One week ago, a trans woman was attacked on the street by a group of teenagers in Seattle:
A group of teens beat a transgender person and threatened to kill her Saturday on Rainier Avenue, according to Seattle police.
The person, who told police she is in the process of changing her name and appearance to a woman, reported she was attacked by a group of teens at the bus stop at Rainier and South Mount Baker Boulevard.
A teenage boy was arrested and booked into the Youth Service Center for investigation of robbery and felony malicious harassment, the state’s hate crime law, according to police.
The teen told police he and his “homies” did not bother the victim until she solicited him for sex.
Of course there’s no evidence whatsoever that the victim is a sex worker. Apparently even a 13-year-old knows both the stereotype that all trans women are sex workers, and the idea that if someone is a sex worker, it’s okay to beat and threaten to kill her.
The other teens who committed the attack are currently being sought by police.
When we have such young teens committing such a violent and horrifying act of hate, we of course naturally have to stop and ask ourselves what the hell is going on. And the answer also isn’t all that difficult to parse out. This section of the first linked article above tells quite the story:
The victim, in her 30s, told police “that as soon as the suspects got to him [sic], they started hitting and kicking him [sic] at the same time one of the (suspects) was attempting to take his [sic] backpack,” according to a police report.
The victim held onto her backpack and briefly got away. But she told police they charged again, knocking her to the ground. She said she heard a homophobic term said when she was being beaten, and one of the boys stated they were going to kill her.
“He [sic] also stated that he [sic] sometimes wears a skirt and he [sic] stated that he [sic] believes he [sic] was attacked because of this,” according to the heavily redacted report.
The victim did not suffer life-threatening injuries and declined medical attention at the scene.
The quotes are taken from the police report, written by Officer Wayne Johnson. The official records that have been filed in this woman’s brutal assault purposely misgender her and attempt to dehumanize and degrade her in doing so. The person writing this report is a person of significant and serious authority. A person who has to know better, as I believe that any adult does, despite their steadfast refusal to put their understanding of the concept of basic decency to use. This is how he feels comfortable treating the victim in his official paperwork. And so lord only knows how badly he treated her when she was actually standing in front of him, still shaken and injured from the attack.
We’ve also recently had an instance of right-wing shock jocks publicly advocating the assault of transgender children. Even more recently, Thomas Beattie gave birth to his second child, only to be met with transphobic tirades from some supposedly “progressive” woman on television, and surely countless others. And still more recently than that, Chaz Bono decided to publicly declare his identity as a trans man — an announcement which has, horribly and yet unsurprisingly, been met with plenty of casual mocking and denial of his true gender. Just this morning I woke up to some comments in my Twitter feed, from a person who I immediately unfollowed, both making fun of and bemoaning the fact that people are actually using the correct pronouns and name to refer to Chaz. Because clearly granting trans people the basic respect of referring to them as they wish, a privilege which cis people are afforded every day, is just going much too far.
Obviously it’s highly unlikely that these teenagers heard of any one of these such events and decided to go commit an assault as a result. But is it really all that surprising, in light of the above which has all taken place in the span of two weeks, that kids so young would hold such dangerous and bigoted views? That they would see trans individuals as less human than cis ones?
Violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Bigotry doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And kids don’t learn how to hate out of thin air.
Similar Posts:
- We Are the Dead: Sex, Assault, and Trans Women by Cara April 12, 2010
- The Shape of the Problem by Queen Emily July 3, 2010
- Killing a Woman Because She’s Trans “Not a Classic Hate Crime” by Cara August 4, 2008
- You don’t get to out me by Queen Emily June 28, 2010
- Transgender Woman Beaten By Police and Threatened With Murder in Honduras by Cara February 10, 2009
Is Chaz Bono the son of Sonny and Cher?
Colin — yes.
I found this article on Chaz Bono to be quite respectful and informative.
… except that they use incorrect pronouns in the first paragraph. Everything I came across either used incorrect pronouns or called Chaz Sonny & Cher’s “daughter” (even though, if they were concerned about confusion, the gender neutral term “child” would have worked just fine). I saw a CNN article a couple days ago that was quite good, but I don’t know where it went now and don’t have the time to look for it.
In any case, not the main point of the post. I’d really prefer for comments to revolve around the assault in Seattle and/or the way that transphobia leads to/is connected to transphobic violence.
Our police department isn’t exactly known for its sensitivity, and the Seattle Times did the same gender-term screwup in their article too. (of course I complained to the paper) This is an area of town known for crime, too.
I think this is the CNN article you were talking about:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/06/11/ent.chastity.bono/index.html
Thanks Melia. It was, and I added it to the post.
Mo, how are the people of Seattle reacting?
Thanks for writing this up Cara, I had not heard about it, Incidents like this are why I speak so forcefully about hate speech. Language is an expression of our beliefs and when privileged people use the agents of socialization to present views that are necessarily homophobic, violence is the end result. How many times must it be said that speech comes at a cost, for people to understand that purposeful “othering” is paid for by marginalized bodies.
It is also unhelpful when schools teach the young to internalize these ideas as normal. As a mother I cannot tell you how much time I must spend undoing the transphobic lessons that are taught dally. I often wonder how many parents let this incidents pass without realizing that they are passively approving of hate.
My belief is that these crimes must be forcefully prosecuted and hate language must be penalized in someway. You don’t necessarily have to use the words “go out and beat someone” to incite violence. I further believe in more inclusive education. We teach children this hatred and if we spend half as much time teaching our young that all bodies matter, over time we would see progressive change in our societies.
Thank you for writing about this, Cara.
[...] 14, 2009 · No Comments At Questioning Transphobia (hattip: Feministe), we find it isn’t just inept journalists who like to un-gender transfolk to fit their own [...]
Renee, I’m not so sure parents are unaware “that they are passively approving of hate. ”
I’m afraid you’re a little optimistic here. If you think of those kind of gender norms as perfectly normal and appropriate, why should you be concerned when they’re taught to your kids?
That’s exactly the problem: it’s not that people are indifferent. They care, to the point of using violence to press people back into their norms.
Violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Bigotry doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And kids don’t learn how to hate out of thin air.
“I often wonder how many parents let this incidents pass without realizing that they are passively approving of hate. ”
Even parents who think of themselves as liberal will pass on with apparent approval – and fail to apologize for – jokes in which the “point” is that women should look feminine, and women who don’t can be mocked for being transgendered (and that trans women are “really” men).
I don’t know how to change this. These parents, I think, know they’re approving of hate – they just think that the hate they’re approving is only being directed towards the right targets. As in the examples above, where a liberal feminist parent sees no problem with repeating misogynist, transphobic jokes and abuse – so long as it’s directed at conservative women, who are apparently appropriate targets for misogynistic/transphobic abuse. I don’t see any difference between this and a conservative repeating racist/misogynistic jokes about Michelle Obama, and defending them on the grounds that they wouldn’t dream of telling such jokes randomly: they only tell them about Michelle Obama because she’s a Democratic First Lady.
As I wrote here:
And the known penalty is beatings and death. But because these liberal parents don’t see the beatings (and certainly don’t think of them as ever being directed towards their own children, or think about how their own children might become the abusers) they just tell the jokes. They’re the “good cop” half: but both cops are clear what can happen if you don’t conform to the proper gender roles.
Colin- It was in the online edition of both papers, nowhere near the top. (the times and the P-I). I don’t recall hearing anything about it on local news nor overhearing anything while I was out. I haven’t checked any local LGBTQ pages, though, although I thought a follow-up article did say the little punk was arrested…
The official records that have been filed in this woman’s brutal assault purposely misgender her and attempt to dehumanize and degrade her in doing so
Exactly! Sadly, in the comments section to the article, the reporter tries to justify Officer Johnson’s transphobia:
Officers copy down information from identification cards. It seems from the report that the victim in this case presented identification for a man. He noted to the officer he was in the process of changing his name and appearance from a man to a woman.
It looks like the officer went off the victim’s identification, which is normal for police reports.
Both the officer and the reporter need to be immediately fired.
[...] being silent Via Feministe and Questioning Transphobia, a group of teenagers beat up a transgender woman and attempted to [...]
Wait, the same reporter that wrote the article I linked above said that? That’s incredibly disappointing to me. Because I was really pleased that despite the police officer’s insistence on misgendering, that the reporter had used correct pronouns outside of the quotes, regardless of the “confusion” that it could cause, or whatever other bullshit excuse would usually be used.
But apparently there the reporter is in the comments, not only defending someone else’s choice to use incorrect pronouns, but also doing so himself. Asshole.
I think the article up top was questionable too. I have no problem with using “person” if thats what reporters did in general but usually they say man or woman for cis people.
[...] What we missed this weekend 15 06 2009 Violence against the trans community remains largely prevalent but ignored – Group of Teenagers Attack Trans Woman in Seattle [...]
I’d be wary of jumping to conclusions that the officers pronoun use was a deliberate attempt to misgender an dehumanize the victim. Basic ignorance is a more likely culprit. I know in my own department there’s been no training on how to properly describe transgendered individuals. This is something that should be addressed.
Ol’Froth — of course there should be training. But:
1. Ignorance is not an excuse. Never is.
2. When a person is in front of you describing herself as a woman, it exceedingly easy to figure out which pronouns that person would like you to use. No one has problems calling me “she” when I tell them that I am a woman. When the person doing so is trans instead of cis, it should make absolutely no difference. The officer made the active choice to ignore the fact that the victim was identifying herself as a woman. Period. Which means that yes, he did deliberately misgender her. He knew better, because as it even says in the police report, she told him better.
Ahh, I missed the part where she identifies herself as a woman. My bad.
Cara:
Your last paragraph. Yes. Exactly. And so beautifully put. I may need to borrow it on occasion (with appropriate credit, of course.)
Violence doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Bigotry doesn’t happen in a vacuum. And kids don’t learn how to hate out of thin air.
Fuck yes. People say “kids are cruel,” but children learn cruelty and hate. Children who see the people in their lives solving problems with violence learn that “violence never solves anything” is a lie. Some will have to work hard to unlearn hate and violence; others won’t bother.
For all that this is depressing as hell and makes me realise just how lucky I am that my face and body match my stated gender pretty well, I’m glad for people like you and Renee who keep an eye out and spread the word. Thank you.
On further review…..
There is nothing NOTHING in the links provided or the comments that indicates that this officer did anything wrong. The victim was interviewed, the actor identified, and the appropriate charges filed, including the all important hate crime charge. There is nothing indicating that the victim identified as female, and that the officer deliberatly ignored that. Please, if I’m wrong in that assesment, give me a link! I am man enough to admit when I’m wrong, but it looks like that this police officer did his job, identified the actor, filed the appropriate charges, and you are signalling him out for incorrect pronoun usage!
As a police officer, I am the first to admit that training in interacting with the transgendered/gay community is seriously lacking, but that should start to improve. As a liberal, I want information on how to further improve interactions with oppressed segments of the population. As a front line supervisor, I am in a position to suggest ideas to the guys in charge, and educate the officers in my charge on how to properly interact. Throw me a bone here, help me help you!
Ol’Froth,
From the 1st linked article the Cara quoted above. Looks to me that she identified as female and told the officers such.
And what does being a man have to do with admitting when you are wrong?
Nothing at all Ali, but I think far too much emphasis is being placed on the officer who properly took the report. The criminals here are the actors who attacked this victim, and I want to see those people brought to justice for a vicious crime. And I read the first linked article and it is ambigous at best. Given that, what is SPD’s policy on describing transgendered persons? If the officer followed policy, LAY OFF! If not, then the criticism is valid, and direct outrage at those who set the policy, not those who are following directions. I am the first to admit that there are huge problems in how we interact with the public, and I am a liberal. I take a huge amount of shit from my more conservative colleagues, but guess what? I am their boss, and they follow my lead if I can frame the situation in a manner that appeals to their genuine patriotic/conservative ethos! PLEASE!!!! HELP ME HELP YOU!
froth, i think you are being a bit pollyannaish in this affair. i’m transgendered and have had plenty of run-ins with the SPD. like quite a few t-girls in this city, i’m a skater, and the gender that the officer uses in a report is very much up to their discretion. further, i have had a few officers who treat me with the respect i they show anyone, and many others who go out of their way to harass and even try to injure me.
this idea that there is too much emphasis on the officer and the reporter’s commentary, is, i’m afraid, ridiculous. both are supposed to be impartial parties, who are charged with the protecting and educating the public. if they are biased, then how can i, a vulnerable, minority in seattle expect them to come to my aid? how can i be sure that they will protect and serve me? no, cara’s comments were not only astute, but important. these little things, these comments contribute to a greater view of transpeople being less than. less than worthy, less than human, and so on. it is no accident that the teen who attacked the transexual woman resorted to stereotyping in, i assume, an attempt to elicit the sympathies of the police officer. male identity is challenged by the very presence of transwomen, to think that the pronoun usage is irrelivant is to miss the undercurrent, and the motives of those involved. these things MUST be examined.
Here, Ol’Froth, let me google that for you.
And if you really wanted to be an ally, you would make the effort to do at least some research on your own. Not make demands on the oppressed to educate you.
[...] on the social forces of bigotry that drive kids as young as thirteen to commit hate [...]