A recent Alternet article reported the striking statistic that six trans women of color have been murdered in the first seven weeks of 2015. [1] The article quotes trans activist LeSaia Wade as observing that the murders point to “systemic failures at government and community levels that have pushed trans women—especially women of color—to the margins of society,” citing specifically employment discrimination, lack of government programs and services, and anti-trans violence as mechanisms which reinforce this marginalization. According to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs, trans women experience violence from police at six times the rate of other assault survivors, which largely explains why they are less likely to seek help in the first place. [2] Sadly, Wade also states that trans women often even face exclusion from within the LGBT community for being a minority amongst minorities.
Though the article notes that a march to raise awareness has been planned in response to the violence, two theories of social psychology suggest that visibility are not the problem. Social Identity theory introduces the concept of in-groups and out-groups, the former being a social category to which one commits oneself and from which one gains self-esteem, and the latter being everyone else, against whom one’s in-group is in competition. Social Dominance Theory expands on this idea by arranging these groups into hierarchies based on status and power, and observing that dominant groups can maintain their positions by derogating or attacking out-groups, thereby reinforcing the hierarchy. Social Dominance Theory also observes that low-status groups will often work to reinforce the hierarchies subordinating them, because they often view the hierarchy as a ladder by which to advance themselves – even though this contributes to the same circumstances of their marginalization.
These theories explain the marginalization of trans persons (i.e. as an out-group), the discrimination they face (even within the LGBT community, who may see an opportunity to advance their status through derogating trans persons), and the violence against them (as a means of protecting the hierarchy by which heterosexual, cis-gendered people benefit). More importantly, the theories also indicate how we can resolve these conflicts. Social Dominance Theory identifies one category of hierarchy as an “arbitrary set,” or set of beliefs about how the world should operate. Isa Noyola, a program manager at the Transgender Law Center in San Francisco attributes transphobia to our collective understanding of gender norms – “We are very much conditioned and trained from an early age to think about gender in very basic ways, which is male and female … So those two boxes inform everything.” [1] Delegitimizing this dichotomy as artificial and incomplete would undermine part of the rationale for a hierarchy which places cis-gendered people at the top. More controversially, attacking the (deeply American) legitimizing myth of meritocracy – specifically as the assumption that people of low economic or social status must deserve to be there out of a lack of merit – would have the same effect.
More concretely, the power dynamic at play in these hate crimes can be addressed by redefining the groups participating – specifically, by promoting the idea that all minority groups who are marginalized by these hierarchies – rather than having an opportunity to advance by attacking other minority groups – instead face a common struggle and have common objectives, which can be better achieved by combining their power and resources than by in-fighting or fracturing into identity politics. Ultimately, we can aim to redefine the power and resources which are in contest to be the security, strength, and status that come from living in a just and safe society, valuing mutual aid and respect.
References:
1. Starr, T. (2015, February 21). Living on Borrowed Time: 6 Young Trans Women of Color Have Been Murdered in America This Year. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/living-borrowed-time-6-young-trans-women-color-have-been-murdered-america-year
2. Ahmed, O., & Jindasurat, C. (2014, January 1). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and HIV-Affected Hate Violence in 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2015, from http://www.avp.org/storage/documents/2013_ncavp_hvreport_final.pdf