Trans State Watch UK aims to monitor state violence against trans, non-binary, intersex, and gender-nonconforming (GNC) people in the UK. Our work is oriented towards confirming the experiences of trans people, and providing organisers with a map of the territory we're fighting on.
There is currently no existing data on state violence against trans people in the UK. This isn't entirely a bad thing. There are dangers to (hyper)visibility, and data collection is also a form of surveillance.
At the same time, however, the experience of state violence can be isolating for individual trans people, and anecdotal information is not enough to give organisers a clear picture of the patterns and stress points in this area. Trans State Watch aims to change that.
Our approach aims to navigate between the twin dangers of an 'objective' reportage of statistics, shorn of all emotion or political interpretation, and simply displaying trans trauma for public consumption. We collect accounts of state violence from trans, non-binary, intersex, and GNC people, and create an archive of such accounts. We will provide regular updates as to what this archive indicates about state violence and its impact on trans people.
We see this work as building on and extending already existing practices of collective learning and knowledge making.
This project is supported by Northern Police Monitoring Project. Learn more about their important work.
Contacting Us
Who do we want to hear from?
We're interested and invested in the ways in which the gendering of
state violence cannot be fully revealed by statistics that only read
'male' or 'female', both of which are assumed to be cis.
We
want to hear from you if you are trans, non-binary, intersex, and/or
gender-nonconforming, and especially if you are multiply marginalised.
We're not here to interrogate your identity.
If you think your experience is relevant to the project, then it probably is.
How can I help?
This project is member led. We would like volunteers who can respond to submissions, make notes, and help draft blog posts. If you're trans, non-binary, intersex, and/or gender-nonconforming, particularly if you are multiply marginalised, please email us.
We welcome support and guidance from those with experience of this kind of work, whether trans, non-binary, intersex, GNC, or none of the above.
We ask that anyone interested in aiding this project:
- respect that we would like to remain trans led,
- read our safeguarding principles,
- read and follow our guidelines on data collection and storage,
- respect that we maintain the right to refuse anybody participation in the project on the basis of those same principles.