Gender-based violenceFacing and resisting to transphobic and homophobic violence during childhood, adolescence and youth

Resumen

The problem of LGBTQI-phobia is a global phenomenon that affects the well-being, health, and education of children, adolescents, and youth around the world. The cause of this inequality lies in the imposition of the binary system of gender and sexuality, which establishes the “correct” and “natural” forms of being, expressing, and relating. The imposition of this system of norms is the cause of various manifestations of gender inequality and violence. The case of violence targeting LGBTQI+ individuals or those perceived as such response to the gender and sexual expectations that the society has and its manifestation in fearful, judicious, or phobic behaviours is the social materialization of this form of discrimination. The limited data available on discrimination and violence due to sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression point to the increase of hate crimes reported against gender and sexual diversity groups. The variation is progressively growing and increments annually. Besides, in comparison to hate crimes on other grounds, violence and abuse targeting individuals due to sexual orientation or gender identity, as it is typified by the Spanish legislation, holds one of the highest positions, only overcame by ideology, xenophobia, and racist reported offenses. In addition to these national statistics pointing to the vulnerability of LGBTQI+ individuals and those perceived as such, international reports have shown how educational institutions hold fundamental importance in the life, academic success, and future opportunities of LGBTQI+ children, adolescents, and youth. Moreover, relevant political advances have been made recently in terms of non-discrimination and anti-violence on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression in the European context. Such interventions have generated an improvement in the professional standards of care, support, and intervention when facing forms of violence or harassment towards the LGBTQI+ community. The specific case of the educational system has been in Andalusia and Catalonia a reference in the international panorama due to its impact in eradicating violence and granting LGBTQI+ rights. Attending to the special vulnerability of children, adolescents, and youth in educational environments, this dissertation has focussed on the presence of homophobic and transphobic violence and bullying in diverse educational institutions. This study has taken into account all protective and risk factors of the violence, such as internal conditions, external judgments, the role of relatives, peers and school staff, and others that may configure the presence of violence and its manifestations. Besides, this research has also approached the strategies of surviving and resisting violence and discrimination and considered all subjects involved in the resistance against the violence. Considering this background, this dissertation has aimed a deep change for the improvement of the life quality, education, and future of trans*, non-binary and LGBTQI+ children, adolescents, and youth. This general objective has guided the academic, social, and educational actions developed by the researcher in the last six years to eradicate transphobic and homophobic violence and provide safer institutions for all. In order to detail this general objective, the research has been structured in the following three objectives: 1. To analyse the state of the art at the national and international level regarding the recognition, protection and inclusion of LGBTQI+ children and youth in the educational environments. 2. To identify the forms and intensities of violence suffered by LGBTQI+ children, adolescents and young people in the educational environments. 3. To identify the forms of response and resistance to transphobic and homophobic violence against children, adolescents, and young people in educational settings. These goals have been achieved thanks to the line of work on gender and sexual diversity in education within the consolidated research group MEDIS. Five different manuscripts compose this dissertation in the form of a compilation of articles showing the results of the collaborative work developed in several competitive national and international projects in the URV. On the one hand, the researcher has developed a study on the identification and resistance against transphobic violence by children, adolescents, and youth with a special focus on educational institutions, which is the main body of the dissertation. On the other hand, the Uni4Freedom research project has provided a qualitative approach to the reality of the LGBTQI+ community in Catalan universities, thereby complementing the study on transphobia with results on the presence of homophobia in higher education institutions. To face the already mentioned objectives, the study has been guided by two methods that have informed this dissertation. First, the Feminist Ethnography perspective has offered a space in research to collaboratively build knowledge, questioning hierarchies and forms of oppression that crosses the research and everyone involved in it. Second, the Communicative Methodology has provided participatory focus and the motivation to eradicate forms of social inequality with social research. Thus, the dissertation has aimed to obtain evidence on the way in which homophobia and transphobia are reproduced in primary, secondary, and tertiary educational environments as well as analyse strategies to face and resist that seem relevant and have a positive impact on the life of LGBTQI+ students. Also, these perspectives have contributed by highlighting the need to generate dialogic dynamics of participation of the LGBTQI+ community in the process of knowledge creation. After the data collection, the communicative focus has provided a structure for the analysis. In it, two different dimensions have arranged the analysis, dividing results in those promoting violence, exclusionary, or those acting to eradicate it, transformative. Besides, forms of violence and resistance developed against transphobia and homophobia complete the analysis chart of the study, including experiences of both trans* and non-binary children adolescents, and youth and of the LGBTQI+ community in higher education institutions in Catalonia, belonging to the Uni4Freedom research project. The findings of the research have raised several issues in relation to the challenges internationally in the prevention and intervention against transphobic and homophobic forms of violence. In the first instance, the results coming out of the literature review in the second chapter, have concluded that the main challenges lie in the variety of this type of violence, from subtle to very explicit forms, which intensifies the difficulties to detect it. As well, they have proposed the importance of taking into account internal and external risk factors that may affect the way in which violence is exercised and how victims may perceive, face and resist it. In this sense, gender expression as a binary expectation in social environments has been identified as one of the most (...) Taking all this into account, conclusions have put the focus on how to take action and articulate strategies that actively have an impact in eradicating violence against gender-based violence and concretely the problem of LGBTBQI-phobia. A need for precaution when dealing with cases of transphobic and homophobic abuse has been concluded due to the importance of the personal and internal circumstances of the people involved. Mainly, considering all factors and implicit forms of discrimination that may easily be overlooked. For this, it is important to understand how certain spaces and groups in education settings may be a threat to the well-being and freedom of LGBTQI+ students, such as sex-segregated bathrooms, gymnasiums, other socialization spaces, and those without the supervision of education professionals. Apart from this consideration, certain actions following the bystander intervention perspective would respond positively to prevent these forms of violence and discrimination, including all members of the community as potential and valid subjects to uphold values of respect and inclusivity through their training to detect it and support victims to overcome this form of inequality. After the development of this research and along the lines of relevant international reports, it must be urgent and a constant the concert to do assessments, review, and update protocols to accompany trans* and non-binary students and LGBTQI+ university members due to forms of violence on the grounds of gender expression, gender identity, and sexual orientation. By last, the urgency of this problem lies in the need of providing quality education and ensuring the safety, and freedom of LGBTQI+ students at educational institutions, according to the Sustainable Development Goals. As proven in this and other recent studies, the consequences of transphobic and homophobic violence go beyond the emotional or physical abuse and could lead the victims to think that they are to blame, seeking in themselves suffering the way to end a problem that is social and structural.