2.6 Living with transphobia

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Dark and stormy clouds covering a sky.

You have been learning about the discrimination that is experienced by trans people. Negative societal views can lead trans people to internalise these beliefs.

Internalised transphobia refers to a trans person wholly or partly believing negative stereotypes about trans people or applying them subconsciously to themself. Internalised oppression is likely to increase the risk of mental health difficulties and lower self-esteem (Ventriglio et al., 2021; Iantaffi and Bockting 2011). It is a part of the concept of minority stress as conceptualised by Meyer (2003).

ICTA participants talked about the impact of internalised transphobia on them:

  • ‘I think a huge part of being trans is trying not to be trans. I kind of felt what was the worst possible thing that I could be… when I grew up all trans people were weirdos. So, I didn’t want to be trans.’
  • ‘I would cross-dress as a teenager, in my 20s and 30s, but secretly. And I always had, it gave me a great feeling at the time but then was followed by remorse, guilt, shame and all those negative feelings.’
  • ‘I wasted years of my life… I was still internalising a huge amount of transphobia and shame and guilt… [my faith saw it as] sinful and wrong and harmful.’

Internalised transphobia can be powerful, often causing shame and other harmful emotions. Therapists must avoid reinforcing transphobia − whether through microaggressions, stereotypes, denial of authenticity, or accepting internalised beliefs as truth.

In the next activity, you will learn more about what ICTA participants said about their experience of navigating transphobia.

Activity 2.6: Experiences of navigating transphobia

Timing: Allow 15 minutes

Listen to the following sound clip of quotes from the research about experiences of microaggressions, prejudice, discrimination and violence, voiced by actors.

Please be aware the contents may be distressing.

Download this audio clip.Audio player: act_2.6_ppi_reading_quotes_edit3.mp3
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Transcript

SPEAKER
I'm not in contact with anybody from my birth family. And, well, I lost a lot of my social contacts while I was transitioning.
SPEAKER
I was dependent on my parents for money. And they used that as a quid pro quo to basically endure a weekly transphobic rant that looked like the comment section on Mumsnet. So basically, I didn't pick up the phone for about two or three days, and they cut me off financially. And then every opportunity I gave them to reconcile, they just dug a hole further. Well, I mean, it was a big thing for them. But, I mean, the thing is they were making me suicidal.
SPEAKER
During my working life, I lost my job five times for being trans. The first time was really sad. I got stopped coming back from a support group by a police roadblock, which I wasn't bothered about because they were looking for stolen cars. The officer who talked to me, though, was really cross that I was trans and reported me to the company I work for, for driving a company vehicle whilst dressed as a woman.
SPEAKER
A guy in my office who was basically transphobic repeatedly referred to me in the wrong pronouns and stuff. I literally felt suicidal driving home one night when it happened again.
SPEAKER
I mean, in the 80s your White hetero males used to throw stones at me, throw bottles at me, call me a priss and all that sort of thing. I got beaten up a couple of times. At the end of the day, I got weary. I got tired day in day out of microaggressions and comments when travelling through the city and stuff like that. And it just wore me out. It literally wore me down.
SPEAKER
I'm quite happy with me. It's other people who aren't. Well, why are you letting it bother you? I'm not. But day in and day out, day in and day out, it does have a knock-on effect.
SPEAKER
I think a lot of trans people, myself included, the way that we are in society and the way that we're perceived does have significant impact on our mental health. And this is daily the things I read things I see, the things that are said to me, the things that I see on the internet and the attitude shown by government and government departments. They all interact, and they all cause issues mentally.
SPEAKER
The gender stuff is such a huge part of mental health because it's not just in terms of how I feel myself. But every time I pick up a newspaper that's talking about the people, every time I go on social media and people are jumping on trans people, every time I get misgendered at work, all these kinds of things have an effect on my mental health.
SPEAKER
If I'm able to pass as cis, there's no point in me outing myself as trans because it's a lot safer to be cis. It's a lot. You just get treated better both professionally. And personally, it's just a lot safer.
SPEAKER
There wasn't a problem with changing the name. However, there was a problem with changing the title. They didn't want to refer to me as Miss. And quite often when they had a digital display, it would come up with the right name but with the Mr. Prefix on the front of it, which is horrific.
SPEAKER
Well, the media has influenced a lot of people within the NHS that there is still a lot of stigma around transgender health. So, dealing with transgender health services in the UK, well, it's a chore. Let's put it that way. You feel taxed afterwards. Anyone in medical capacity I approach with an air of caution because I don't know how they're going to deal with it, mostly because I'm unsure how they feel about transgender people. So, I'm cautious.
SPEAKER
I'm not an activist or whatever the word is. I just live my life. But you can't be trans in this country at the moment without being aware of all the insidious and one-sided arguments going on. Sometimes I find myself not sleeping. It's hard to turn it away.
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Discussion

Our research participants have hopefully brought alive the pervasiveness and the severity of the impact of navigating a transphobic world. One way we as therapists might fail our clients is by struggling to stay with and empathise with these stories – instead we create mental defences that can deny, minimise or blame the client’s experience (Hope, 2019). It is helpful to notice we are doing this and think about what was hard to ‘stay with’ in the client’s story.

2.5 Denial of trans authenticity

Summary