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Man Charged with Incest After Sexually Assaulting Trans Stepdaughter for Years

An Australian man has been charged with incest after sexually abusing his transgender stepdaughter since 2002. We spoke with a trans rights organization and the Human Rights Campaign to understand the heightened risks facing trans youth.
Photo by Paul Edmondson via Stocksy

According to reports by the Australian Associated Press (AAP), a man in Victoria has pleaded guilty to charges of incest after repeatedly sexually assaulting his transgender stepdaughter, who claims the abuse has been going on since 2002.

As the report details, the woman's stepfather initiated the sexual abuse shortly after she underwent gender reassignment surgery, saying that he couldn't resist because of how "beautiful" she had become through her transition. The AAP reported that the unidentified woman then spent more than a decade under her stepfather's control; he also threatened her, saying that he'd ruin the family financially if she turned him into the police.

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This horrific case out of Australia signifies the vulnerability of trans women to sexual violence. According to the Anti-Violence Project, when it comes to survivors of hate violence, transgender women were found to be "1.8 times more likely to experience sexual violence when compared with other survivors."

"Although data for transgender populations is more limited than for other populations, research indicates that between 50 percent and 66 percent of trans people experience sexual assault at some point in their lives," says Michael Munson, the executive director of FORGE, a transgender rights organization. "Some studies indicate even higher rates for trans and non-binary youth, people of color, people who are low income, and others who have multiple intersections that increase their risk."

Transgender women have specific vulnerabilities when it comes to sexual assault, Munson says. For example, he points out that the AAP reported that the transgender woman in this case was told by stepfather that "not many men would want to be with a woman like her." "This type of language is a common trans-specific abuse tactic," Munson says. Other abuse tactics that target trans people include the threat of outing someone's transgender status, undermining a trans person's true gender, and making comments like, "This is how real men/women like sex."

Read more: Why Do Men Kill Trans Women? Gender Theorist Judith Butler Explains

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Munson told me that trans youth in the US benefit from the "substantial protections" this country has, particularly via the Department of Education (Title IX), the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), the Violence Against Women Act, and other state laws that specifically protect trans people. Nevertheless, abuse persists. This is partially the consequence of systemic disenfranchisement and familial rejection, Munson says; trans people are often marginalized as the result of being discriminated against at home and in school, which means they can end up at a higher risk of sexual violence because they have to turn to things like sex work to survive.

In the Australian case, Munson believes the details are all too common. "Her case is typical, in that the majority of sexual assault is perpetrated by someone a person knows—a family member, neighbor, clergy, coach, etc.," he says. The fact that the abuse is reported to have begun shortly after she underwent major gender-related surgery is also a factor. "She would be more vulnerable during this period—both physically and emotionally.

"On a purely physical health standpoint, newly surgically created genitals are at more risk of tears and damage, thus potentially exposing the person to greater risks of sexually transmitted infections, including HIV," he adds.

Elizabeth Halloran, a representative from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), told me that this case is "horrific" and emphasized that intersecting injustices exacerbate the level of risk trans youth are subjected to. "The issue reveals how far we still have to go in order to ensure that all members of the LGBT community have equal access to basic dignity and fair treatment," Halloran says.

Nevertheless, Halloran believes violence against trans youth can decrease through initiatives such as supporting emergency housing, the expansion of healthcare, education, ending endemic unemployment, and training law enforcement to engage with trans people.

"In many communities, there are myths about trans people," Munson says. "Those myths can be dangerous, since they are not portraying trans people as people."