Invited Symposium III: Perilous Participation: Research into the Violence Against Transgender People

Violence against transgender people is common, occurring at structural, societal, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels, and everything in between. However, research documenting that violence and its correlates has only proliferated in the last 20 years, and violence against people of varying gender identities is a new and emerging area of study, particularly for social work. This session will focus on three main themes to aid social work researchers in their knowledge about, and conceptualization of, violence based on gender identity to assist participants in producing more culturally competent and useful research that benefits the lives of gender minority individuals and communities. First, the speakers will focus on the overall state of the research literature examining the nature and extent of violence against transgender people, as well as some methodological concerns with existing data. Second, the speakers will focus more closely on the 2015 United States Transgender Survey, the largest and most comprehensive nation-wide survey of gender minorities in the world. The findings related to violence against transgender people will be discussed as well as the process of creating and launching such a large-scale survey. Last, speakers will discuss the ongoing challenges related to doing high quality research with gender minorities, with a particular focus on where to find existing quality data, best practices for asking about gender identity, and where social work researchers can advocate for the inclusion of more than male/female options in federal, state, or local data collection efforts.