Abstract

BackgroundFor transgender people, reaching transgender (trans)-specific developmental milestones, including recognizing and expressing one’s identity, plays an integral role in overall health, wellbeing, and the pursuit of gender affirmation. Yet trans people continue to face minority stressors, including structural violence (i.e., discrimination, violence, and stigma), which may interfere with the achievement of these milestones. Among trans women specifically, however, potential associations between gender developmental milestones and structural violence are not well characterized in the literature. In a sample of Filipinx (i.e., an inclusive term for describing non-binary genders in the Philippines) trans women who are sexually active with men (trans-WSM), we thus sought to: (a) describe the mean ages at which gender developmental milestones occur and (b) examine the associations between structural violence and mean ages at which at which Filipinx trans-WSM experience trans-specific developmental milestones.MethodsUsing data from Project #ParaSaAtin, an online survey of Filipinx trans-WSM (n = 139), we mapped age-estimates per trans-specific milestones and then tested whether structural violence is associated with the mean age at which trans women experience trans-specific developmental milestones.ResultsOverall, participants who reported higher levels of discrimination, stigma, and violence also experienced a later age for nearly each milestone (i.e., initial self-awareness of transfeminine identity, transfeminine expression in private, transfeminine expression in public, first consensual oral/vaginal/anal sex with a cisgender male partner, first consensual oral/vaginal/anal sex with a cisgender male partner as a trans women, and hormone integration) (all p-values <0.05). Of note, the single exception to this pattern was the non-significant association between stigma and initial disclosure of transfeminine identification to another person.ConclusionResults are consistent with psychological literature outlining a temporal sequence of developmental milestones among young trans-WSM. For young trans-WSM in the Philippines, data from this study demonstrate significant associations between structural violence and the achievement of developmental milestones. These findings highlight the need for trauma-informed, strengths-based programming and institutional policies that measure and mitigate anti-trans violence.

Highlights

  • The processes through which transgender women recognize and express their gender identity are not well characterized in the literature

  • Participants who reported higher levels of discrimination, stigma, and violence experienced a later age for nearly each milestone

  • For young trans-WSM in the Philippines, data from this study demonstrate significant associations between structural violence and the achievement of developmental milestones

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Summary

Introduction

The processes through which transgender (trans) women recognize and express their gender identity are not well characterized in the literature. A growing body of research demonstrates the importance of reaching trans-specific developmental milestones (e.g., disclosing one’s transfeminine identity to others; expressing one’s transfeminine identity in public, changing one’s name/gender marker on government documents) in shaping the trajectories of the health and overall wellbeing of trans persons [1,2,3]. Reaching such milestones may be key components of gender affirmation, or the process of taking social, medical, and/or legal steps to achieve internal and external recognition of one’s gender identity [4]. In a sample of Filipinx (i.e., an inclusive term for describing non-binary genders in the Philippines) trans women who are sexually active with men (trans-WSM), we sought to: (a) describe the mean ages at which gender developmental milestones occur and (b) examine the associations between structural violence and mean ages at which at which Filipinx trans-WSM experience trans-specific developmental milestones

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