Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. In her article Undoing TheoryViviane Namaste notes that “TDOR is an annual occasion to take stock of the violence to which trans people are subjected. Taking place in the United States and internationally, activists organize candlelight vigils, political rallies, and social activities as a way to recognize and denounce this violence” (2009, p. 16). This is a sad day for me, and for so many. Jessica and I lit a memorial candle this morning that will burn for 26 hours, and we said some words and held some silence together to start off our day. We talked a bit afterwards and I want to share a little bit about our discussion this morning. I think it is important for us to remember those who have been killed, while also bringing to light the gendered and classed contours of the violence that trans people face.
The fact that many of the people who are murdered are trans women who engage in sex work is a very important aspect of TDOR and transgender violence that we often gloss over. It is important to remember that often white ‘western’ queer communities erase the experiences of trans women. And erase them and erase them and erase them. When it comes to TDOR, trans women who are engaging in sex work consist of a disproportionate amount of murdered transgender people. Namaste cites Mirha-Soleil Ross:
Not only are most of the trans people murdered sex workers but they are nearly 100 per cent male-to-females. And that very crucial aspect is completely erased when people frame the issue as one of ‘‘violence against transgender people.’’ This is … an issue of violence against transsexual women and against male-to-female transvestites who are mostly prostitutes…the fact that MTFs are the ones who are almost exclusively attacked and killed is something that needs to be pointed out. (cited in Namaste 2005b, 92–93)
Namaste notes that “transsexual women age with the unsettling knowledge that many of us—often, most of us—do not live to be forty years old. Every day, transsexual women see our work, lives, community organizing, and even personal relationships criminalized through an invocation of prostitution laws” (p. 29).
This information makes visible the need for us to continue to be in solidarity with the trans women and sex workers in our lives and in the world. We must acknowledge that this violence was caused in part by the unsafe conditions produced by the criminalization of sex work (or certain aspects of sex work *). If our government(s) won’t make sex work safer, we can fight to move things along. The criminalization of sex work, or acts surrounding sex work makes this livelihood one that is very dangerous for some people. We must destigmatize sex work, and acknowledge that those who engage in sex work should be able to make their own informed choices about their work.
There are so many ways to get involved, and so many ways to support trans folks and sex workers. I think it is important to highlight sex work as part of this because ignoring it means that we don’t have to see it as part of the solution to ending violence against trans people. I hope that some of you will sort through these resources, seek out resources of your own, and think about the different ways you can take action.
-Majestic
resources:
How to respect sex workers
Sex worker Manifesto
Sex Workers Project
Sex Professionals of Canada
* In Canada sex work is not illegal, but things like the public communication surrounding it are, which basically defeats the whole purpose and makes things unsafe for sex workers.
![jhameia:
[If a man has an apartment stacked to the ceiling with newspapers we call him crazy. If a woman has a trailer house full of cats we call her nuts. When people pathologically hoard so much cash that they impoverish the entire nation, we put them on the cover of Fortune magazine and pretend they are role models.]](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lva212Kxji1r0on9vo1_500.jpg)
![kyssthis16:
theresapattern:thedailywhat:
This Is All Kinds Of Wrong of the Day: A Brooklyn woman who was struck by a stray bullet says she was unlawfully detained for five days by police officers who claimed she was lying about the incident.
35-year-old Takesha Griffin was allegedly handcuffed to a bench and, later, put in a dirty holding cell at the 73rd Precinct, while officers attempted to compel a false confession. “They wanted me to lie,” Griffin told the Daily News. “It was like The Twilight Zone.”
The Brownsville resident reported that she was hit in her thigh by a stray bullet after returning home from a club with a male friend. The same friend drove Griffin to the Hospital, where staff alerted the police after realizing the source of the wound.
Griffin, who was taken away by police while still in her hospital scrubs, says she was held at the Brownsville police station from September 3rd through September 8th, even though, by law, she was entitled to a court appearance within 24 hours.
While in custody, Griffin claims she was forced to urinate on herself after no one would take her to the restroom, and says she was made fun of when she complained about receiving a McDonald’s hamburger every day in lieu of a decent meal.
“This is something that would happen in a fascist state, not in America,” says her lawyer, Sanford Rubenstein.
The police claimed that Griffin was shot during a lovers’ spat with her friend; a background check also brought up a warrant for her arrest issued after Griffin allegedly failed to heed a disorderly conduct summons. Griffin pointed out to police officers that her friend was gay — they were returning from a gay club — and the warrant was later shown to be a clerical error.
Griffin and Rubenstein plan to sue the city for $5 million.
[nydn.]
I think I’ve reblogged something about this before, but here, have it again!
I just can’t……](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ltqrufnbh51qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
