Transphobic Hate Crime in the European Union

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2014

In Europe, 71 murders resulting in the death of transgendered persons were reported between 2008 and 2013, 20 of which perpetrated in Italy, the second highest rate in Europe after Turkey. We retrospectively analyzed the homicides of transgender people recorded at the Medicolegal Bureau in Milan from January 1993 to December 2012. First we considered the sociodemographic data of 20 victims and the circumstantial details of their deaths, then we examined the data related to the cause of death from the autopsy reports. Our data show that victims are mostly immigrants, biological males presenting with a feminine attire and with varying degrees of feminization. The large majority of the victims were sex workers from South America. As for murderers, they were unknown in 7 cases (35%); all the 13 murderers identified were males, aged between 17 and 63 ( M age = 31 years). In 38% of the cases, the murderer was the victim’s current or former partner. For half of the homicides, it was possib...

Rethinking Transphobia in the UK: What's Wrong with Rights?, 2023

I spent a long time thinking about how to approach this paper beginning with the most basic question-how did we get here? Why are we, in the year 2023 having to have a conference addressing the very fact of why a relatively small population are dehumanized on a daily basis by the state, the healthcare system, the education system, the media, the legislative process, religious institutions and ultimately individuals purely for existing?

Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem, 2022

Objectives: to identify scientific evidence on gender violence perpetrated against trans women. Methods: integrative review, carried out in June 2020, without time frame, in the Scopus, MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, WoS, PsycInfo and LILACS databases. The controlled descriptors of DeCS, MeSH and their entry terms were used: “Transgender People”, “Transgender”, “Gender Identity”, “Transsexuality”, “Gender Violence”, “Aggression”, “Sexual Offenses”, “Rape”, “Violence”, “Domestic Violence”. The presentation and synthesis of the results were presented in the PRISMA-2009 flowchart. Results: the final sample, consisting of 16 articles, identified different types of violence (sexual, physical, verbal, psychological and financial), perpetrated by family members, strangers, police officers, intimate partners, health professionals, acquaintances, or friends. Conclusions: trans women suffer violence and social exclusion that result from stigma and discrimination due to gender identity and result in...

2016

The transgender community is a small subculture within the LGBTQ community that has endured a lot of discrimination from a predominantly cisgender society. Cisgender is a term used to describe people who identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, and transgender is a term used to describe people who identify with a gender different from the sex they were assigned at birth. This research will examine the history of the oppression that this community has faced with a focus on the current situation and an outlook for the future. Literature on the topic will be reviewed as well as a discussion of current legal changes affecting trans people. The goal of this paper is to bring to light a community that is not well-understood and to expose the oppression that occurs within it. The ambition of this paper is to raise awareness, with the hope of reducing future oppression and discrimination towards trans and gender non-conforming people. Although many of those in the LGBTQ community ...

Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2014

In Europe, 71 murders resulting in the death of transgendered persons were reported between 2008 and 2013, 20 of which perpetrated in Italy, the second highest rate in Europe after Turkey. We retrospectively analyzed the homicides of transgender people recorded at the Medicolegal Bureau in Milan from January 1993 to December 2012. First we considered the sociodemographic data of 20 victims and the circumstantial details of their deaths, then we examined the data related to the cause of death from the autopsy reports. Our data show that victims are mostly immigrants, biological males presenting with a feminine attire and with varying degrees of feminization. The large majority of the victims were sex workers from South America. As for murderers, they were unknown in 7 cases (35%); all the 13 murderers identified were males, aged between 17 and 63 ( M age = 31 years). In 38% of the cases, the murderer was the victim’s current or former partner. For half of the homicides, it was possib...

Psychology & Sexuality, 2016

Due to perceived non-conformity to conventional constructions of gender, trans people may be subject to overt victimisation (e.g. physical or sexual violence; verbal abuse) and as a result of those experiences (actual or 'witnessed') may fear future victimisation. While some existing work reports levels of transphobic victimisation, there is a dearth of research on perceived risk; and more importantly, exploring group differences in actual victimisation and perceived risk. Drawing on survey responses from 660 trans people, the current study sets out to explore levels of victimisation, perceived risk of victimisation, and group differences (gender identity; stage of transition) in both these phenomena. Findings show that congruent with work on systematic oppression and minority stress, perceived risk of victimisation outstrips actual experiences. Almost no group differences were found on a basis of gender identity. Conversely, those currently undergoing a process (or part of a process) of gender reassignment or transition were significantly more likely to report having been victimised, and to perceive themselves at risk of future victimisation than those at any other stage of transition. That levels of perceived risk outstripped actual experiences of victimisation suggests that, in a culture that privileges cisgender experiences, isolated experiences of victimisation invoke a heightened sense of fear in members of the wider trans community. These findings suggest that there is a pressing need for dedicated support services for trans people; especially those who are going through a process of transitioning.

Journal of interpersonal violence, 2016

The present study aims to provide an overview of experiences of discrimination, harassment, and violence in a sample of Italian transsexuals who have undergone sex-reassignment surgery (SRS). Lack of support for gender transition from family members was also assessed, before and after SRS. Data were collected in the context of a multicentric study (Milan, Florence, and Bari) on SRS outcome. Patients who underwent SRS were contacted and asked to fill out a questionnaire concerning experiences of discrimination, harassment, violence, and crime they might have experienced in previous years. Seventy-two participants took part in the research: 46 were male-to-female (MtF; 64%) and 26 were female-to-male (FtM; 36%). Thirty-six percent of the total sample (with no differences between MtF and FtM) experienced at least one episode of harassment, violence, or discrimination. The workplace was reported to be the social area with the highest risk of discrimination and harassment (22% of partici...

The National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP) tracks violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people (LGBT) in eleven large metropolitan regions that include approximately 27 percent of the US population. NCAVP has highlighted repeatedly what it calls an "epidemic of hatred" in the acts of violence against the LGBT community. This brief article examines the nature and prevalence of violence against the transgendered community so that progressive planners can gain some understanding of the risks that this urban population faces on a daily basis. Overall, planners need to make public spaces safer for all people, including the LGBT population.

2012

This report addresses complex issues related to discrimination on the grounds of gender identity and gender expression, as well as discrimination on grounds of sex vis-à-vis intersex people. The report also clarifies the definitions used in the context of trans discrimination, and the terms used by the community to represent the diversity within it. This study highlights the obstacles and negative attitudes faced by this community and the difficulties with regard legal recognition and rights. The report also extensively examines the influence of EU law, including case law, on trans discrimination and provides case studies of national legislation and case-law on gender identity and gender expression discrimination of some Member States where there are promising approaches which can and should serve as models for others to follow.

Peace Review, 1999