#50 PERCENT OF TRANS PEOPLE CSA KIDS??????????#AM I READING THIS GRAPH WRONG OR DO I KNOW WHY I AM WHAT I AM NOW
You’re not reading that wrong. These statistics are 10 years old and newer studies do show a decrease but the numbers remain staggeringly high.
Before any TERFs try to swoop in and claim that trans people are trans because they were traumatized as little kids, let me clarify:
Those CSA statistics includes teenagers and most trans SA experiences are recorded in the age range 11 to 17.
Most trans SA experiences are recorded when the transgender person was already in transition or representing in a gender nonconforming way.
Many of the perpetrators were dates or partners of roughly the same age as the victim.
So no, trans people are not trans because of CSA. Several factors have been identified that contribute to these higher rates:
Trans and gendernonconforming kids and teens tend to be more socially isolated and perpetrators of CSA tend to target socially isolated kids and teens that they have power over.
A significant number of trans people experience ‘corrective’ sexual violence by an established intimate partner. Basically, the partner responds to their coming out by crossing their boundaries to force them into a sexual gender role. Bullying of transgender teens is also more likely to involve some form of ‘corrective’ sexual violence.
Trans and gendernonconforming teens that start dating tend to view their transness as something that makes them less desirable or completely unfuckable. When they do find a date or partner, they feel lucky that someone would date them at all and are afraid to establish boundaries because that might mean losing their one chance at a normal relationship. Trans teens are also more likely to date potential partners that behave in domineering and disrespectful ways (red flags, basically) because of this idea that they’re lucky to be dating at all.
When trans teens do establish boundaries, they are often different boundaries than cis teens have. Things like ‘you can’t touch that body part, ever’ or ‘i always keep my underwear on’. These boundaries are violated more often than boundaries that cisnormative society considers ‘normal’.
SA also means being groped by people who want to know what genitals you have or what your chest is like. This is something trans people experience a lot.
The good news is things do seem to be getting better. More recent studies report lower rates, trans teenagers tend to be less isolated and less self-hating, which makes it harder for predators to target them.
But we still have a long way to go. That’s why our conversations about sexual violence must always include trans people of all genders and our conversations about transphobia must always include fighting rape culture.