Trans Media Watch said that the article was "fake news". Stop Funding Hate found the article "shocking". A figure from the transgender youth charity Mermaids commented that the article "contributes to the irrational fearmongering aimed at trans women, who have been relentlessly and systematically targeted by the media in recent years". A member of Trans Activism UK similarly said that the BBC had previously quoted anti-trans organisations and figureheads uncritically on multiple occasions. The Trans Safety Network said that one of the tweets featured in the article was a reply to an anti-trans hoax. James Factora of Them described the piece as "transphobic drivel disguised as 'research'". Writing for the same publication, Samantha Riedel raised concerns about the BBC's choice to target internationalisation of the article to Brazil, saying that "in Brazil, where authoritarian leader Jair Bolsonaro holds power, violence against trans people has surged in the last two years." According to i, the article used the term "cotton ceiling", a term "rejected by the transgender community" and "that implies trans people struggle to have sex because of their genitals". It originally described Cade as a "gold star lesbian", a term denoting a lesbian who has never had sex with a man that has been criticised for connoting that she is a more "authentic" lesbian than lesbians who have previously had sex with men.