From Haaretz: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.568401
In the strict hierarchy that reigns in the human jungle, it would be hard to find a group more denounced and discriminated against than the transgender community.
By Tsafi Saar
Jan. 15, 2014
Two weeks ago, 11 men – armed with pepper spray and an electric prod, some wearing masks – attacked a transgender woman next to a club in south Tel Aviv. Last weekend, five gay men were attacked by another group of 11 men, in a different part of south Tel Aviv.
If the first incident displayed violent transphobia, the second demonstrated homophobic hooliganism. And all this in a city considered the most open and tolerant in Israel.
In the strict hierarchy that reigns in the jungle known as human society, there is a group that it would be hard to find more denounced and discriminated against than the transgender community. These are people whose gender identities do not coincide with society’s expectations that one’s sexual organs will determine their gender.
Transgender people are estimated to comprise between 0.1% and 0.3% of the population. The attack on the woman was a poignant and painful reminder of the depths to which the transgendered are pushed. It even turned out that the 11 suspects in the attack were members of the Border Police.
Women in general are a target for assault, and transgendered men and women even more so. Society’s treatment of the transgendered can be seen not just in the attack itself, but in how it was reported in the media – full of either ignorance, insensitivity or both simultaneously.
Among other things, it was reported that “a man dressed in women’s clothes” was attacked. Another article said a male transgender person was attacked. In the police statement following the attack, the masculine form of the derogatory Hebrew word for transgender, “coccinelle,” was used.
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