To highlight ‘transfemicide’ – a.k.a. transfeminicide – the Society of Trans Women of the Philippines (STRAP), Inc. launched a publication that eyes to broaden discussion on the killing of transgender Filipino women motivated by transphobic, misogynistic, and transmisogynistic hatred rooted in cissexist norms.
As STRAP’s first document dedicated to examining transfemicide in the Philippine context, the publication, Transfemicide in the Philippines: A Preliminary Academic, Media, and Policy Reference:
- brings together academic literature, media analysis, case studies, existing documentation, community-based monitoring, and a review of relevant international and Philippine policies;
- traces the development of the concept of transfemicide;
- examines landmark cases including the killing of Jennifer Laude; and
- identifies gaps in documentation, media representation, and institutional responses to violence against transgender women.
For STRAP, however, the launch marks not an endpoint, but a starting point since it is “preliminary by design”.
This is also because “transfemicide cannot be understood simply as isolated acts of individual violence.”
In examining the Jennifer Laude case, for example, the publication emphasizes that transfemicide is shaped by “compounding, intersecting, and historical circumstances,” including the ways that gender identity, media representation, social conditions, and gaps in protective systems interact.
As such, this “serves as an initial reference and an invitation for researchers, advocates, government institutions, policymakers, media practitioners, and other stakeholders to build upon the work,” STRAP stated, adding that “this document is our contribution, but it is also an invitation.”
Hopefully, according to STRAP, “the publication will encourage more researchers and institutions to study transfemicide in the Philippines, strengthen mechanisms for documenting violence against transpinays, improve how cases are represented and understood, and contribute to more responsive and transgender-inclusive policies.”
Read Transfemicide in the Philippines: A Preliminary Academic, Media, and Policy Reference and join the conversation on transfemicide, justice, and policy reform.
