Evie Giaconia

1 November 2015
RC 2001

Transphobia in Society: Causes and Effects

The Oxford dictionary defines transphobia as intense dislike or prejudice against
transgender people. This is a relatively simple definition that does little to portray the
scope of the violence and hatred towards trans people that widespread transphobia affects
today. From childhood, trans people experience violence at home, in school, at the
workplace, and on the streets from transphobic individuals targeting those who do not
conform to gender expectations.
More than forty-one percent of trans people attempt suicide: twenty-six
times the amount of the normal population. The figure rises to seventy eight percent for
individuals who have experienced violence and discrimination based on their gender
identity (Prospect). Trans people are victimized equally by strangers and people they
know: family, friends, and strangers on the street. According to a study done on violence
and aggression towards trans individuals, fifty percent of those surveyed report
experiencing unwanted sexual activity, the largest perpetrators being friends and family
of the victim (Aggression). Male-to-female (MTF) trans people have a significantly
higher level of victimization than female-to-male (FTM) trans people. One of the major
sources of violence for trans people is in the home. One survey on aggression and
violecne towards trans people reports that the largest percent of perpetrators of sexual

violence are people who are known to the victim, including partners and family members
(Aggression).
Even within the LGBT community, transphobia is too common. Over and over
trans people have been erased from LGBT history by the community itself, the most
prominent example being the history of the Stonewall riots. As recently as this year, a
movie released about the riots portrayed a fictional, white, gay male as the protagonist in
the film, when the true leaders of the event that started the current LGBT rights
movement were black trans women. As soon as a year afterwards the LGBT community
was already erasing their involvement in history. Jillian Weiss describes the limbic
position trans folk have in the LGBT community in her paper for the Journal of
Bisexuality: some transgender people, who refused to conform to any normative
gender, were considered far too queerand other transgender people, who conformed
completely to gender norms and disappeared completely into the woodwork of society,
were considered not queer enough. (Weiss) Trans people have always experienced an
atmosphere of alienation and violence wherever they are, and the effects of this exclusion
in every part of society are the worst possible: isolation, violence, and, in too many cases,
murder.
Those who hold negative opinions of transgender people, however, did not simply
spring up out of the blue. Transphobia is deeply rooted in our society, which encourages a
strict gender binary divide and punishes those who put a toe over it. Julia Serano states in
her iconic book Whipping Girl that transphobia is first and foremost an expression of
ones own insecurity about having to live up to cultural gender ideals. (Serano) From
the moment we are born we are drenched in the concept of a gender binary: the idea that

the two genders are opposites and any overlapping of them is taboo. From the moment a
child is born they are coded to a gender, from the colors and clothes they wear, the toys
they play with, the activities they are involved in, right up to what careers they choose
and how they begin their own families. Serano defines this as oppositional sexism: the
belief that female and male are rigid, mutually exclusive categories, each possessing a
unique and nonoverlapping set of attributes, aptitudes, abilities, and desires (Serano).
This gender binary, however, comes with a major caveat: that one gender is inherently
superior to the other. The overlapping of the gender binary and superiority of masculinity
together is what causes the extreme sexism, homophobia, and transphobia we see today.
This is what causes the extremely violence not only towards all trans people, but
especially MTF individuals. The idea that someone assigned male at birth would
willingly transition to identifying as a female subverts the idea that, not only is the binary
uncrossable, but also the gender hierarchy of male > female. To illustrate, in the violence
and aggression survey, 56.3% of participants reported experiencing violence in the home,
with a statistically significant difference between MTFs (67.3%) and FTMs (38.7%)
(Aggression). This divide holds true for all aspects of transphobia: MTFs bear the brunt
of the violence towards trans people. When a trans person is ridiculed or dismissed not
merely for failing to live up to gender norms, but for their expressions of femaleness or
femininity, they become the victims of a specific form of discrimination: trans-misogyny.
(Serano).
This attitude, to adhere to the binary and to hate anything outside of us, is
ingrained in us since birth. Those who act on transphobia and commit acts of
discrimination and violence toward them are effecting what societal standards have told

us: to reject anything that crosses the binary, to reject what crosses the binary in the guise
of femaleness most of all. All this upholds the foundations of the structures causing the
problems: by insisting that the trans persons gender is fake, they attempt to validate
their own gender as real or natural (Serano).
But to view this problem as simply another one of societys imperfections and
wonder what can be done would be to submit to the intrinsic hierarchy we are born into
and allow the violence against trans people to continue on unchecked. By recognizing
what the problems are we can take steps to correct those problems. It is societal
expectations that are the problem, not the individuals who do not meet them. We must
continue on in the assumption that violence against trans folks is something that needs
correction. While this may seem an impossible task at first, studies have shown it cane be
done.
A study in Ontario, Canada isolated influences that cause trans people to attempt
or consider suicide, and what kind of interventions would be effective in lowering the
frighteningly high percentage of suicides in the trans populationone almost thirty times
that of the cisgender populationthat is, the population who are not transgender. Results
showed that trans-specific discrimination, interpersonal factors like parental support,
and structural factors, such as documents with the right or wrong gender on them, all
contribute to suicidal ideation or attempts (Bauer). This provides support for the theory
that all of these factors vary greatly among trans people, and therefore it is better to look
towards early prevention or intervention of negative factors. The findings support a
strong effect for social exclusion, discrimination and lack of medical transition (for those
needing it) on suicide ideation and attempts, and potentially on the survival of trans

persons (Bauer). The study concludes that the most beneficial programs towards
preventing suicide would be increasing social inclusion and decreasing discrimination
and violence, as well as providing access to medical transition for those who desire it.
One of the most important things to do to reduce transphobia is to talk about it.
There is little to no discussion in mainstream media about what's at stake in the fight for
basic transgender rights, which is that trans people are dying at alarming rates both of
their own and in others' hands, because they are constantly subjected to transphobia
often brutally exercised. (Prospect). It is a silent struggle among the trans community,
often, but not surprisingly, going unreported to the police: 70% of victims of physical
violence did not report any of their assaults to the police (Aggression). This is most likely
due to the fact that police made up 37% of verbal assault perpetrators and 14% of
physical assault perpetrators. There is a large amount of distrust between trans
individuals, police, and cisgender people.
The first step to reaching a solution is to generate discussion. The subject of trans
individuals is taboo among many dinner tables in America, and we have seen the
statistics pointing out the brutal violence that this kind of silence generates.
Understanding, fostered by discussion, must be reached. Without communication there is
not hope of alleviate the harassment and violence towards trans people. Before programs
can be implemented to prevent suicide and work towards social inclusion, people must be
willing to hear about it. It is the job of the cisgender ally to foster that conversation
wherever appropriate, to question the binary, and to ask others to question it as well, in
hopes of providing a safer world for those who live every day in an environment of
exclusion and violence.