“Even the Officers Are in on It:” Black Transgender Women’s Experiences of Violence and Victimization in Los Angeles

Abstract

Black Transgender women (BTW) are subjected to race and gender-based societal oppression, which makes them vulnerable to experience violence. The purpose of this study was to examine experiences of violence among BTW by centering their narratives. Ten participants from Los Angeles County were interviewed, and data were analyzed using Consensual Qualitative Research, which yielded four domains; however, the current article focused only on the first domain, Types of Violence, and its six themes: (a) Transgender-specific microaggressions, (b) verbal harassment, (c) intimate partner violence, (d) physical violence, (e) sexual violence, and (f) incarceration. Recommendations for Transgender specific trauma-informed interventions and future directions to promote BTW healing are provided.

Keywords:

• Black transgender women
• gender-based violence
• intersectionality
• microaggressions
• minority stress
• transmisogynoir

Acknowledgments

This project would not have been possible without our participants, community partners, and the coding team (Matthew Alcala, Giselle Gomez, and Cassandra Lloyd).

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).