Webinar:
Responding to sexual violence experienced among trans women of colour from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia

There is limited knowledge about the experiences and needs of trans women who are victims/survivors of sexual violence.

Despite this, what is known is that trans women experience higher rates of sexual violence than cisgender women, with culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) trans women at highest risk.

This webinar will explore the systemic barriers which prevent trans women of colour who are victims/survivors of sexual violence, from accessing support services and justice.

Drawing on practice expertise and the ANROWS research, ‘Crossing the line: Lived experience of sexual violence among trans women of colour from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia’; the panel of researchers and practitioners will discuss:

• how trans women of colour from CALD backgrounds commonly experience sexual violence
• how trans women currently access support after experiencing sexual violence, and why this usually takes place outside of the service system
• recommendations for service design and practice change to improve access, acceptability and inclusivity toward trans women of colour.

There will also be a live Q&A.

This webinar is designed for:

• practitioners and policymakers working within LGTBQ services, legal services, sexual assault services, and domestic and family violence services
• trans women, particularly trans women of colour, sexuality and gender diverse people from the wider LGBTQ community and culturally and linguistically diverse women.

Enquiries: rachel.pow@anrows.org.au

Presenters

Jane M Ussher
Jane M Ussher is Professor of Women’s Health Psychology, in the Translational Health Research Institute, at Western Sydney University. Her research focuses on examining subjectivity in relation to the reproductive body and sexuality, including the experience of migrant and refugee women. She is editor of the Routledge Women and Psychology book series, and President of the Australian Society for Psychosocial Obstetrics and Gynaecology (2017-2020), and President of the Society for Menstrual Cycle Research (2019-2021). Jane was the chief investigator on the ANROWS funded project ‘Crossing the line: Lived experience of sexual violence among trans women of colour from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia’.

Chantell Martin
Chantell Martin works for the Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) as their Trans outreach and Community Service worker and is based in Sydney. As a peer sex worker with unique experiences Chantell is able to navigate and communicate with her peers in an appropriate manner. Chantell also takes a holistic approach providing individual support to trans sex workers who access the SWOP office for multiple issues not related to sex work, such as housing, legal advice, and counselling.

Chantell’s role involves building strong relationships with her peers who are street-based, parlour and private sex workers within the NSW sex industry. This also includes making referrals to other support services within the community who work with people in the sex industry.

Chantell’s community service role involves liaison and advocacy work with support services, visits to Trans sex workers in male prisons offering peer support and referrals, connecting with lawyers regarding support letters, working with parole officers, and follow up after they are released. Working closely with partner organisations and sitting on interagency meetings with the Kings Cross police, legal and sexual health services, are a major focus that Chantell pursues to ensure the best possible outcomes for all sex workers.

Hilary Kincaid
Hilary Kincaid is the principal solicitor at the Inner City Legal Centre, and has been involved with the centre as staff and as a volunteer since 2004. She currently practices in, among other things, criminal defence. She is a co-author of the textbook Voidable Transactions in Company Insolvency and has previously practised in corporate advisory law and construction litigation. Hilary was the solicitor for the applicant in the 2017 Full Court of the Family Court decision of Re Kelvin, which removed the requirement for a court application before a transgender young person could start stage 2 hormonal treatment for transition.

Facilitator

Dr Virginia Mapedzahama
Dr Virginia Mapedzahama (PhD Sociology) is a Senior Research Officer at ANROWS with 20 years of experience in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research with vulnerable communities while working in academia, research management, and policy and human rights practice. Virginia’s research interests focus on understanding the social construction of all categories of difference: meanings attached to this difference, how it is signified and lived, as well as its implications. She explores these interests in the context of subjective experiences of sexuality and gendered violence, migration, diaspora, blackness, race, racism and ethnicity, and intersectionality.