San Francisco Chronicle Features New Research from GEH’s California Violence Experiences Survey

Date: October 3, 2023 

In the article, “Study: Violence dropped in California — but was alarmingly high for this group” by author Graph Massara, new research from GEH’s California Violence Experiences Survey (CalVEX) was used to discuss “grim rates” of violence against trans and nonbinary people, despite overall reductions in violence across California.  

“I wish I could say I was surprised,” study author [and GEH Founder] Anita Raj said of the disparities in violence. “It’s very upsetting, and all the more so in light of the kind of legislative actions that are occurring against these very same communities.” 

The fourth annual California Violence Experiences Survey, conducted by UC San Diego’s Center on Gender Equity and Health in partnership with Tulane University, was conducted from March to May. It found that 1 in 20 adults surveyed reported experiencing physical violence in the past year. About 1 in 10 of the study’s more than 3,500 respondents experienced sexual harassment or assault in the last year. 

Trans and nonbinary people — which the 2023 study tracked for the first time — reported higher rates of victimization than cisgender people across those categories: Transgender adults reported a sevenfold higher rate of physical violence compared to cisgender respondents, and both trans and nonbinary respondents experienced five times the rate of sexual harassment and assault. 

More than half of cisgender women also reported experiencing intimate partner violence at some point in their lifetime, the study found, while that number was 76% for nonbinary people and 83% for transgender people.
 

Read the article: Study: Violence dropped in California — but was high for this group (sfchronicle.com)