Violence against transgender people in the United States: Field growth, data dilemmas, and knowledge gaps

Abstract

Violence against transgender people is a prevalent but understudied form of gender-based violence. In recent years, this body of literature has expanded substantially.However, analysis of violence experienced by transgender people has been hampered by a shortage of good data. This article explores those data dilemmas and details what is and is not currently known about violence against transgender people in the United States. National surveys with sample sizes large enough to facilitate comparisons between transgender and cisgender respondents as well as attend to diversity with the category of transgender tend to not ask questions that count transgender respondents. Moreover, when they do, surveys often do not follow established best practices. Additionally, qualitative research on this topic is underfunded, resulting in small sample sizes with similar constraints. Therefore, although there is increased knowledge around rates of violence for transgender versus cisgender people, differences in risk related to gender and race, and intimate partner and sexual violence, this knowledge is flawed and does not cover the range of violence that transgender people experience. To better address this topic, data collection and analysis must be improved and scholars should attend to ways to prevent violence against transgender people.

The Matrix of Violence: Intersectionality and Necropolitics in the Murder of Transgender People in the United States, 1990–2019

“…To facilitate that research, we must improve data collection practices for both fatal and nonfatal forms of violence. This can be done by expanding funding for research on violence against transgender people, improving how surveys measure both gender and violence, and adding information about whether a victim is transgender to police reports and death records (Westbrook 2022).…”

“…Studies of IPV find that transgender people experience significantly more IPV than cisgender people (Peitzmeier et al 2020). however, no studies to date examine fatal forms of IPV, and the existing transgender IPV literature is hampered by problematic data that may influence findings (Westbrook 2022). 3 Few studies of IPV against transgender people attend to race in their analysis.…”

“…In the few studies of nonlethal violence against transgender people that disaggregate their data by gender (e.g., transfeminine vs. transmasculine respondents), 2 findings differ greatly from one study to the next (Westbrook 2022). Some find no differences by gender (e.g., Testa et al 2012), whereas others find higher rates of violence against transgender women (Kenagy 2005; Stotzer 2008).…”

“…however, within the matrix of violence, the intersections of sex assigned at birth and gender produce distinct patterns of violence for cisgender women, cisgender men, transgender women, transgender men, and nonbinary people. unfortunately, current knowledge of the role of gender in violence is limited by the relative paucity of scholarship on transgender experiences and the tendency of studies to not distinguish among trans men, trans women, and nonbinary people, or to compare cisgender and transgender populations (Westbrook 2022).…”

“…Empirically pursuing such an analysis, particularly in the case of homicides, has been hampered by a lack of data (Westbrook 2022). This deficiency impedes academic understandings of the role played by multiple social structures in violence.…”