Spilling the Tea: Transmisogynoir and Workplace Sexual Harassment against Black Trans Women
By Lamont Bryant and Seanna Leath
Raquel Willis, an award-winning writer, activist, and media strategist dedicated to Black transgender liberation, once stated, “I’ve often felt like I couldn’t discuss my experiences with sexual harassment and assault because I’ve witnessed the difficulty that even cisgender women face when they disclose. My transness, queerness, and Blackness render my claims even less believable in a society that views me as inherently deviant.”
Her words offer useful insight regarding the relationship between transmisogynoir and sexual harassment against Black trans women.
Transmisogynoir is a term used to interrogate the experiences of Black trans folx at the intersection of misogyny (hatred, prejudice, and/or violence against women), cissexism (hatred of, prejudice, and/or violence against trans people), and anti-Blackness (beliefs and practices of people and institutions that dehumanize Black people and maintain white supremacy).
Broadly, Black transgender people in the U.S. report rates of sexual harassment and assault up to 1.5 times greater than white transgender people, and as many as 50% Black trans women (1) experience sexual assault in their lifetime. In the current piece, we explore how transmisogynoir can lead to unique experiences of sexual harassment for Black trans women in the workplace.
We explore how exclusion from traditional labor economies, rampant un/underemployment, inadequate workplace protections, and the exclusion of commercial and/or survival sex work as a protected form of labor, make Black trans women more vulnerable to sexual harassment.
Challenging inadequate workplace protections for Black trans women
First, nearly twice as many Black trans people are unemployed or living in poverty, compared to white trans people. To date, fewer than half of U.S. states and territories prohibit employment discrimination based on gender identity and expression. Widespread labor practices, including at-will employment termination and the lack of legislative protections against gender discrimination, make Black trans women more likely to experience mistreatment based on their gender identity or expression. In a 2015 report, 47% of Black trans women reported being fired, denied a promotion, or not hired in the past year because they were trans. Many specifically reported sexual harassment or assault while working.
Second, in addition to sexual harassment experiences within “traditional” workplace settings, Black trans women are five times more likely than white trans women to have engaged in sex work for income in the past year. Thus, laws that criminalize sex work push the industry underground, and enable harm against Black trans women who engage in sex work (e.g., clients believing they can harm these women without recourse). As noted by Kaniya Walker, a former sex worker and activist, “If we call the police, we could be arrested for selling sex. We could also be abused by law enforcement. Being a sex worker is dangerous whether you’re trans, cis, LGBTQ, or straight. But it’s especially dangerous if you are a trans woman of color.” Her words highlight the sustained over-policing and criminalization of Black trans women in the U.S. — particularly regarding the simultaneous silencing and erasure that occurs when Black trans sex workers try to report instances of sexual harassment and harm while on the job.
Connecting the criminalization of sex work to sexual harassment
In general, Black trans people experience higher rates of police harassment and violence compared to their white trans peers. Black trans women who engage in commercial and/or survival sex work, face an even higher risk of state-sanctioned violence, including sexual harassment and harm at the hands of police. Specifically, 90% of Black trans sex workers, report experiencing violence when interacting with the police, and Black trans women are five times more likely than white trans women to report having interactions with police who assumed they were sex workers.
Thus, transmisogynoir makes Black trans women more susceptible to police altercations, even when they are not engaging in sex work economies; as was the case for 22-year-old Black trans woman, Meagan Taylor. In 2015, Ms. Taylor was profiled by Iowa hotel staff as a “prostitute,” arrested by police, and placed in a segregated cell because the “facility did not have policies for how to detain female prisoners who have not undergone certain gender-affirming surgeries.”
Megan’s unlawful detainment made her more vulnerable to additional sexual harassment while incarcerated, which is often the case for Black trans women in jails or prisons. Trans people are up to seven times more likely to experience sexual harassment when interacting with law enforcement than cisgender people, including inappropriate questions about their bodies, being strip-searched, and being subjected to illegal sexual coercion by inmates and prison guards.
As Black trans femme actress and photographer Jari Jones recently expressed, “[T]here are femmes and Black trans women out there who are doing the work to survive and to live, and some of them are screaming ‘Me too’ from the ground that they’ve just been beaten up on. Some of them are screaming ‘Me too’ from the hospital that they’re lying in. And some of them can’t scream because they’re dead.”
So how do we address transmisogynoir and sexual harassment?
Education
Learn more about Black trans women’s history. Consider how the intersection of racialized, gendered, and sexual oppression influences their experiences, but does not define the fullness of their humanity. Some folx to read up on:
Policy
All individuals should have the right to work freely and safely, without concerns about sexual harassment or violence. In regards to sex work, this will require changing state and federal policies and laws, such as:
- Implementing gender-identity anti-discrimination laws/policies in workplace settings
- Removing criminal penalties for buying and selling sex (i.e., including misdemeanors that are punishable with fines and felony convictions that can result in prison time and required registration as a sex offender)
- Ending walking while trans laws, which contribute to higher arrest and incarceration rates by allowing police to profile and sanction Black trans women for “loitering”
Community Care
Black trans communities have led the way in demanding respect for the dignity and humanity of Black trans women. Offer support by connecting with these and other organizations:
- Black Trans Women, Inc. (BTWI)
- Transgender Law Center
- Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC)
- National Black Justice Coalition (NBJC)
¹We recognize the importance of language in writing about folx’ gender identities and gendered experiences. We use “Black trans women” to refer to Black trans women and other gender independent folx who (because of gender presentation and/or perceived gender identity) are impacted by the intersections of anti-Blackness, cissexism, and misogyny.
Dr. Leath is an Assistant Professor at the University of Virginia. Dr. Leath is the PI of the FHIRe lab, a research collective that focuses on how individual factors (e.g., race and gender identity beliefs) and contextual factors (e.g., educational experiences and community support) inform Black women and girls’ identity development. During her time at UVa, Seanna has focused on building a network of scholarly and community partners who can help her expand and realize her visions of personal wellness and collective freedom for Black women and girls.
Lamont Stanley Bryant is a Ph.D. student in the community psychology program at UVA and a recent recipient of the American Psychological Foundation’s Roy Scrivner Memorial Research Grant to study how Black sexual & gender minority young adults actively negotiate the social support received from their family of origin and chosen family. Lamont has over a decade of professional experiences developing and managing public health outreach for Black sexual and gender minority adolescents and young adults prior to attending UVA.
