasculine found that among those ever assaulted, 46% were transmasculine and 34% transfeminine—numbers shaped by the study’s sample composition, which included far more transmasculine respondents (79% transmasculine vs 21% transfeminine) ^[1].

3. Meta‑analysis and comparative work — transgender people versus cisgender people

Systematic reviews and meta‑analyses show transgender participants face substantially elevated sexual intimate‑partner violence and sexual assault risk compared with cisgender groups: pooled analyses estimated transgender participants were more than twice as likely to experience sexual IPV relative to cisgender participants (risk ratio ~2.46) across multiple studies ^[7]. These meta‑analytic findings reinforce that the core signal—high sexual‑violence burden in trans populations—is robust even when subgroup comparisons vary ^[7].

4. Studies that find parity between trans men and trans women

Not all work points to a consistent difference by transmasculine/transfeminine status: the Williams Institute analysis of national victimization data reported that both transgender women and men had higher violent‑victimization rates than cisgender peers but did not find statistically significant differences between transgender men and transgender women in overall violent victimization (including sexual assault) ^[3]. This suggests that subgroup differences may shrink when using population‑level sampling and different operational definitions of victimization ^[3].

5. Why estimates diverge — methods, definitions, and samples

Differences across studies stem from varying definitions (lifetime vs past‑year; any sexual assault vs sexual IPV), sampling frames (clinic or convenience cohorts concentrated in one subgroup versus population surveys), and demographic skews (many studies overrepresent white respondents or one birth‑assigned sex) — for example, the cohort with 47% prevalence was 85% white and 79% transmasculine, limiting straightforward subgroup comparisons ^[1]. Meta‑analyses attempt to harmonize measures and still find elevated sexual‑violence risk overall but cannot fully resolve subgroup inconsistencies ^[7].

6. Bottom line with caveats

The best available recent estimates place lifetime sexual‑assault prevalence among transgender respondents roughly in the 40–55% band overall, with some large surveys (2015 USTS) reporting about 51% for trans men and 37% for trans women ^[2], while recent regional studies and cohort data sometimes show higher past‑year or lifetime rates for trans men ^{[4] [1]} and other analyses find no clear difference between trans men and trans women at the population level ^[3]. Any direct comparison must therefore be qualified by the study’s timeframe, measures, and sample composition ^{[1] [7] [4]}.