Harassment Patterns and Risk Profile in Spanish Trans Persons

ABSTRACT

This article describes the harassment patterns and the risk profile in trans people living in Spain. A sample of 212 trans persons, aged 10–62, participated in this cross-sectional study. Results showed a high percentage of harassment (59.9%) and frequency of daily harassment (12.6%), especially verbal attacks (59%) that occurred in public spaces (49.1%) and within educational contexts (46.2%). Harassment is more prevalent in trans women than men. Those who disclose their gender identities at a younger age experience higher percentages and frequency of harassment than those who disclose at an older age. They also suffer more harassment of different types. The risk profile of harassment indicates that older trans women are more likely to suffer harassment than younger ones, and the risk decreases each year they delay their gender identity disclosure. The elimination of transphobic attitudes and the promotion of gender justice should be priority strategies in Spain.

KEYWORDS:

• Bullying
• harassment
• transgender
• transphobia
• transsexuals

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the participants, associations, and persons who collaborated in the field work of the research project that provides data for this article. Likewise, the authors would also thank the anonymous reviewers for contributing to the improvement of this work.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain under Grant number DEP2011-28190.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación of Spain under Grant number DEP2011-28190.