“I am exactly who this is meant to be uplifting and I am appalled by it,” says Finn Buchanan, 21, a model and chef based in London, of the Costa Coffee mural showing a trans person with top surgery scars like his. “Monetising and marketing the scars of our treatments, fuelling discourse, and public scrutiny in the name of representation without securing access to [trans healthcare] does far more harm for trans people than good.”
Recently, Costa Coffee faced a boycott by anti-trans activists after the photo of one of the company’s vans, bearing an illustration of a trans person with top surgery scars, was posted on social media.
Part of a mural commissioned by the UK’s largest coffee-shop chain when it sponsored last year’s Brighton & Hove Pride, the illustration depicts a topless trans person with blue hair and twin scars across their flat chest. On Twitter, Costa was accused of “glorifying” top surgery — an operation that some trans men and non-binary people seek as part of their medical transition.
Dear @CostaCoffee,
— James Esses (@JamesEsses) July 31, 2023
Could you kindly explain why you are glorifying irreversible surgery performed on healthy breasts of women for a mental health condition? pic.twitter.com/9NyFPYj9J3
Since the photo was first posted and anti-trans activists expressed their disgust, the furore has been covered by right-wing newspapers and TV channels. National media has once again been full of transphobic vitriol, calling top surgery “mutilation” and “self-harm”.
Others have praised the image for giving visibility to trans people — who make up less than one per cent of the UK population. Costa defended the top surgery scar illustration, saying it “celebrates inclusivity”.
But in the UK’s current climate, what is the cost of this visibility to trans people ourselves?
Sixty-seven per cent of trans women, 63 per cent of non-binary people, and 60 per cent of trans men experienced transphobia on public transport in 2021, according to a report from TransActual. This rises to 75 per cent of Black trans people and trans people of colour, and 70 per cent of disabled trans people.
In 2022, the number of reported anti-trans hate crimes increased by 56 per cent from the year before. Releasing the data, the Home Office suggested that “heavy discussion” of “transgender issues” on social media “may have led to an increase in related hate crimes”.
Much online discourse focuses on trans women, debating how to ban them from women’s spaces like toilets, changing rooms, and domestic-abuse refuges. Similarly, political discussion of “trans issues” is dominated by defining what a woman is. Last month, for instance, Keir Starmer formally reneged on the Labour policy for self-id, stating that “a woman is an adult female” and that, under Labour rule, transitioning would remain “a medical process”.
In this way, though, the political discourse fails to engage with the very real issues that trans and non-binary people face in our everyday lives: unequal access to secure employment (one in three UK employers admit they would be less likely to hire a trans worker); safe housing (a quarter of trans people will be homeless in their lives); access to healthcare (it’s now a seven-year wait for initial assessment at an NHS gender clinic); and safety in education (the Government is threatening to force teachers to out trans students to their parents).
While trans visibility has historically been promoted by LGBTQ+ activists to increase awareness and understanding, it seems a trap in this era of transphobic moral panic. Nevertheless, visibility has been on the up for years now. Trans Day of Visibility has been celebrated annually on March 31 since 2009, with the aim of uplifting trans people and raising awareness of the discrimination we face.
In 2014 a “Transgender Tipping Point” was declared, when actress Laverne Cox appeared on the cover of Time magazine. Almost 10 years later, fatal violence towards trans and non-binary people, especially women, is tragically high but, meanwhile, trans people have never been more visible in films, TV, music, and marketing campaigns.
And at this moment, Finn says this visibility is “hurting us”.
“I would like trans people to be uplifted by having equal employment, housing, and healthcare opportunities rather than being made more noticeable on the street,” he says.
Indeed, the spotlight shone on trans people by brands using images of top surgery scars does nothing to help us access top surgery. Neither does the anti-trans backlash. While brands may be well-intentioned, images of top surgery scars on coffee vans contribute to a public debate that is extremely hostile to trans and non-binary people.
“Personally, [the Costa Coffee illustration] didn’t have a huge impact on me, but I imagined that it might be quite meaningful for trans young people?” says Jackson King, 33, editor of Irresistible Damage, a magazine for gay and bi trans men. “Trans people’s existence is profoundly politicised and demonised, so for me it’s more interesting to lean into that than try to present transness as cute and cuddly. Because, as the Costa advert shows, even when we are depicted in ways that try to humanise us to cis people, they still freak out about it.”
Seeing top surgery scars in public spaces seems somewhat of a trend lately — perhaps it has something to do with what I’ve dubbed ‘the Elliot Page Effect’? Seeing an Oscar-nominated actor living his absolute best life after coming out as trans, including posting joyful photos of his own top surgery scars, was quite a moment for trans people. It was the first time I’d seen a celebrity who looked like me. I’d seen trans people proud of their scars among my friends and in queer spaces — but seeing those pictures shared to millions of people made me feel emotional. As I imagine many people would understand, it’s not always easy to live in a body that mainstream society views as different in a bad way.
Brands presumably took note of the publicity Page’s topless selfies generated.
While the furore around the issue has raged, few have stopped to look at the data: like Page, the lived experience of countless trans men and non-binary people who’ve undergone top surgery is that it’s a hugely life-improving operation. According to one study published in the Journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons this month, 99.7 per cent of trans people who have gender-affirming surgery are happy with their decision — which leaves a regret rate of just 0.3 per cent.
Looking specifically at top surgery, a 2022 study found having this surgery resulted in a statistically significant improvement in chest dysphoria, gender congruence, and body image in trans-masculine and non-binary teenagers and young adults. These follow other studies that consistently find the regret rate for gender-affirming surgery is typically between 0.3 and three per cent. For comparison, knee-replacement surgery — another serious surgery — has an average regret rate of 18 per cent.
Still, given the ease with which anti-trans campaigners move their vitriol from a Tweet to the national news, it seems unwise in the current trans-hostile climate to give them more ammunition. Having more of the public know what top surgery scars look like is not high on my personal trans agenda.
To make us visible without materially making us more safe simply puts a target on our backs
“I don’t want brands to keep making us more visible,” says Jackson. “If a brand wants to demonstrate real solidarity with trans people, they can give money to the trans-led charities and organisations doing the work to keep trans people safe during this swell of anti-trans vitriol and violence.
“To make us visible without materially making us more safe simply puts a target on our backs.”
Costa Coffee was contacted for comment but did not reply by the time of publication. The brand said in a statement to GB News: “At Costa Coffee we celebrate the diversity of our customers, team members and partners. We want everyone that interacts with us to experience the inclusive environment that we create, to encourage people to feel welcomed, free and unashamedly proud to be themselves. The mural, in its entirety, showcases and celebrates inclusivity.”
