Intersections of Exclusion: The Lived Realities and Resistance of Trans Women of Color Sex Workers in New York City

Abstract

In this study, I examine the experiences of transgender women of color (TWOC) in New York City’s sex trade, using feminist pathways, queer pathways, and intersectional stigma frameworks. In interviews with 17 TWOC sex workers, I explore how systemic violence, criminalization, and marginalization shape their lives and limit access to safety, housing, and employment. I identified four themes: childhood trauma and familial rejection, criminal legal encounters, employment discrimination, and persistent fear and hypervigilance. Participants also offered policy recommendations, calling for trans-affirming services and community-led care. The study affirms TWOC sex workers as critical voices in reimagining justice beyond carceral systems.

Keywords

disparate treatment intersections of race/class/gender LGBTQ+qualitative research sex work

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Asquith

N. L.

Dwyer

Simpson

(2017). A queer criminal career. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 29(2), 167–180. https://doi.org/10.1080/10345329.2017.12036094

Baker

(2019). Racialized rescue narratives in public discourses on youth prostitution and sex trafficking in the United States. Politics and Gender, 15(4), 773–800. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743923X18000661

Barry

(1996). The prostitution of sexuality. New York University Press.

Belknap

(2010). Offending women: A double entendre. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 100(3), 1061–1098. https://www-jstor-org-443.web.bisu.edu.cn/stable/25766115.

Bernstein

(2019). Brokered subjects: Sex, trafficking, and the politics of freedom. University of Chicago Press.

Bowleg

(2012). The problem with the phrase “women and minorities”: Intersectionality—an important theoretical framework for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 102(7), 1267–1273. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300750

Braun

Clarke

(2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa

Bromwich

J. E.

(2021, April 21). Manhattan to stop prosecuting prostitution, part of a nationwide shift. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/21/nyregion/manhattan-to-stop-prosecuting-prostitution.html

Chapkis

(2013). Live sex acts: Women performing erotic labor. Routledge.

10.

Clark

D. D.

(2021, March 8). Court grants motion by Bronx DA Darcel D. Clark to dismiss over 800 loitering for prostitution cases. Bronx County District Attorney. https://www.bronxda.nyc.gov/downloads/pdf/pr/2021/8-2021_bronxda-announces-dismissal-loitering-prostitution.pdf

11.

Crenshaw

(1991). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence against women of color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241–1299. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039

12.

DeHart

D. D.

(2008). Pathways to prison: Impact of victimization in the lives of incarcerated women. Violence Against Women, 14(12), 1362–1381. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801208327018

13.

Dworkin

(1993). Prostitution and male supremacy. Michigan Journal of Gender and Law, 1(1), 1–12.

14.

Fehrenbacher

A. E.

Musto

Hoefinger

Mai

Macioti

P. G.

Giametta

Bennachie

(2020). Transgender people and human trafficking: Intersectional exclusion of transgender migrants and people of color from anti-trafficking protection in the United States. Journal of Human Trafficking, 6(2), 182–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322705.2020.1690116

15.

Fisher

M. R.

Turner

McFarland

Breslow

A. S.

Wilson

E. C.

Arayasirikul

(2023). Through a different lens: Occupational health of sex-working young trans women. Transgender Health, 8(2), 200–206. https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2021.0109

16.

Frank

Snijders

T. A. B.

(1994). Estimating the size of hidden populations using snowball sampling. Journal of Official Statistics, 10(1), 53–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124194023001004

17.

Gerassi

Edmond

Nichols

(2017). Design strategies from sexual exploitation and sex work studies among women and girls: Methodological considerations in a hidden and vulnerable population. Action Research, 15(2), 161–176. https://doi.org/10.1177/1476750316630387

18.

Grant

J. M.

Mottet

L. A.

Tanis

J. J.

Min

(2011). Injustice at every turn: A report of the national transgender discrimination survey. National Center for Transgender Equality. https://transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/resources/NTDS_Report.pdf

19.

Heckathorn

D. G.

(1997). Respondent-driven sampling: A new approach to the study of hidden populations. Social Problems, 44(2), 174–199. https://doi.org/10.2307/3096941

20.

Knoke

Yang

(2008). Social network analysis (2nd ed.). Sage.

21.

Magno

Silva

L. A. V.

Veras

M. A.

Pereira-Santos

Dourado

(2019). Stigma and discrimination related to gender identity and vulnerability to HIV/AIDS among transgender women: A systematic review. Cadernos de Saúde Pública, 35(4), Article e00112718. https://doi.org/10.1590/0102-311X00112718

22.

Mogul

J. L.

Ritchie

A. J.

Whitlock

(2011). Queer (in)justice: The criminalization of LGBT people in the United States (Vol. 5). Beacon Press.

23.

Moton

L. N.

(2024). The construction of victimhood in human trafficking intervention courts. Doctoral dissertation, City University of New York. https://www-proquest-com-s.web.bisu.edu.cn/dissertations-theses/construction-victimhood-human-trafficking/docview/2912985530/se-2?accountid=11724

24.

Moton

L. N.

(2025). “Victim is such a touchy word”: Rethinking victimhood among human trafficking intervention court defendants in the US. International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice, 82, Article 100763. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlcj.2025.100763

25.

Moton

L. N.

Merken

Slakoff

D. C.

Aujla

(2023). Trans-neutrality in intimate partner violence service provision in the USA and Canada. Critical Criminology, 31(4), 1007–1023. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-024-09748-6

26.

Musto

(2016). Control and protect: Collaboration, carceral protection, and domestic sex trafficking in the United States. University of California Press.

27.

Nadal

K. L.

Davidoff

K. C.

Fujii-Doe

(2014). Transgender women and the sex work industry: Roots in systemic, institutional, and interpersonal discrimination. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 15(2), 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1080/15299732.2014.867572

28.

Nuttbrock

(Ed.), (2018). Transgender sex work and society. Columbia University Press.

29.

Platt

Grenfell

Meiksin

Elmes

Sherman

S. G.

Sanders

Crago

A.-L.

(2018). Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies. PLoS Medicine, 15(12), Article e1002680. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680

30.

Santiago

A. L. H.

(2021, June 21). How New York repealed the “walking while trans” law. City & State New York. https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2021/06/how-new-york-repealed-the-walking-while-trans-law/182754/

31.

Sausa

L. A.

Keatley

Operario

(2007). Perceived risks and benefits of sex work among transgender women of color in San Francisco. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 36(6), 768–777. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9210-3

32.

Schwartz-Shea

(2015). Judging quality: Evaluative criteria and epistemic communities. In Yanow

Schwartz-Shea

(Eds.), Interpretation and method: Empirical research methods and the interpretive turn (pp. 120–146). M.E. Sharpe.

33.

Snorton

C. R.

(2017). Black on both sides: A racial history of trans identity. University of Minnesota Press.

34.

Spicer

S. S.

(2010). Healthcare needs of the transgender homeless population. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 14(4), 320–339. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2010.505844

35.

Turan

J. M.

Elafros

M. A.

Logie

C. H.

Banik

Turan

Crockett

K. B.

Murray

S. M.

(2019). Challenges and opportunities in examining and addressing intersectional stigma and health. BMC Medicine, 17(1), Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1246-9

36.

Winters

M. K.

(2022). Queer pathways. In Queering criminology in theory and praxis (pp. 32–44). Bristol University Press.