Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

“I Don’t Know Where it is Safe”: Trans Women’s Experiences of Violence

  • Published:
Critical Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Scholars are only beginning to take account of how trans people experience violence motivated by their gender identity and expression. Based on a series of focus groups and interviews across Canada, this article aims to further this area of inquiry. The fear of victimization, and thus hyper-vigilance, seems to be particularly acute among trans women. Many of them spoke of the multiple and complex layers through which they defined “safety” and lack thereof. We share their experiences and perceptions of the threat of hate motivated violence, and their subsequent reactions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bettcher, T. (2007). Evil deceivers and make-believers: On transphobic violence and the politics of illusion. Hypatia, 22(3), 43–65.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brightenti, A. (2007). Visibility: A category for the social sciences. Current Sociology, 55(3), 323–342.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (1997). The psychic life of power: Theories in subjection. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clements-Nolle, K., Marx, R., & Katz, M. (2006). Attempted suicide among transgender persons: The influence of gender-based discrimination and victimization. Journal of Homosexuality, 51(3), 53–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dauvergne, M., & Brennan, S. (2011). Police-reported hate crime in Canada, 2009. Juristat.

  • Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison (A. Sheridan, Trans.) (2nd ed.). New York: Vintage Books.

  • Gagné, P., Tewksbury, R., & And Mcgaughey, D. (1997). Coming out and crossing over identity formation and proclamation in a transgender community. Gender and Society, 11(4), 478–508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herek, G. (1992). The social context of hate crimes: Notes on cultural heterosexism. In G. Herek & K. Berrill (Eds.), Hate crimes: Confronting violence against lesbians and gay men (pp. 89–104). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, L. (2011). “The only dykey one”: Constructions of (in) authenticity in a lesbian community of practice. Journal of Homosexuality, 58, 719–741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lombardi, E. L., Wilchins, R. A., Priesing, D., & Malof, D. (2001). Gender violence: Transgender experiences with violence and discrimination. Journal of Homosexuality, 42(1), 89–101.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, D. (this volume). Resisting hate crime discourse: Queer and intersectional challenges to neoliberal hate crime laws.

  • Noelle, M. (2002). The ripple of effect of the Matthew Shepard murder: Impact on the assumptive worlds of members of the targeted group. American Behavioral Scientist, 46(1), 27–50.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Noelle, M. (2009). The psychological and social effects of anti-bisexual, anti-gay, and anti-lesbian violence and harassment. In P. Iganski (Ed.), Hate crimes: The consequences of hate crime (pp. 73–106). Westport, CT: Praeger.

    Google Scholar 

  • Page, A., & Peacock, J. (2013). Negotiating identities in a heteronormative context. Journal of Homosexuality, 60, 639–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perry, B. (2001). In the name of hate: Understanding hate crime. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perry, B., & Alvi, S. (2011). “We are all vulnerable:” The in terrorem effects of hate crime. International Review of Victimology, 18(1), 57–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scanlon, K., Travers, R., Coleman, T., Bauer, G., & Boyce, M. (2010). Ontario’s trans communities and suicide: Transphobia is bad for our health. Trans Pulse E-Bulletin, 1(2). http://www.transpulseproject.ca/public_downloads.html.

  • Schilt, K., & Westbrook, L. (2009). Doing gender, doing heteronormativity: “Gender normals,” transgender people, and the social maintenance of heterosexuality. Gender and Society, 23(4), 440–464.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Serano, J. (2007). Whipping girl: A transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity (1st ed.). Emeryville, CA: Seal Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shelley, C. (2008). Transpeople: Repudiation, trauma, healing. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, C., Peter, T., McMinn, T. L., Elliott, T., Beldom, S., Ferry, A., et al. (2011). Every class in every school: The first national climate survey on homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia in Canadian schools. Final report. Toronto, ON: Egale Canada Human Rights Trust.

  • Transgender Europe. (2013). Transgender Europe press release. Berlin: Transgender Europe.

  • Walker, L. (1993). How to recognize a lesbian: The cultural politics of looking like what you are. Signs, 18(4), 866–890.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Barbara Perry.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Perry, B., Dyck, D.R. “I Don’t Know Where it is Safe”: Trans Women’s Experiences of Violence. Crit Crim 22, 49–63 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-013-9225-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-013-9225-0

Keywords

Navigation