The Canadian Women's Foundation describes gender-based violence as: "the types of abuse that women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans and non-binary people are at highest risk of experiencing. It can take physical and emotional forms, such as: name-calling, hitting, pushing, blocking, stalking/criminal harassment, rape, sexual assault, control, and manipulation. Many forms of this abuse are against the law. It can happen between people in romantic relationships. It can happen in families, at work, and between friends and acquaintances and strangers. It often occurs in private places between people who know each other."
In 2014, StatsCan reported that: "Sexual assault, at 22 incidents per 1,000 people, was the only crime for which the victimization rate remained relatively stable over the past decade." While other violent crimes have been declining over the last 20 years, rates of gender-based violence remain unchanged.
For people experiencing gender-based violence, getting help is a difficult first step to navigate. People with intersecting identities (race, class, sexuality, disability, etc.) face additional barriers when trying to access help.
In their recent research (2020) on intimate partner violence among two-spirit, nonbinary, trans, gender non-conforming, and gender-questioning community members, The Metropolitan Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children (METRAC) found that "only half of the respondents who experienced partner abuse (51.9%) reported that they had ever used formal services" and, further, that "a sizeable proportion of respondents found the existing network of formal services unhelpful" (Transformed, 2020, p.3).
For people with intersecting identities, accessing traditional resources and help for gender-based and/or intimate partner violence can be intimidating, stressful, and traumatic. Consider this: The census conducted in 2021 was the first time the Canadian government collected statistics on gender in addition to questions about sex assigned at birth. Without data and perspectives from these communities, health care providers may struggle to understand their situations - causing further harm.
Read below to learn about some of the barriers people face when accessing support for IPV and/or GBV.
As discussed above, research has shown that people with intersecting identities experience higher rates of gender-based violence. In Canada, about six in ten Indigenous women have experienced some form of IPV in their lifetime (Statistics Canada), and 4 in 10 have experienced either physical or sexual abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime - compared to 25% non-Indigenous women (Statistics Canada). These statistically significant findings demonstrate how systemic and attitudinal barriers prevent and discourage Indigenous women from seeking help.
In 2019 the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) published it's Final Report, Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. Their findings demonstrate that "persistent and deliberate human and Indigenous rights violations and abuses are the root cause behind Canada’s staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, girls and 2SLGBTQQIA people" (MMIWG). Interviews conducted with thousands of survivors of gender-based violence showed that interpersonal violence in the lives of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQIA+ people is largely denied and/or normalized in Canada.
A recent report from Statistics Canada (2018) highlighted what many 2SLGBTQIA+ people have known to be true, that they are "more likely to report being violently victimized in their lifetime and to have experienced inappropriate behaviours in public and online than non-sexual minority Canadians." Further, "recent crowdsource survey found that gender-diverse participants (that is, participants who did not report their gender as exclusively female or male) were almost 3 times more likely than male participants to report that they had experienced discrimination during the pandemic."
Although we know that queer folks experience gender-based violence from within and outside the community, educational resources and service providers often only address cisgender, heterosexual women. Additionally, representations of gender-based violence in relationships predominately consist of cisgender, heterosexual couples. This means 2SLGTBQIA+ individuals who experience harm, often don't have the tools they need to seek out help, and the resources that do exist to support survivors of GBV aren't always inclusive of their unique identities. Queer experiences are often left out of the conversation surrounding GBV which leaves community members vulnerable to harm and without adequate support in society.
The results of a survey done in Ontario in 2013 about experiences of transphobia in the province demonstrated that 98% of participants had at least one experience of transphobia over their lifetime (Bauer et al., 2021, p. 1). In a study done one year later, it was found that two-thirds of Trans Ontarians had avoided public spaces including but not limited to public transit, schools, public restrooms, gyms, and community centers (Bauer et al., 2014, p. 1). This is the context in which Trans folks face GBV and IPV. In addition to a lack of inclusive resources for members of the 2SLGBTQ+ community, there is the added barrier of not feeling safe in places where supports might be offered, or not feeling safe on the transit needed to get there. This is why the conversation about GBV should include the intersection of the queer community.
The DisAbled Women's Network of Canada (DAWN) explains, "Violence against women and girls with disabilities is not just a subset of gender-based violence – it is an intersectional category dealing with gender-based and disability-based violence. The confluence of these two factors results in an extremely high risk of violence against women with disabilities" (Fact Sheet on Women with Disabilities and Violence). According to the 2014 General Social Survey on Victimization, women with a disability were twice as likely as women who did not have a disability to have experienced a violent crime. (StatsCan, 2014). Further, women, girls and non-binary people with disabilities experience GBV at 2 to 3 times the rate of their non-disabled counter-parts (DAWN Canada, 2022, p. 4).
Systemic, physical, and attitudinal barriers like ableism keep women, girls, trans, and non-gender conforming people with disabilities from accessing the resources they need. DAWN Canada reports that "Women with disabilities might fear they will not be believed or perceived as not credible by the police or the courts, or that there will not be appropriate services available" and further, when they do seek help from law enforcement, "persons with disabilities were more likely than persons without limitations to say they were very dissatisfied with the police response (39% compared to 21%)." They also note that women with disabilities who are experiencing violence from a personal assistant, family member, friend, or intimate partner are less likely to report abuse out of fear of losing support "because of dependence of the emotional, financial or physical variety and fear of losing custody of their children may prevent women with disabilities from reporting abuse." In addition to these attitudinal barriers, there are often literal barriers that physically prevent women from accessing support.
In the 2020 TransFormed Public Health Research Report, participants described many ways in which they felt education, conversations, resources, and service providers were not addressing GBV as it pertains to and within the queer community. One pattern that stood out among survey responses was participants not only felt that the lack of representation resulted in not knowing the red flags of gender-based abuse, but that there was a distinct lack of representation of what healthy queer relationships look like. They felt their experiences and relationships were not reflected in media, or in material that is meant to educate individuals on what healthy relationships might look like.
To help mitigate this problem, TransFormed created a series of workshops, videos, webinars, and tools to help 2SLGBTQIA+ people navigate issues of gender-based and intimate partner violence, including the pamphlet at left. (Graphic design and illustrations by Manar Hossain (they/them)).