142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition

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311658
Two Sides of One Coin: Examining passing privilege vis a vis transgender oppression

142nd APHA Annual Meeting and Exposition (November 15 - November 19, 2014): http://www.apha.org/events-and-meetings/annual
Tuesday, November 18, 2014 : 2:45 PM - 3:00 PM

Sean Arayasirikul, PhD Candidate , Center for Public Health Research, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA
Harry Jin, MPH , Center for Public Health Research, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA
H. Fisher Raymond, DrPH, MPH , Center for Public Health Research, San Francisco Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA
Research on the health of transfemales has neglected the social, political and cultural contexts of HIV acquisition ignoring issues of intersectionality and critical race and feminist theories. Gender affirmation frameworks foreground the salience of aligning multiple social systems to foster an intact gender identity. However, gender affirmative studies have not addressed transgender oppression – separate from cisgender and racial oppression – on a population level.

TEACH 2 is a respondent-driven sampling study of HIV/AIDS and risk behaviors in San Francisco, conducted in 2013. A sample of 233 adult transfemales participated. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted to assess the construct of passing privilege vis a vis transgender oppression and racial differences. Transgender oppression includes 9 items across three domains: internalized body dissatisfaction, interpersonal violence, and institutional discrimination.

Transfemales of color (ToC), 68.6% of the sample, report less transgender oppression across 8 out of 9 items compared to White counterparts. ToC reported less incidents of being fired from a job (X2=5.35, p<0.05), being denied housing (X2=7.79, p<0.01), problems with accessing medical services (X2=9.43, p<0.005) all due to their gender identity. ToC also reported being clocked less (X2=12.07, p<0.001), less verbal and physical abuse (X2=6.02, p<0.05; X2=7.20, p<0.01), and less dissatisfaction with their upper and lower body (X2=8.84, p<0.005; X2=5.73, p<0.05).

This study assess passing privilege vis a vis transgender oppression, discussing the intersection of transgender and racial identity. These results suggest that passing privilege may be an important construct in interrogating social mechanisms driving the acquisition of HIV in trans* communities.

Learning Areas:

Diversity and culture
Epidemiology
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the construct of passing privilege vis a vis transgender oppression. Identify racial disparities in transgender oppression. Demonstrate the salience of intersectionality in multiply oppressed minority health research.

Keyword(s): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), Social Justice

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a PhD Candidate in Medical Sociology who designed this secondary analysis. This work is part of my dissertation work on the health of transfemales. I am also a Research Coordinator at the San Francisco Department of Public Health working on the first NIH-funded longitudinal study of HIV risk and resilience among transfemale youth.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.