This thesis presents an account of trans people’s perspectives and experiences of domestic abuse, their social care needs and whether these are addressed by social care agencies. To enhance an analysis of social care intervention, the views of domestic abuse practitioners are included. By addressing the absence of trans people in discourses of domestic abuse, it aims to contest the prevailing heteronormative model of domestic abuse and broaden contemporary debates.
Twenty four participants were recruited: fifteen trans people and nine practitioners. The theoretical framework incorporates feminism, social constructionism and queer sociology to accentuate the constructedness of identity, practice, meanings and interpretations as constructions located within discourse. Interview data was treated as narrative with multiple readings undertaken as part of a voice-centred approach to data analysis. In line with an abductive strategy, this work seeks to uncover the meanings and interpretations made by participants through their discursive practice in relation to gender identity, domestic abuse, social needs and social care intervention.
It is argued that trans people’s experiences of domestic abuse is both similar to and different from those of cisgender (non-trans) people. Within intimate partnerships, trans domestic abuse maps onto the model of ‘coercive control’ offered by Stark (2013). Yet, it is proposed that trans people experience domestic abuse in familial contexts more and this type of abuse intersects with notions of honour and stigma (Goffman 1979 [1963]). Therefore, through a reworking of honour-based ideology, a new typology of domestic abuse is proposed: ‘transphobic honour-based abuse’.
An evaluation of contemporary social care and domestic abuse work suggests that trans people are largely invisible as users of social care. Therefore, recommendations are proposed to improve policy and interventions in order to offer accessible and ethical interventions for trans people who experience domestic abuse. These recommendations aim to transform practice.
