These communities are highly socially isolated from each other and are more connected to their ethnocultural contexts than to an abstract and shared transgender identity. Whereas previous research either has viewed male-to-female transgender people as one monolithic group or has separated them into abstract racial categories unconnected to their communities and lifestyles, this article positions them within specific social networks, cultures, neighborhoods, and lifestyles.
With regard to HIV vulnerabilities, violence, and rape, House Ball community members seemed to engage in the riskiest form of survival sex work, whereas Asian sex workers seemed to engage in moderate-risk survival sex work.
White cross-dressers seemed to engage in very low-risk recreational sex work. This article charts new territory by mapping ethnocultural communities and connecting HIV risk behaviors within a nexus of racial, ethnic, cultural, social, and economic factors.
Findings from our study of three ethno-cultural transgender communities demonstrate the fundamental roles of economics and marginalization in determining identities and HIV risk behaviors. Some of this population is also transient Sterling et al.
Previous research either has viewed transgender people as one monolithic group or has separated them into abstract racial categories unconnected to communities and lifestyles Bockting et al. This article, however, maps some of the different communities comprising the MTF population in New York City and positions them within specific social networks, cultures, neighborhoods, and lifestyles.
