A transgender girl’s experience: sexual exploitation and systems involvement

Abstract

Purpose The available research on specialized interventions for youth experiencing commercial sexual exploitation almost exclusively focuses on the impact and efficacy related to cisgender girls, despite the inclusion of youth who identify as transgender in these programs. This paper aims to present a case study on the experience of a transgender adolescent girl who experienced commercial sexual exploitation and provides a narrative of the multifarious challenges she faced while involved in institutional systems of care. Design/methodology/approach This paper conducted an in-depth case review of all records on “Jade,” a white adolescent transgender girl who experienced commercial sexual exploitation, from a specialty court program in the juvenile justice system between 2012 and 2016. Her experiences throughout childhood exemplify many of the unique challenges that transgender girls and young women with histories of exploitation or trafficking may encounter within service delivery and socioecological systems. This paper applied concepts adapted from the gender minority stress theoretical model to understand how minority gender identity can shape the experiences and outcomes of the youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation. Findings Jade’s narrative underscores the interplay of gender-based sexual violence, heteronormative structural barriers, transphobia and their intersectional impact on her experience while receiving specialized care. The intersectional hardships she experienced likely contributed to adverse biopsychosocial outcomes, including high rates of medical and behavioral health diagnoses and expectations of further rejection. Originality/value This paper highlights the extraordinary challenges and barriers faced by an often under-recognized and overlooked subset of the youth impacted by commercial sexual exploitation, who may receive services that do not account for their unique needs related to gender expression and identity. This paper exemplifies how internalized stigma along with expectations of further rejection and victimization have implications for clinical and multidisciplinary intervention settings. Jade’s case underscores the need for improved access to supportive services for youth with minority gender identities, including peer community-building opportunities. Finally, this paper identifies a critical gap in US legislation and social policy. This gap contributes to the structural harms faced by transgender and gender-nonconforming youth receiving services during or following experiences of commercial sexual exploitation.

A Systematic Review of Specialty Courts in the United States for Adolescents Impacted by Commercial Sexual Exploitation

“…Therefore, court officials and multidisciplinary collaborators should be mindful of their underlying assumptions and potential biases related to CSE and gender, and implement more inclusive strategies. Our findings support prior research that recommends the development and expansion of more inclusive screening tools and programming that increases the identification of CSE (Watson & Edelman, 2013) and decreases stigma among adolescents with diverse sexual and gender identities (Amara Legal Center, 2018), especially for cisgender boys and transgender adolescents who continue to be underidentified (Hammond et al, 2020). Policies that require judicial staff to screen all adolescents entering the court system for potential histories of CSE may increase diversity among participants served and ensure that no adolescents go unidentified.…”

“…CSE-impacted adolescents, including transgender adolescents, face myriad challenges while justice involved such as increased barriers to accessing appropriate care, risk re-traumatization and maltreatment, and poor behavioral health outcomes (Anderson et al, 2016; Hammond et al, 2020; Morash, 2015; Powell et al, 2017; Saar et al, 2015). The justice system often lacks trauma-informed protocols and services to adequately identify and respond to abuse or exploitation (Dierkhising & Branson, 2016; Hoefinger et al, 2019) though adolescents often experience substantial adversity and trauma prior to and during their justice involvement (Charak et al, 2019; Grasso et al, 2016; Saar et al, 2015).…”

“…The justice system often lacks trauma-informed protocols and services to adequately identify and respond to abuse or exploitation (Dierkhising & Branson, 2016; Hoefinger et al, 2019) though adolescents often experience substantial adversity and trauma prior to and during their justice involvement (Charak et al, 2019; Grasso et al, 2016; Saar et al, 2015). Moreover, research has found that CSE-impacted girls and transgender adolescents experience stigmatization, mislabeling, gender-based violence, and a general lack of agency over choices affecting their bodies while in the juvenile justice system (Godoy et al, 2020; Hammond et al, 2020; Saar et al, 2015; Trejbalová et al, 2021). These traumatic events are only compounded by repeated acts of violence (e.g., rape, sexual assault, beaten or hit with objects) and victimization (e.g., emotional abuse, forced substance use) that occur while exploited (Godoy et al, 2020; Hopper, 2017), which often results in negative physical and behavioral health outcomes, such as violence-related injuries, anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicidality (Barnert et al, 2017; Cole et al, 2016; Le et al, 2018; Palines et al, 2020).…”

Current Trends in Sex Trafficking Research

“…For example, individuals from the LGBTQ + community are at an increased risk of experiencing CST [ 17 ]; however, literature has focused largely on young, presumably heterosexual, girls. This is especially notable in the treatment literature, as there are a lack of materials and programs designed to address the unmet needs of LGBTQ + trafficked individuals [ 24 , 56 ]; as such, additional research examining how to best provide treatment for this population is needed. The research regarding training professionals on prevention and intervention tends to focus on health professionals.…”

Guest editorial

“…The final article of the special issue entitled “A transgender girl’s experience: sexual exploitation and systems-involvement” (Hammond et al , 2020) provides a narrative of the challenges of a transgender girl who experienced commercial sexual exploitation while under the institutional system’s care. Through this case study of a transgender girl using the gender minority stress theory as a theoretical framework, the authors illustrate the structural barriers this girl faced at each step of the service delivery system, while highlighting the unmet needs of transgender youth experiencing sexual exploitation.…”