Interview

Mr. Quinn identifies as transgender and decided to work in this field once he noticed how hard it was to access trans-competant care. He also felt his experience would help him connect with his patients.

Xavier Quinn

Xavier Quinn works as the Violence Program Recovery Manager at Fenway Health in Boston. Fenway Health is a health center that works on healthcare catered specifically to LGBTQ+ people. They provide medical and mental health services, and create a secure environment where LGBTQ+ people can feel safe with their identity. The Violence Recovery Program specifically provides counseling, support groups, advocacy, and referral services for LGBTQ+ survivors of domestic abuse, sexual assault, and hate violence. Their staff all has special training in LGBTQ+ matters.

I asked Mr. Quinn about the types of people he sees coming into the office, and he responded that...

  • The majority of his clients are 25-59.

  • Approximately half of his clients are white, and the rest are people of color.

    • Many studies have shown that people of color are more likely to face sexual assault than white people, so this may have to do with the racial demographic of Boston.

  • 30%-40% of his clients are transgender.

  • 20% of his clients identify as bisexual, pansexual, or queer, meaning that they are attracted to more than one gender.

    • Most of the women that come into his office are bisexual.

This portion of the interview gave me a clearer picture of the types of people that deal with sexual assault.

I then asked Mr. Quinn if any patients had been denied help from survivor services because of their identity. He responded by saying that...

  • Some men had indeed been turned away from services because of their gender and sexuality.

  • Transgender people also had many bad experiences with other healthcare providers when speaking about sexual assault.

He said that many patients did not even bother turning to other resources and immediately reached out to Fenway, where they knew they would be heard.

Finally, Mr. Quinn and I discussed the challenges that survivors face while coming to terms with their assault. He said that...

  • Childhood sexual assault oftentimes causes victims to wonder if their sexuality was caused by their experience.

  • Men have to deal with the stigma around being the victim, but gay men struggle with this especially if they present themselves effeminately.

  • If the perpetrator is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, the survivor might be scared to come forward in fear of making the community look bad.

  • Distorted self blame is common in sexual assault survivors, especially for those who have been diagnosed with PTSD.

  • Messages from the public, family, or friends that place blame on the survivor increases this self blame.

Fenway talks about the cultural messages of victim blaming and their harmful effects, and over time, their patients often naturally come to the conclusion that they are not at fault.