Transgender People & Sexual Violence

The sexualization of transgender people with a disregard for their dignity plays a role in the increased rates of sexual assault against transgender people. Transgender people experience fetishization—when a person makes someone or something the object of a sexual fetish, or an obsessive interest. Transgender people are also objectified, and viewed as a sexual object with no thoughts or feelings. All of these reduces transgender people to objects of sexual pleasure and gratification in the minds of perpetrators.

Living in poverty can limit a survivor's access to support systems. According to results from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, transgender people are twice as likely to be living in poverty as the general U.S. population. The national rate of poverty in the U.S. is 14%, while 29% of respondents to the survey indicated that they were living in poverty. Of the respondents who indicated that they were living in poverty, 43% identified as Latinx, 41% identified as American Indian, 40% identified as multiracial and 38% identified as Black. 

Additional information from the survey found that transgender or gender non-conforming people had difficulties accessing the income supports and other safety nets that would help them overcome poverty. Nearly 1 in 5 respondents to the survey reported negative treatment at a public assistance or government benefits office. 

Additionally, the way media portrays transgender people has an impact on the public’s view of trans people. Mainstream media has historically portrayed transgender people, specifically transgender women, as muderers, victims, or insane. Even in roles that do not fall into these categories, Hollywood has historically cast cisgender men to play transgender women, reinforcing the societal view that trans women are just men in dresses. These portrayals of trans people can be extremely harmful to the community. Instead of these examples, positive representation of transgender people includes roles that portray trans people as complex individuals worthy of respect and pursuing their own happiness. 

It is crucial to support transgender and non-binary survivors because sexual assault heightens the risk for an individual to commit suicide. The 2015 U.S. Trans Survey found that of those sexually assaulted, 64% of transgender people attempted suicide in their lifetime, compared to 41% of the overall sample. 

Cisgender allies can take steps in their own lives to support survivors. To address this issue, allies can push for systemic change related to the way trans people are treated, support models of community-based solutions designed by the most impacted people and interact with local organizations advocating for transgender people. 

For more resources related to sexual assault, FORGE is a national organization providing resources and information to transgender and non-binary survivors of sexual violence. FORGE offers safe dating tips for trans and non-binary people, a safety planning tool, a transgender survivor’s guide to accessing therapy and a guide for partners and friends of transgender sexual violence survivors.

For more information related to the transgender community, Arkansas-based organizations working with the community include inTRANSitive, Reconcile Arkansas, Project Arch, Vector Health & Wellness and the Young Transwomen’s Project. National organizations working with the transgender community include the National Center for Transgender Equality, the Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC) and the Black Trans Advocacy Coalition (BTAC) and the Trans Latina Coalition. 

For transgender people, both binary and nonbinary: consider pledging to take the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey. The data collected from the U.S. Trans Survey is the main source of data for policymakers, educators, the media and the general public, covering health, employment, income, the criminal justice system, and sexual violence. The survey is open to all trans people age 16 and older.