Sexual Violence

Trans Specific Dynamics

Transgender and nonbinary people experience sexual violence in all the ways that cisgender people do and in many unique ways. Sexual violence may be committed by partners, family members, acquaintances, strangers, or any other person(s). Sexual violence takes many different forms. Each form of violence may have different impacts on the survivor. Each survivor will need unique support after violence.

Trans survivors also face many barriers to getting support after assault. One person reported, “I was sexually assaulted at my university. I was also attacked and stalked. The university didn’t do anything to help me. Instead, it threatened to punish me. I lived in terror the entire time I was on campus. I was denied a rape kit because I was transgender and the police were completely uninterested.[i]”

Impacts of beliefs about sexual assault

Due to the high rates of sexual assault in general, and specifically towards transgender people, many trans/nonbinary people assume they will be assaulted at some point in their lifetime, if they have not been already. Transgender women are especially likely to view assault as inevitable due to the high rates of violence towards trans and cisgender women. Trans men, on the other hand, sometimes believe that men do not experience assault. Both sets of beliefs can complicate a person’s feelings and needs after an assault.

Assumption that one will be assaulted or harassed, particularly trans women

All women, cisgender and transgender, experience high rates of sexual violence. It is no surprise that many women view sexual violence as an inevitable part of life. For some people, this view can impact their attitudes about seeking help or support after an assault. They may feel that because sexual violence is so prevalent, that what happened to them is “no big deal” or that other people have experienced worse, so they should not be impacted by it.

Everyone reacts differently to sexual violence. There is no correct way or incorrect way to respond. Everyone, no matter the severity of the assault, has a right to support afterward. I

Some sexual violence is particularly gendered – such as cat-calling or assaults that include gender-based words or slurs. Some trans women report how upsetting and strange it is to both have their gender affirmed while also being attacked or harmed. Even if some aspects of an incident feel validating or affirming to a person, this does not mean that they wanted it to happen, deserved it, or in any way, caused the violence.

Biases about men not being assaulted can impact trans men

Many people are taught that men do not experience sexual violence and that men cannot be assaulted. This is not true. Men, both cisgender and transgender, experience sexual violence. Trans men experience higher rates than cisgender men, comparable with that of trans women. However, these belief systems have an impact on survivors and service providers. Trans men have reported that they didn’t know what to do after an assault, because they did not think men got assaulted. Others felt they had no words to describe what happened to them. Some experienced gender dysphoria as they felt the assault also invalidated their gender.

Misinformation about sexual violence leading to being trans

Sexual violence does not cause a person to be transgender.  Sexual violence can feel deeply connected to one’s experience of gender, but the violence itself does not cause a person to transition from one gender to another. The misinformation about causality hurts survivors who worry that sharing their experiences may be used to invalidate their identity or further perpetuate a harmful myth. The myth also makes it more difficult for trans people to get support around the ways that violence has impacted their experience of gender, which may be an important aspect of support for their healing.

Victim-blaming and anti-trans attitudes

Transgender people are often blamed for the violence done against them. “Trans panic” is a defense still used in many courtrooms and in public discourse. This unjust defense claims that people panic upon finding out a person is transgender and cannot be held responsible for the violence they do as a result.

A person’s gender should not be a justification for crime committed against them, yet far too often it is. Trans people receive constant advice and judgment about when and how to share that they are transgender with other people, with a clear bias towards sharing this information. Some people accuse transgender people of lying or “fraud” for asserting their gender.

This all creates a lot of harm. It leads to failures of the legal system to hold people responsible for violence they commit and contributes massively to victim blaming of transgender people.

One person reported in the US Trans Survey, “I was found in a ditch after being brutally raped for three days. I was taken to an ER. There I met an officer who told me I deserved it for attempting to be a woman and should have died. He also refused to take a report.[ii]”

Tactics of sexual assault

Trans/nonbinary survivors report that some sexual violence is specifically targeted at their gender identity. This includes:

• Targeting body parts
  • Physical violence or injury to chest/breasts, face, hair, or genitals
• Violence after consensual sex
  • Often committed under the guise of “trans panic”, someone may physically assault a trans person after having consensual sex.
• Blaming the victim
• Targeting trans people specifically
• Sexual assault as part of “confirming” gender
  • Trans people have reported being assaulted by someone who wants to “prove they are a man/woman.”
  • Trans people also experience others using sexual assault as part of “making them a man/woman”
• Despite all the specific ways trans and nonbinary people experience sexual assault, they also experience it in all the ways it does with cisgender people .

Sexual harassment and the impact of sexualization of trans people

Transgender people are frequently considered to be sexual, merely by existing. This over-sexualization contributes to frequent sexual harassment and violence towards transgender people. Some perpetrators justify or excuse their actions, because they see transgender people as “asking for it” merely by existing.

This bias also contributes to wrongful claims that transgender people are more likely to be perpetrators of sexual violence than victims of it.

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