Is There Really a Trans Murder Epidemic?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Are the deaths behind TDOR being misrepresented? My UNEDITED thoughts on this difficult topic.
EDIT: For context, the problematic website this video is centred around (tdor.info) has been taken down, but I'm going to leave the video up because I don't want my words to be misrepresented.
Further reading:
Great articles on the same topic: www.autostradd...
www.autostradd...
Janet Mock's article on TDOR and recognition of black trans sex workers:
janetmock.com/...
International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers:
www.nswp.org/e...
Trans Day of Resilience, art and poetry celebrating trans resilience by trans people of colour:
tdor.co/
Patreon: / verityritchie
/ verilybitchie
![[Re:all TREASURE] EP.6 in 방콕ㅣ🚩 쩡캠의 방콕 투어 빵 마이 와이 👍](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/uyFw-nItA_s/mqdefault.jpg)
While I am not trans, I really empathize with this video because I am part of one of those minority groups of whom the common narrative is that I have to fight for my life every single day. I'm a black woman working in an industry dominated by men, those facts alone paint a picture of a life dogged by racism, sexism, and police brutality, but I know objectively my life is better than most. I once housed a white woman who was about to be homeless, and one day she turned to me and said that she was scared every time I left the house because of these disconnected narratives that just because of my intersection of identities I am marked for grief and death every single day. I told a coworker this and his response was, "What the hell is she talking about, you drive a fucking Lincoln." But despite the fact that this woman saw how I lived, the area I lived in and saw my other circumstances that don't apply to the worst stories reported, she still believed that I was in more danger in this world than her, a white woman that was on the verge of being homeless. We need to care for people in certain circumstances that make them vulnerable to negative outcomes, not static identities that don't correlate to negative outcomes when circumstances improve.
I'm not a class reductionist but my intersectionality is class dominant.
@@michaelmoran9020 that’s a great way to put it. I’ve said before that the largest intersection, the one that drives and supports other oppressions, is class. Classism is the reason we came up with “scientific” racism to begin with.
As a disabled woman, classism informs my life daily- because I’m poor. That’s actually probably the worst thing that disability has caused me (apart from the constant pain).
I think intersectionality is a really useful way of thinking about the world, but I abhor the way that liberal feminists have taken it, and completely removed class as a factor. It’s the biggest factor.
@@michaelmoran9020 If one thing is dominant, then by definition, evrything else is reduced. The entire point is that these identitied intersect in a way where none of them can be seperated. To say that one is bigger than the other is like saying that A black leather boot is more black than leather.
Not for nothing, but "You drive a fucking Lincoln" only means something in southern states. I can't remember the last time I saw a Lincoln anywhere else. I didn't even know that they were a "luxury" brand.
"appropriating from vulnerable minorities" 👏🏿👏🏿 OMG YES YES YES. thank you!!
I know this video is old but as a SWer thank you SO much for addressing this. I often feel like the danger I face as being a poor trans SWer is vastly underestimated while the danger the average middle class white trans non SWer faces is vastly overestimated.
I find that modern left-wing discourse in Western countries, at least, is very obsessed with this idealist/individualist kind of politics where your identity alone is all that matters and ignores the broader realities of socioeconomic status. So people just like, generally don't discuss that sex workers are incredibly vulnerable because they tend to be more impoverished, and being impoverished is what really significantly increases your risk of violence? Add on things like sex work being criminalized and systemic bigotry in law enforcement and preventing your ability to reach out for emergency help and wow, that violence rate skyrockets! It really, really frustrates me.
I think this also poses a danger in making people feel more secure in bigotry. Like, the fact that murder is what is being held up as "the big bad transphobia" makes actual transphobes feel like what they believe isn't that bad cause they don't want to murder trans people when in reality thats not an issue and their beliefs are. Highlighting trans suicide which is actually supported by statistics better illustrates how those who advocate for barriers to transition are actively killing trans youth.
This is really interesting. I think trans men get ignored when talking about trans issues, nonbinary people even more so. I think it's important to have honest conversations about the real problems going on. These statistics suprised me. It makes me feel a bit safer. I think there are still a lot of issues for trans people, but I think it's important to focus on the ones that really affect us at large. I think the fact that we've downplayed this as just a trans issue instead of what it is, a POC and sex worker issue, is sad. It ignores the real problem which makes it harder to fix.
I think there is something to be said that it's not just women of colour but black trans women specifically in US and trans women in countries like Brazil and Latin America - as well countries such as Nigeria (r.e. SARS=
This, thank you
I felt a bit odd about it ever since I saw Tony McDade on one of these lists. Seems like his murder was more about police brutality and systemic racism than it was about him being trans.
I always thought TDOR was more about the trans people dying homeless or of suicide due to systemic transphobia
It should probably expand to cover those death causes, too. It should also do charity work for trans people living with these conditions.
It should be about that.
When I first started my transition 12 years ago, I was also terrified of ending up murdered due to being trans, and of not being wanted sexually. I was honestly more concerned about the latter, but still. (That sums up my personality: rather dead than not attractive, lol.) Over the years, I no longer fear being murdered, or even assaulted, for being trans. Whether it's a transphobe finding out I'm a trans man, or mistaking me for being a trans women when I'm having a "dress and makeup" kinda day. I think I started to realise that the trans murder epidemic was probably just fearmongering, a few years ago, and then got it confirmed sometime last year when I watched a video by Rose of Dawn who basically said the same thing as you, but with less compassion.
And knowing that, I guess I felt kinda... betrayed? Fooled? Like, does TDOV use the made up concept of a trans murder epidemic as a political agenda, or what's going on? Like, even if it is good that it brings sympathy for trans people, it's on very iffy grounds, like actually lying about how/why some trans people died, and I'm not a huge fan of that. It's also a seriously bad outcome that many trans people who are coming out in recent years (especially young people) get this fear of being murdered... for no reason! I guess my concern is that... upholding the lie of a trans murder epidemic might end up causing what it's trying to prevent: trans people fearing for their lives. That's a real fucked up self-fulfilling prophecy. Trans safety should be of higher priority than cis sympathy, seriously. Like I get your point, but... nah, that's not good enough for me.
(Also, I know I've made long comments on like 5 of your videos by now... I swear I always do that when I stumble across an interesting channel and start binge watching and commenting long rants on everything I find interesting. I have no life, I'm a huge thinker, so I just have to toss my thoughts into the void.)
Wow I had no idea. I am learning alot from you. Ofcouse we should not scare people to about the wrong thing. Because then it makes it harder to fix problems. But at the same time I think that we all belive it so easily reflects that a lot of people have experinced transphobia.
Yes. We face a lot of bigotry and oppression. And we deserve to have that, and its effect on us, acknowledged and fought, without having to hold up dead bodies to prove it.
I think people are so adamantly opposed to believing anything we have to say about our own experiences, that it feels like we have to be murdered in the streets before they'll care.
And they act like that's true. The way our allies wield our murders against other groups... what's really struck me about all this is that when people argue that bi or ace folks aren't oppressed, their argument is that nobody's killing us for being bi or ace.
The emphasis on trans murders has led the LGBT+ community to treat it like the gold standard of oppression.
Without ever acknowledging that even if these deaths were hate crimes that represented 4x the deaths we see.... it's still people of color, living in poverty, who are at risk.
I feel like everyone's very clear that if you're not gay, then you have to pass the most stringent test possible to actually get (some) resources and allyship.
You know, I just finished a massive pile of research into the cis and trans straight/gay/bi rates of things like suicide and poverty and sexual assault. And how those things feed into each other and create vicious cycles.
Knowing how much we're hated, even something as seemingly small as how rarely we see our experiences reflected in the media, how little our lives matter to people.... That creates low self-worth, depression, and anxiety. And the more it comes up, or the more we go back to it mentally, the more it drains the same resources that we need for emotional regulation, and executive function in general.
Which then makes it harder to manage those feelings... and harder to manage life. And that, and the feelings themselves, make us even more likely to fall into poverty. Which makes those feelings so much worse.
And so on. Hence the very high rates of suicidality, especially among bi+, ace, and trans people.
But that doesn't get resources and attention.
It gets MORE resources than, say, universal basic income - which would help a whole hell of a lot with all of this.
But even, say, the Trevor Project, whose job it is to fight youth suicide, is doing very little toward prevention.
Every year, on all the various awareness days, big groups and friendly media outlets share blog posts written by the relevant group, about all our various terrible outcomes. And then, having been Officially Seen to Care (tm), they do nothing about it for another year.
I feel like being told 'you could get killed for your transness more than cis people' has ACTUALLY stalled my transition. Do with that information what you will.
Well, I take no solace in this as I'm still a minority who is close to poverty (was unemployed for about a year). While I don't feel as threatened about being trans as I was when I first came out, I still have an uneasiness about it. I think what really helped me feel safer is wearing masks in public, as it covers up my beard shadow/stubble without having to go through a 2 hour process to cover it up (and still feel paranoid that it's obvious).
Even without trans murders, there's a lot of violence we have to deal with that we survive. We can't forget the suicides.
I've known 20 who took their life. Mostly it's due to the long waiting times for our gender clinics to see us in the UK. Another reason could be due our families reaction to us transitioning
There's also the constant distress of having to live with just not having your body and brain match up too.
Even if we aren't being murdered at a higher rate, I don't see murder rate as the one factor to measure a group's wellbeing.
I live in Jacksonville, FL, and in 2018 there were a number of murders of Black and Brown transgender women within a relatively short time period in several cities in Florida, including three in my city alone, and there were fears among the trans community of a serial killer. But also, many trans women here were most concerned with lethal violence by men with whom they had a current or previous intimate partner or sexual relationship. Black women in general are more likely to experience lethal violence from their intimate partners in the US, and Black transgender women are at a particularly high risk compared to white transgender women, in large part due to discrimination in housing, employment, healthcare, and public accommodations, which in turn can increase poverty for transgender women and may keep them from being to access transition-related healthcare, legal name and gender marker changes, and cosmetic procedures not covered by health insurance (if they even have insurance at all, let alone insurance that covers transition-related care). These systemic barriers and societal stigmas play a huge role in the increased risk of lethal violence for Black and Brown transgender women. It may not be an epidemic in terms of the numbers or proportion of trans women who are being killed, but when they experience lethal violence, it is often extreme violence, and Black trans women may avoid calling the police for help due to fear of victim blaming or police violence against them, but they may also avoid calling a domestic violence or rape crisis hotline because they fear discrimination, and may not have any supportive family members they can turn to for help. This also increases the risk of violence becoming more lethal.
It's probably a comment on my lack of awareness, but I only recently learned about TDoR. Given the actual data of who is actually murdered for being trans perhaps one question maybe should be about how to give this back to trans black, indigenous and people of colour, and trans sex workers? Also, how do we affect real change rather than this incremental, and usually racist and classist, reforms offered by the dominant neoliberal order?
Small nitpick: being poor shouldn't be safe - poverty just shouldn't exist.
I have always been sort of confused about TDOR, but never had the energy to go and do the research myself. Thank you for being so informative!
Well researched, well written. Well done lass.
Is it wrong to say I'm proud of you? Hope not.
your content is just so, so good. so glad i found your channel.
WHen i got into this video i didn't know what to expect, i even clicked it away at some point. Only to come back because i wanted to see what you had to say and whether or not it was based in facts. I did a video on TDOR myself because at the time i tought we need to remember trans related violence and murder, no matter the socio-econmic background of the ones who were murdered. Now that i have seen this video, and that there are people on the list who were just trans and happend to die, that video leaves a bad aftertaste. I still think we should remember people who died due to violence. Be that trans related, or not. But i feel bad that the TDOR website actually erased parts of peoples identity for what, pitty points?
I don't think it deliberately erases parts of people's identity. I've gone through these lists in the past, and often there's absolutely no information available other than whatever is in a brief news article. It would look really weird for them to only list race for a few people, for example.
I've only recently discovered I was trans, and have since made the decision to transition. It had been a fear at the back of my mind however. This video has really eased my concern. You make a good point as to how these women would want to be remembered. I would want to be remembered for who I was and how I lived, and not how I died as a tragic victim of violence.
I always thought that suicides were included. And I'm pretty sure (although I may have to go look for sources) that transgender people face a significantly higher suicide rate vs the general population.
Trans day of remembrance contributed a lot towards putting me off coming out for years. I was certain being attacked would be an inevitable part of my transition.
Thanks for the context. I had no idea about the surrounding circumstances that were included, and I never thought to ask.
a much better analysis than the utter drivel rose of dawn put me through.
I think it's also very accusatory for people on the outside looking in. I remember years back when I still didn't understand this stuff I saw a Facebook post for the day of remembersnce talking about how cis people were killing trans people and it felt like an accusation, as if I and every other cis person were being lumped into one group of potential trans murderers. I know I really shouldn't have taken it that way but I know plenty of people who react like that who don't already have ties to the community like I do.
So very well spoken. Clear, simple.
Oh my god. I was so scared *for no reason* oh my fucking god I'm so mad right now
This video actually voices something i've had an issue with for the last couple of years. In talking with a politically conservative friend in 2019, I actually crunched the numbers, and it doesn't seem like it's...as...bad...as TDoR makes it out to be. And it took someone who is, unfortunately still, somewhat transphobic to help me see the...hyperbole.
I got a little yikes scare from the title because you're such an important bi icon for me that I forgot you were trans xD
To be fair, if she wasn't trans would it matter? Anyone can look at statistics and draw these conclusions from them
@@tristanneal9552 Sure, but it's not unlikely that a cis person could use these statistics to downplay the transphobia a lot of trans people experience. Something in the vein of "people don't get murdered for being trans ergo transphobia doesn't exist ergo being trans isn't valid and you're all just making it up in your head, etc."
Well shit. I thought it was about trans deaths in general, not a specific narrative. The last TDOR I went to felt hella commercialized, didn't think that was a systemic failure.
Thank you. Thank you thank you. I'm fuckin sick of the scare tactics, it's abusive
I had no idea TDoR was about murders and had assumed it was about things such as suicide, that would make more sense
I think the first hint about it not necessarily being trans related is that it disproportionately affects trans women of color and the same could be said for trans men being excluded as well as non binary. But the latter have complex differences on cultural perception.
These videos are so informative thank you
Wow I actually learned so much from this!
My gorge🍷you ought to have contra's numbers, you are love and truth
Isn’t it true that transgender individuals and people of color are also more likely to become victims of human trafficking?
Thank you so much for sharing
Amazing video ! So true
A scientific study could be done to analyze this
for me, i have always suspected what you say. what i did learn from tdor is that many murders of trans people are more vicious than others.
💕
Omg I was the 1Kth like 👍