attack us physically. They spit in our faces and try to have sex with us without payment (sometimes
they manage this and even take off with our money). This is not the reality for every trans sex worker,
but is more common for those working on the street, often without legal status, registration, health
insurance, or even a safe place to sleep. This is an everyday reality that is not paid enough attention to
in Germany when talking about violence against trans people. A lot of the cases are not reported to the
police as we often have negative experiences with them, especially as police is not a safe institution for
various reasons for trans sex workers: being a migrant; if you do not have papers; if you do not speak
the language. Also the trust in NGO-based support structures is, for many of us, very difficult as there
is a lack of education among cisgender social workers, often resulting in negative experiences in our
countries of origin within social work structures, which does not help to build up a trusting relationship.
During the project, while talking with the trans street sex workers, several stories about violence were
told. Violence is an everyday reality on the street. People told us about their experiences, but mostly
we talked about the structure of violence and discrimination against them. This atmosphere of abusive
and violent clients, trans discrimination, and a racist police force that simply does not react to reports
of violence or cannot be called due to the sex workers’ lack of legal status, in addition to the whole
structural intersectional discrimination, makes it nearly impossible for many of the trans street sex
workers to get access to health insurance, social welfare, or a safe living place. These experiences
were present in most of the stories we heard from trans sex workers. However, the workers from the
street did not approach us to tell their stories. Instead, we approached them as there is no real existing
structure for supporting trans sex workers, where people can meet and share their experiences. All
trans-related community places existing in the city of Berlin are not used by trans street sex workers
and even less by queer trans sex workers.
“I have worked on the street as a trans sex worker for 10 years and experienced transphobic violence
several times. One time, a young boy asked me for a sexual service for free. For sure I told him I would
not do it. At this time, 7 guys passed by who then waited for me at the end of the street. They beat me up
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