The underserved transgender survivors of sexual violence.
A ciswoman’s approach to the gap in support and acknowledgment of transgender survivors of sexual violence in Coventry.
Trigger warning: sexual violence, domestic abuse, lack of trans community support.
There are three factors below that I’d like to highlight before diving into this topic with you. Whilst I may hold views on an issue close to my heart, it doesn’t mean that they’re right just because I care. We get to be open to growing and challenging those views alongside people who do have lived experience of the injustice we are talking about.
- I’m a cis-gendered woman and I care about justice for all genders.
- I’m a board member of Survivor Sanctuary; a charity for survivors of sexual violence.
- I believe there is a gap in survivors’ support for transgender communities in Coventry. I also believe Survivor Sanctuary has the potential to fill this gap.
With these three factors in mind, it would be easy for me to incorrectly conclude what would be most inclusive for transgender survivors of sexual violence. Whilst my intentions may be kind to design this group, the outcome ultimately wouldn’t be shifting power and support to this community themselves as I would be making an assumption about what they want and need.
As a community organiser I believe that the people who are experiencing the barriers are the ones who know the solutions to them.
Lived Experience
I was grateful this week to shadow a 1:1 with a survivor of domestic violence who shared his harrowing story of being refused support from organisations as a transgender male due to not fitting their gender criteria. As a member of the police service at the time, he needed an external body to report the abuse he was subjected to. Not fitting the criteria of the local organisations meant that he was refused the right to report the domestic abuse he had been subjected to. I will let that sit with you for a minute.
We explored the opportunities he would like to see for future survivors in Coventry who might find themself in his position. He wanted a Survivors Sanctuary for trans and queer survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse. I learned that a transgender and queer group (i.e. transgender men, transgender women and queer people) would be the preferred solution as opposed to binary groups (i.e. self-identifying women inclusive of cis and trans but separate from self-identifying men). I listened to experiences of how transgender males wouldn’t necessarily feel comfortable seeking support in a group with cisgender males who would have been subjected to very different experiences.
This is a dichotomy to balance with the opposing views we sometimes hear that a women’s survivor group should be inclusive of trans women otherwise it could be seen as transphobic. This is a challenge that the existing women’s group in Survivor Sanctuary has already received despite its call to welcome self-identifying women.
The Future of Trans Rights
In our 1:1 we explored what support he would need for this trans and queer group for survivors be launched. He has reached out to his peers and we have reached out to CUSU’s LGBT society. We hope we will be reaching both those who would like to access this support and also the potential leaders in the city who would like to be part of engineering it.
We would like to welcome your comment on this pioneering process as we potentially see Coventry’s first trans and queer group for sexual violence and domestic abuse survivors. Please email me: sgreener@grapevinecovandwarks.org
We’d also love to hear from you if you’d like to be an ally organisation on this journey. We’re grateful to Sisters Uncut for being our allies in this process. Read their feministio here: https://www.sistersuncut.org/feministo/
Thank you for spending part of your day shedding light in your life on this topic.
