Transgender and Gender-Expansive Homeless Youth: Considerations for Empowerment Using a Narrative Approach

This study examined how a diverse group of sexual and gender minority (SGM) homeless youth described and understood their victimization experiences occurring before they were homeless and those occurring after they were homeless and engaging in survival sex. In addition, the study explored how these youths manifested resilience when living on the street. The sample consisted of 283 racially/ethnically diverse youth between the ages of 15 and 26 years ( M = 19.6, SD = 1.28) living in a large U.S. city. Participants identified their gender as male (47%), female (36%), transgender (15%), or queer and other (3%) and their sexual orientation as bisexual (37%), gay (23%), lesbian (15%), heterosexual (13%), or queer and other (13%). Thirty-seven percent identified as Black, 30% as multiracial, 22% as Latino/a, 5% as White, and 5% as another race. Content and thematic analyses were used to conduct a secondary analysis of qualitative data. Four themes were identified: unsafe and unsupported at home; barriers to housing and employment stability; ongoing victimization and lack of protection; and unexpected opportunities for resilience. Findings demonstrated that participants experienced victimization related not only to their SGM identities but also to chaotic home environments. Once homeless and engaging in survival sex, youth experienced barriers to securing employment and housing as well as victimization by police and clients. These experiences frequently involved prejudice related to their intersecting identities. Despite encountering numerous challenges, participants described surviving on the streets by living openly and forming relationships with other youth. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.

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Illness experiences of homeless youth: age and gender differences

Journal of Adolescent Health ◽

10.1016/s1054-139x(02)00623-7 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 32 (2) ◽

pp. 137 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Josephine Ensign

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Homeless Youth ◽

Age And Gender ◽

Illness Experiences ◽

Age And Gender Differences ◽

And Gender

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“It Just Never Worked Out”: How Transgender and Gender Expansive Youth Understand their Pathways into Homelessness

Families in Society The Journal of Contemporary Social Services ◽

10.1606/1044-3894.2017.98.33 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 98 (4) ◽

pp. 284-291 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Jama Shelton ◽

Lynden Bond

Keyword(s):

Homeless Youth ◽

Qualitative Investigation ◽

Structural Barriers ◽

Health Care Education ◽

Youth Homelessness ◽

Bisexual And Transgender ◽

Mainstream Society ◽

Prejudice And Discrimination ◽

And Gender ◽

Limit Access

Many transgender and gender-expansive young people live outside of mainstream society, due to structural barriers that limit access to employment, health care, education, and public accommodations, as well as prejudice and discrimination within their families and communities. These structural barriers can be understood as cisgenderism. Though a growing body of research examines lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) youth homelessness, gaps in knowledge about the specific experiences of transgender and gender-expansive homeless youth remain. This phenomenological qualitative investigation explored aspects of transgender and gender-expansive youth's experiences related to homelessness. This article focuses on participants' understanding of their pathways into homelessness.

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The Prevalence and Correlates of Labor and Sex Trafficking in a Community Sample of Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Metro-Atlanta

Social Sciences ◽

10.3390/socsci10020032 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 32

Author(s):

Eric R. Wright ◽

Ana LaBoy ◽

Kara Tsukerman ◽

Nicholas Forge ◽

Erin Ruel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Sex Trafficking ◽

Homeless Youth ◽

Community Sample ◽

Sexual Exploitation ◽

The United States ◽

Community Based ◽

Gender Nonconforming ◽

Labor Trafficking ◽

Runaway And Homeless Youth ◽

And Gender

Research suggests that runaway and homeless youth (RHY) in the United States are vulnerable to sex and labor trafficking. In this paper, we report and analyze estimates of sex and labor trafficking collected as part of the Atlanta Youth Count 2018, a community-based field survey of RHY between the ages of 14 and 25 in the metro-Atlanta area. A total of 564 participants were recruited and completed a survey that included questions about their backgrounds as well as the Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST). We found that 39.9% experienced some form of trafficking while homeless. While 15.6% of the youth reported commercial sexual exploitation while homeless, coerced labor (29.3%) or fraud (25.2%) were even more common experiences. Women, transgender, and gender nonconforming youth, as well young people who had prior system involvement and those who had been homeless for more than a year were the most likely to report having been trafficked. The significance of these findings for research and policy on RHY and trafficking are discussed.

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Representation of interracial couples on mainstream television : confining identities of race and gender in Heroes

10.32920/ryerson.14663664 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Lasch

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Comic Book ◽

Interracial Couples ◽

Narrative Approach ◽

Television Show ◽

Gender And Race ◽

Race And Gender ◽

And Gender

Using textual and discourse analysis and a semiotic, narrative approach to television texts, I explore representations of identity, specifically interracial couples. I use three interracial couples on the popular mainstream television show Heroes to analyze and explicate the ideological portrayals of gender, race and their interplay as shown on television. Taking into account historical gender and race representational studies on television, I analyze Heroes as a multiracial, current mainstream television show in the contemporary comic book genre to understand the ways interracial couples are represented.

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Knowledge versus Education in the Margins: An Indigenous and Feminist Critique of Education

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11100627 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (10) ◽

pp. 627

Author(s):

Anna Lydia Svalastog ◽

Shawn Wilson ◽

Ketil Lenert Hansen

Keyword(s):

Gender Studies ◽

Educational System ◽

Indigenous Studies ◽

Narrative Approach ◽

Feminist Critique ◽

Policy Makers ◽

Modern Education ◽

And Gender ◽

Perceptions And Expectations

This article highlights the perceptions and expectations of knowledge that many people, including educators and policy makers, take for granted. Our focus of understanding is Indigenous studies and gender studies. Our aim is to show how modern education undermines these fields of studies. We use an autoethnographic method, reflecting more than 75 years as pupils/students and more than 90 years as educators. We have carefully chosen narratives of exposure to knowledge outside the educational system, as well as narratives of limitations posed upon us by the educational system. This narrative approach makes it possible for us to investigate and discuss our grief about areas of knowledge that society cries for, but the educational system continuously finds ways to resist. Our conclusion is that crucial knowledge is located outside the educational system, where individuals, groups, and communities cherish, protect, and guard knowledge that the educational system marginalises or excludes. As this knowledge is fundamental for life, our message is that the educational system needs to re-evaluate its strategies to stay relevant.

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Representation of interracial couples on mainstream television : confining identities of race and gender in Heroes

10.32920/ryerson.14663664.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sarah Lasch

Keyword(s):

Discourse Analysis ◽

Comic Book ◽

Interracial Couples ◽

Narrative Approach ◽

Television Show ◽

Gender And Race ◽

Race And Gender ◽

And Gender

Using textual and discourse analysis and a semiotic, narrative approach to television texts, I explore representations of identity, specifically interracial couples. I use three interracial couples on the popular mainstream television show Heroes to analyze and explicate the ideological portrayals of gender, race and their interplay as shown on television. Taking into account historical gender and race representational studies on television, I analyze Heroes as a multiracial, current mainstream television show in the contemporary comic book genre to understand the ways interracial couples are represented.

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Six-year mortality in a street-recruited cohort of homeless youth in San Francisco, California

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.1909 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e1909 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Colette L. Auerswald ◽

Jessica S. Lin ◽

Andrea Parriott

Keyword(s):

Substance Abuse ◽

Mortality Rate ◽

San Francisco ◽

Homeless Youth ◽

Premature Mortality ◽

The United States ◽

Street Youth ◽

Standardized Mortality Ratio ◽

Race And Gender ◽

And Gender

Objectives.The mortality rate of a street-recruited homeless youth cohort in the United States has not yet been reported. We examined the six-year mortality rate for a cohort of street youth recruited from San Francisco street venues in 2004.Methods.Using data collected from a longitudinal, venue-based sample of street youth 15–24 years of age, we calculated age, race, and gender-adjusted mortality rates.Results.Of a sample of 218 participants, 11 died from enrollment in 2004 to December 31, 2010. The majority of deaths were due to suicide and/or substance abuse. The death rate was 9.6 deaths per hundred thousand person-years. The age, race and gender-adjusted standardized mortality ratio was 10.6 (95% CI [5.3–18.9]). Gender specific SMRs were 16.1 (95% CI [3.3–47.1]) for females and 9.4 (95% CI [4.0–18.4]) for males.Conclusions.Street-recruited homeless youth in San Francisco experience a mortality rate in excess of ten times that of the state’s general youth population. Services and programs, particularly housing, mental health and substance abuse interventions, are urgently needed to prevent premature mortality in this vulnerable population.

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