Description:

ISGMH is delighted to invite you to our January "Current Issues in LGBTQ Health" lecture featuring Northwestern Sociology graduate student Kris Rosentel. The title of their talk will be: Beyond "Walking While Trans:" How Gendered Spatial Stigma and Biased Police Deployment Drive Transgender Discrimination in Sex Work Arrests.

About the Event:

Existing research suggests that trans women of color experience discrimination related to the policing of sex work, which can increase vulnerability to victimization and negative mental health outcomes. The dominant narrative has coalesced around a diagnosis of this issue: trans women are being arrested for simply "walking while trans." This study assesses the mechanisms driving transgender discrimination using a dataset of sex work-related arrests from the Chicago Police Department (CPD). While findings confirm the use of gender-based profiling, they also suggest that the "walking while trans" explanation has overlooked another important discriminatory mechanism, which Rosentel terms "concentrating while trans." This mechanism involves police administration disproportionately deploying aggressive tactics to spaces where trans feminine sex workers gather.

About the Speaker: 

Kris Rosentel is a PhD Student in the Department of Sociology and a Mellon Cluster Fellow in Gender & Sexuality Studies. Their research examines how urban environments and governance shape gender and sexual inequalities in health and the criminal-legal system. Kris's current project assesses the role of interactional and spatial processes in driving transgender discrimination in the policing of sex work. Their previous work has examined spatial inequality in the distribution of LGBTQ services in Chicago, the disconnect between policy priorities and implementation in the enforcement of sex work laws, and the relationship between anti-trans school experiences and criminal legal system outcomes among Black trans women. They have published in outlets including Archives of Sexual Behavior, Journal of Urban Health, Sexuality Research & Social Policy, Transgender Health, and JAIDS.

This will be a hybrid event; guests may attend via Zoom or in person at our office. Lunch will be provided for in-person attendees who register by January 5.