ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the stigmatization of trans women. First, the Trans Women Stigma Scale is examined. Second, Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) is utilized to explore the relationships among the Trans Women Stigma Scale, the Hetero-cis-normativity Scale (HCN Scale), gender, sexuality, additional gender/sexuality, race/ethnicity, and basic needs. Third, trans women’s experiences with gender- and sexuality-based discrimination, harassment, and violence (DHV) are investigated. In line with the three tenets and hypotheses derived from NCST, there are six patterns found in this chapter: (1) sex-act related stigma is a driving force in the stigmatization of trans women for both hetero-cis and LGBTQ people—however, discomfort with trans women’s sex acts with both women and men are most concerning for hetero-cis people while the stigmatizing beliefs that trans women are too hypersexual and unfaithful are most concerning for LGBTQ people; (2) for both hetero-cis and LGBTQ people, there is strong support for the stigmatizing belief that trans women are not feminine enough; (3) hetero-cis-normativity is positively related to trans women stigma for both subsamples—however, the interaction effects between the HCN Scale and social power axes that moderate these relationships differ for the hetero-cis and LGBTQ subsamples. In addition, there are more significant interaction effects between the HCN Scale and social power axes for the hetero-cis subsample than there are for the LGBTQ subsample; (4) individual social power axes are significantly related to trans women stigma for both subsamples. In addition, the interaction effects between the social power axes only moderate these relationships for the LGBTQ subsample; (5) trans women experience high levels of sexuality-based DHV in comparison to the all women subsample and are significantly more likely to experience sexuality-based violence than both the LGBTQ and women subsamples—however, trans women are less likely than both subsamples to experience gender-based DHV; and (6) being a trans woman is not significantly related to the likelihood of gender-based DHV—however, being a White trans woman decreases the likelihood of sexuality-based DHV.
