Experiences of Sexual Violence Among Transgender Women from

Experiences of Sexual Violence Among Transgender Women from Mexico Seeking Asylum in the U. S. Lisa L. Frey, 1 E. Laurette Taylor, 2 Marshall Cheney, 2 Deborah Dorton, 1 and Mary Camero 2 University of Oklahoma 1 Department of Educational Psychology, 2 Department of Health and Exercise Science Purpose The purpose of this qualitative study was to use a document review process to understand the characteristics of sexual violence and perpetrators of that violence experienced by undocumented transgender (MTF) immigrants from rural areas of Mexico who were seeking U. S. asylum consequent to reported experiences of human rights violations. Methods The document review process is a detailed and systematic examination of documents already in existence to identify patterns and generate hypotheses to guide future research questions. The asylum application process for transgendered MTF immigrants requires several steps including: 1) a “declaration” that summarizes the applicant’s life history in great detail up to their entry into the United States, and 2) a psychological evaluation detailing the physical and psychological impact of these life experiences after immigration. Mexican asylum applications (n=40) for the past 2 years were identified through a non-profit organization in a large city that assists low-income individuals with immigration issues. Their declarations and psychological evaluations were matched and de-identified. The de-identified documents were imported into Nvivo for analysis. Each member of the research team, composed of counseling psychology and health promotion researchers, took primary responsibility for the review of a set of cases and presented the cases to the full team. Team members read all the case documents, reviewed the coding, and discussed until consensus was reached. Type of Coercion Used Coercion was a common method used by perpetrators to silence victims and prevent them from reporting sexual and physical abuse. Physical Violence & Aggression • When we were alone in the coffee fields, E grabbed me. I tried to run away but he grabbed me by my feet and caused me to fall on the ground. I was crying and my dog started to bark. He cut my dog’s throat with his knife. He beat me. He said “that’s what you get for playing with flowers and dolls. ” He called me a (fucking faggot), maricon, and spat on my face. He raped me. Threats • When I was about 7 my stepfather’s brother moved in with us. Shortly after he moved in with us, he began sexually abusing me. He forced me to perform oral sex on him. He always carried a pocket knife. He threatened that if I ever said anything he would cut out my tongue or harm my mother. Motivation of Perpetrators justified their abuse with distorted rationalizations. Blaming the Victim • The two men grabbed me by my arms and legs. I struggled to get away and S hit me twice. I pleaded for him to stop because he was my uncle. S ordered me not to complain because that was what I liked. One of the other man said “didn’t you want to be a woman? ” S raped me. Behave Like Your Own Gender • ET (police officer) taunted me and said something like, you know we don’t want fags here. Suddenly ET grabbed me and whispered something like, we’ll get the fag out of you. I remember that the first office said something like, bring him here and teach him to act like a man. Emerging Themes are being identified from the coded documents. It is important to keep in mind when reviewing these themes that they have occurred within the specific cultural context of Mexico and often in smaller towns and cities within Mexico. The following excerpts provide a description of the perceptions of the culture these individuals grew up in. Identified Characteristics • Identified gender of all perpetrators was male. • All participants reported experiencing sexual abuse or sexual abuse with physical abuse. • Geographical location of experiences was in Mexico. • Most reported 1 st victimization in early or middle childhood. • Most reported the victim-perpetrator age relationship to be child-adult and/or child-adolescent. Of those, many also reported adult-adult and/or adolescent-adolescent abuse experiences. • • • Most reported repetitive incidents of abuse with multiple or single perpetrators. Most reported the perpetrator was an extended family member, family friend, or policeman, although some also reported the perpetrator was a community member or school peer or teacher. Most reported the abuse occurring in two or more sites, generally an isolated area, the victim’s home, or another home. Some also reported the abuse occurred on the street, in jail, or in school. Strategies to Ensure Secrecy Perpetrators used a variety of strategies to prevent their victims from telling others about their abuse and/or identifying the perpetrator: Coercion & Threats • I cried during the rape. It was over quickly but it felt like it was happening for a long time. After he finished, he pushed me on the couch and told me not to tell anyone. He carried a gun on his waist. He put his hand on his gun and turned his body so I would see the gun and he told me he would kill me if I ever told anyone. The last thing he said to me was “(fucking little faggot). ” • Shortly after I started spending the night at my uncle’s house, M started sexually abusing me…He threatened me not to say anything because he was going to say I was lying. He said that no one was going to believe me. He threatened not to let me stay in his house anymore. I did not have any other place to go to and so I kept quiet. It’s Your Fault • While my grandparents slept, he would come over to my room with a knife and abuse me sexually. He covered my mouth with his hand told me to shut up. He forced me to touch him and he raped me. After he was done, he threatened me, telling me that if I said anything he would hurt me physically and blame me for what had happened. • I was very depressed and sad at the orphanage. I was so afraid, and I felt ashamed about what was happening. The men who abused me made me feel like it was my fault, like I wanted them to come. Details of Abuse Experiences Victims were abused by many different types of individuals. Consequences of Victim Resistance In most cases, resistance resulted in further abuse, but in some cases resistance resulted in successful escape from abuse. Abuse by Authorities • The first time someone molested me at night was about three months after I arrived…Four or five days later, it happened again. It kept happening to me at night in the orphanage every week for two years. Because there were so many older boys and men in the orphanage, I could never tell who was coming into my bed and assaulting me at night; however, I could tell it was several different people; some nights two different men would climb into my bed in the middle of the night. They would always take off my clothes. The older ones made me perform oral sex on them, and some made me masturbate them. They would touch and violate me…Life at the orphanage was traumatic and sad for me. When I would go to sit at a table to eat, the boys sitting there would call me a maricon and get up and leave…The orphanage was run by priests but I could not tell them about what was happening to me. One of the priests, R, abused me just like the boys did. One or two times a week he would touch me and play with me, and dress me in very shorts to look at me. • When I was about 12 or 13, this officer would stop me on my way to or from school and make me have sex with him. The first time he approached me…there was another officer in the car. Officer R called me a faggot. He told me I had to get in the car. He said if I didn’t get in, they would arrest me for prostitution. As I was afraid, I got in. the policemen took me to the outskirts of town. R forced me to have oral sex with him. Afterwards Officer R asked the other officer if he “was going to want some. ” The second officer said no. Officer R then told the other officer to walk away from the car. Officer R raped me. I was in a lot of pain afterwards and I was bleeding. I felt terrible. I could not stop crying. I told my friends…They told me that they had all also been raped by the police. Abuse by Family Members and Family Friends • When I was 14 years old I was gang raped by my uncle and two of his friends. It was during the month of April and the time of our neighborhood festival. I went out with my friends dressed as a woman, but was careful not to be seen by anyone who could recognize me. I was on my way home from the festival. S passed by in his car and whistled at me…S ordered me to get in the car. I said no. He hit me with a beer bottle on my head. I started bleeding. One of the other mean punched me in the stomach. I lost consciousness. I do not remember how much time passed, but when I regained consciousness I was in the car trunk. It was really hot. It was dark and I could not see anything. I felt an unbearable pain in my left leg. I screamed, pleading to them to let me out of the car trunk. After several minutes they stopped the car. One of the other men opened the car trunk and my uncle pulled me out by my hair. I told him I was in pain and he hit me. When I was out of the trunk I noticed I had a large cut in my left leg and was bleeding. I do not know how I injured my leg. I pleaded to him not to hurt me anymore. I could not walk from the park. I struggled to get away. • When I was roughly 8 years old, I went to my maternal grandparent’s house for a family party. One of my cousins, S, who was roughly 16 years old at the time, raped me. He took me to his house, which was a roughly 20 minute walk away from the grandparent’s house. I never thought he was going to hurt me. When we got to his house, he forced me to go to his bedroom and locked his door. He forced me to perform oral sex on him. He told me that he knew I was going to like it. I was terrified, and I cannot remember exactly what other insults he said. I tried to leave, but he forced me to stay there. He raped me. Abuse by Teachers or Peers • My teacher told me I had to go to his home to do homework. While I was at his house, he grabbed me and raped me. I believe the teacher also raped other children in the school. He often called a group of two or three students and me to his house to work on homework. Then, he would send the rest of the students away leaving me by myself. He would rape me. I tried to fight back and defend myself but he was stronger. At times, I was sent away and another student would be asked to remain behind. I assume that he raped him too. He would alternate between us. This research was supported by a University of Oklahoma Ed Cline Faculty Development Award to Dr. Cheney Further Aggression or Restraint • One time I resisted. Officer R stopped me. There were two other officers in the car. Officer R told me to get in the car. He said that the other officers wanted to get a taste of me. I said no. I told him I would never get in the car with him again. Officer R jumped out of the car. He was angry. He grabbed me and slammed me against the police car. He said he was arresting me for prostitution and insulting authority/resisting arrest. Successful Resistance • About a year after I moved, E (childhood abuser) arrived. He said it wasn’t going to be so easy for me to get away from him. He turned to close the kitchen door and I threw the pan with hot oil at him. I told him he was no longer going to abuse me. I left the house running and went to a neighbor’s house. • He told me to strip and forced me to turn around. He put his gun to my head and started to rape me. I told him that I did not care if he killed me because I was infected with HIV and that I was sick from it. I asked him if he wanted to be sick like me and the only way to stay healthy was to use a condom. He told me he did not have any condoms on him but he was going to find some. He walked away and I managed to escape. Recommendations for Practitioners § Increase practitioners’ understanding of this underserved, high risk population § Increase practitioners’ understanding of the asylum process, including increased knowledge regarding the impact of trauma on the ability to seek asylum § Train practitioners to better serve and advocate for this population by improving referral procedures for mental health and legal services and developing strategies to reach this population through non-traditional outreach methods § Collaborate with existing local mental health and legal services in providing comprehensive services for this population § Provide services (e. g. , psychological evaluation) that support this population in seeking asylum Limitations § The declarations were produced for a legal process, which may limit or bias the range of information representing the asylum-seeker’s lived experience. § The declaration is a documentation of the asylum-seeker’s words, but is not a transcript. § The declaration was translated from Spanish and may have been subject to confusion of terms around gender identity. Gender identity and sexual orientation terminology seemed to be used interchangeably in the documents. It was unclear whether this was a function of translation or personal description. § The sample represented those who successfully entered the United States (illegally) and accessed services through a local non-profit in one large city. Contact Information Lisa L. Frey, Ph. D Department of Educational Psychology University of Oklahoma 820 Van Vleet Oval, Rm. 321, Norman, OK 73109 Melissa. Frey-1@ou. edu