As we briefly discussed today, there is a rather significant uphill battle that must take place for the acknowledgement and advancement of trans* and gender non-conforming members of society. Specifically for the video we were watching involving Laverne Cox and Cece McDonald, within the prison system there are significant problems in placing trans* prisoners and ensuring their safety (specifically trans* female prisoners placed in male prisons, though I don't mean to undermine the issues that are encountered by trans* male prisoners placed in female prisons.)
From the get go institutions are not properly equipped to deal with trans* and non-binary inmates. Often people are misgendered while being detained, resulting in trans* inmates being improperly placed during lockup, or simply being placed in solitary to avoid "issues" (which has been shown to cause severe mental and physical problems if endured for prolonged periods of time.) This is only exacerbated upon entering the prison system.
A 2007 study conducted by UC Irvine indicated that 59% of trans* inmates in California had experienced sexual assault, and 48.3% had participated in sexual acts that they would have preferred not to perform at all (page 26). If the definition of rape as "oral or anal penetration by force or threat of force," a full 50% of trans* prisoners interviewed indicated they had experienced rape while in the Correctional system, with 38.2% being raped in prison (page 28.) Though almost all prisoners fear violence while imprisoned, sexual violence -- and rape in particular -- is a pervasive and overwhelming possibility for trans* female prisoners who are incorrectly placed in male prisons. This is to say nothing of the possibility of being refused hormones in the first place, which 17% of respondents reported (this number is apparently higher for inmates of colour, but does not list by what margin).
Unfortunately trans* prisoners do not fare much better here in Canada. Earlier this year Ontario passed provincial policy that allows prisoners to be placed based on gender identity, not anatomy. This is, to my knowledge, currently the only such policy in Canada. (I'm so willing to be corrected on this if I'm wrong -- it would make me unbelievably happy to find that I am incorrect in this assessment.) Though inmates should, in theory, be placed according to the same policies as Ontario has implemented, they are often sorted based on their birth certificate (which can be difficult to have officially altered) and/or whether or not transition surgery has been undertaken, and the degree to which transition has been completed, which has significant and obvious problems for trans* inmates who cannot afford such surgeries, or who elect not to undertake them.
I wish there were an easy solution to this tangled problem. General public knowledge, understanding, and support from the masses will go a long way to promoting government intervention, but regrettably it tends to be difficult to begin educating the population without said government intervention. I credit activists like Laverne Cox and Cece McDonald for raising awareness of these issues, and encourage everyone to contact their MLA and MPs in support of trans* inmates currently in our prisons.
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ReplyDeleteI appreciate that you have continued an important conversation about sexual assault, trans* people and disciplinary institutions like the prison system. The violence against trans* and gender nonconforming bodies are appallingly common: 50% of people have experienced some form of sexual assault according to the Forge Transgender Sexual Violence Project. They are even more susceptible to re-victimization when incarcerated, which is evidenced by the statistics mentioned from the UC Irvine study. In their interactions with police -an institution that is supposed to protect, provide justice and resources- 22% of trans*/gender nonconforming respondents in the 2011 National Transgender Discrimination Survey affirmed they had experienced harassment or assault by members of the police force. These numbers are obviously much higher when other factors are taken into consideration, such as race. The statistics are easy to point to but hard to swallow: the structural ways violence is being perpetuated on trans* bodies through acts of sexual assault, police brutality and treatment in the prison system (to name only a couple examples from an insurmountable list) are alarming. Institutions that are expected to assist survivors of sexual assault are failing to address the ways that nonbinary bodies are facing a whole new level of systematic violence. As we talked about in class, institutions such as hospitals, schools and prisons continue to invalidate trans* and gender nonconforming people’s lives through the simple denial of how one’s body is personally defined and expressed…. and this, itself, is a form of violence. While policy and law are invaluable to the deconstruction of disciplinary institutions that function through violence, I agree that a system can’t be reformed without public support first- Ontario and its “progressive” sexual education curriculum is a noteworthy example of this.
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