Reports of violence against transvestites and transsexuals: a time series study, Brazil, 2015-2022

To characterize reports of violence against transvestites and transsexuals in Brazil from 2015 to 2022.

This is a descriptive time-series study. Secondary data was obtained from the Interpersonal and Self-Inflicted Violence Surveillance System, part of the Notifiable Health Conditions Information System. Cases of victims identified as "transvestites" and "transsexual women or men" were selected from the reports for 2015 to 2022. The reports were characterized according to the profiles of the victim and the perpetrator; characteristics of the violence; temporal trend for transvestite and transsexual victims; and trend by Brazilian macro-region. A descriptive analysis of absolute and relative frequencies was performed.

We selected 37,104 reports of interpersonal/self-inflicted violence against transvestites and transsexuals in the study period. Transsexual women (66.1%), heterosexuals (54.1%), adults (49.5%), and individuals of mixed race/skin color (44.5%) were the groups that predominantly suffered some type of violent episode. The percentage increase in the period was greater among transvestites (+182.0%). As for the time series by Brazilian macro-regions, an increasing trend in the number of reports was identified. The Southeast and Midwest regions showed an increase of 155.0% in reports from 2015 to 2022, while there was an 81.0% increase in the Southern region, 72.0% in the North and 69.0% in the Northeast.

Over the period, more cases were found for transsexual women victims. However, from 2015 to 2022, a greater percentage increase in cases was identified for transvestites. More cases were identified in the Southeast and Northeast regions, but the Midwest region is equal to the Southeast in terms of the percentage increase in reports from 2015 to 2022.