Intimate Partner Violence: Case Studies of Transgender Women in Sri Lanka as Victims and Perpetrators

Abstract

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is traditionally understood in cis-heteronormative contexts, with cis-heterosexual men as the perpetrators and cis-heterosexual women as victims. Concerning the context of Sri Lanka, IPV is observed to be conceptualised within the boundary of legal marriage. As same-sex unions in Sri Lanka are non-marital, cohabiting relationships – due to the criminalisation of homosexuality – this points to an erasure of the experiences of IPV faced by the majority of the LGBT+ community. Studies also have pointed out that women are highly victimised by IPV. Keeping in mind that transgender women in Sri Lanka are a severely marginalised group, this highlights that they would be in an immensely vulnerable position if they were in a relationship before obtaining a Gender Recognition Certificate without which they are institutionally misgendered. This study takes place against this backdrop, where transgender women’s experiences of IPV victimisation and perpetration are explored. This study involves a qualitative thematic coding analysis of interviews obtained from nine transgender women regarding their experiences of IPV victimisation and perpetration. As this study delves into the lived experiences of IPV of persons with diverse sexual orientations, the phenomenological approach will be utilised as the method of data analysis. The results showcased a clear expression of the interpersonal transphobia manifested as IPV.