“Where is the Safe Haven?” Transgender Women’s Experiences of Victimization and Help-Seeking across the Life Course

• DOI: 10.1177/15570851211010951
• Date: 01 October 2021
• Published date: 01 October 2021
• Subject Matter: Articles

2021, Vol. 16(4) 461 –479

https://doi.org/10.1177/15570851211010951

Feminist Criminology

© The Author(s) 2021

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851211010951

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Article

“Where is the Safe Haven?”

Transgender Women’s

Experiences of Victimization

and Help-Seeking across

the Life Course

Jane Hereth1

Abstract

Transgender women report high rates of interpersonal victimization, including child

abuse and maltreatment, intimate partner violence and sexual assault, and community

and bias-related violence. Transgender individuals experience distinct barriers to

help-seeking, including fear of discrimination, harassment, or violence by police, being

outed as transgender by partners, and discrimination by social services for survivors

of violence. The present study explores experiences of cumulative victimization

across the life course and barriers to help-seeking behaviors among a sample of 21

transgender women in Chicago. Study findings can be used to inform interventions

that are inclusive of transgender women survivors.

Keywords

LGBTQ, child abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual assault, victimization, victim

services, bias-related victimization

Emerging research indicates that transgender women experience high rates of victim-

ization spanning the life course, including child abuse and maltreatment (Grossman &

D’Augelli, 2006, 2007; Irvine & Canfield, 2015) and sexual violence (Calton et al.,

2016; Garofalo et al., 2006; Garthe et al., 2018; James et al., 2016; Langenderfer-

Magruder et al., 2016; National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs [NCAVP], 2016;

Peitzmeier et al., 2020; Reisner et al., 2014). Transgender refers to individuals whose

1University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA

Corresponding Author:

Jane Hereth, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2400 E Hartford

Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA

Email: hereth@uwm.edu

1010951

FCXXXX10.1177/15570851211010951Feminist CriminologyHereth

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gender identity does not align with sex assigned at birth (American Psychological

Association [APA], 2015). Additionally, transgender women report high levels of

bias-related victimization (James et al., 2016; Moran & Sharpe, 2004; Nadal et al.,

2014). Holding multiple marginalized identities increases the risk and severity of vio-

lence; research indicates that transgender women of color and younger (i.e., under 35)

transgender women experience particularly high rates of victimization (Human Rights

Campaign [HRC], 2019; James et al., 2016). Many transgender women are deterred

from accessing legal, therapeutic, and other supportive services due to fear of dis-

crimination and further victimization (Guadalupe-Diaz & Jasinski, 2017; Seelman,

2015). Much of the research documenting victimization among transgender women

focuses on one type of victimization (i.e., intimate partner violence), yet research

among cisgender women indicates that the majority of survivors have been victimized

more than once (Finkelhor et al., 2007). Cisgender refers to individuals whose gender

identity aligns with sex assigned at birth (APA, 2015). There is a need for further docu-

mentation of younger transgender women’s experiences of victimization across the

life course. Additionally, more research is necessary to identify the distinct barriers to

help-seeking among younger transgender women and transgender women of color.

The present study contributes to this gap by exploring experiences of victimization

and barriers to help-seeking among a racially diverse sample of young transgender

women.

Literature Review

Experiences of Victimization across the Life Course

A growing body of research documents high rates of victimization of lesbian, gay,

bisexual, transgender, queer, and other sexual and gender minority (LGBTQ+) indi-

viduals broadly, with a smaller subset of studies focusing specifically on transgender

individuals. Studies indicate that LGBTQ+ youth are overrepresented within the child

welfare system (Fish et al., 2019; Irvine & Canfield, 2015; Wilson & Kastanis, 2015),

with transgender youth in particular experiencing disproportionate involvement

(Irvine & Canfield, 2015). According to a study of youth involved in the child welfare

system, transgender and gender nonconforming youth were four times more likely to

have experienced physical violence prior to becoming involved in the child welfare

system than their cisgender peers (Irvine & Canfield, 2015). Research suggests that

transgender youth experience verbal and physical abuse by parents or caregivers

because of their gender identity or expression (Grossman & D’Augelli, 2006, 2007).

Transgender women experience very high rates of sexual violence, including rape

and intimate partner violence (IPV) (Peitzmeier et al., 2020). Among one sample of

young transgender women, 52% reported a history of forced sex or rape (Garofalo

et al., 2006). A study examining IPV among cisgender and transgender women found

that transgender women have six times higher odds of reporting IPV than cisgender

women (Valentine et al., 2017). Rates of IPV and dating violence may be particularly

high among younger transgender women (Dank et al., 2014; Garthe et al., 2018, 2020).