At Greater Risk: Gender-Based Violence and Gender Non-Conforming People

 
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by Dr. Krista Whitehead

Individuals who don’t conform to stereotypical expressions of masculinity or femininity with gender-non conforming identities (transgender being one) are at a greater risk of being victims of GBV.

THE STATE OF AFFAIRS

  • Since 2013, at least 128 transgender and gender nonconforming individuals have been killed in the US, 82% of whom were women of color.

  • Some argue that the number of deaths and violence against transgender individuals are underestimated, since accurate data collection is difficult as many victims’ families and/or the media refuse to accept their gender non-conforming identity.

  • Apart from fatal violence that is reported, sexual violence is extremely high among gender non-conforming people. The U.S Transgender Survey found that 47% of transgender individuals report being sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime. 

  • Contrary to popular belief, violence against transgender people is not always committed by strangers, in fact, 54% of transgender people report having experienced some sort of intimate partner violence.

 
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THE 4-1-1


In general, transgender individuals are people whose gender identities, expressions, or lived-experiences do not conform to what is typically associated with the sex they were assigned with at birth.

As a result of a discord that many people interpret between how transgender people present and what outsiders assume to be their biological sex, they are often victims of violence, which in many cases is fatal.

 
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Empirical attempts to understand how negative attitudes toward transgender individuals are perpetuated argues that transgender folx are often “othered” and delegitimized through the use of exclusionary language (i.e., not using preferred pronouns), exclusionary space practices (not allowing individuals to use their preferred restroom) to name a few (Robson and Nicholls, 2019).

Such othering, it is theorized, allows perpetrators to see transgender people as undeserving of respect and dignified treatment.

 
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SOURCES:

2018. Human Rights Campaign. “A National Epidemic: Fatal Anti-Transgender Violence in America in 2018.” 

2019. Robson Day, Chris and Kate Nicholls, “They don’t think like us’ Exploring Attitudes of Non Transgender Students Towards Transgender People Using Discourse Analysis” in Journal of Homosexuality, Oct 25: 1 – 20. 

2015. The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, National Centre for Transgender Equality. 

2009. Stotzer, Rebecca L. “Violence against transgender people: A review of United States Data” in Aggression and Violent Behavior, 14: 170-179.


 
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krista whitehead

(she/her)

Dr. Krista Whitehead is an experienced educator and data scientist with extensive history working in both the higher education industry and the private sector. She is skilled and trained in social science methodology (both quantitative and qualitative), with deep interest in participating in projects that take action research methods seriously and are not afraid to be innovative in their methodological approaches. Her expertise is also in gender analysis and inequality studies with a specialized interest in understanding how women’s reproductive and domestic responsibilities shape their identity both inside and outside of the workplace.

Krista is also a member of the Tidal Equality Collaborative.

 


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