Shelter and Resistance in the Structure of Oppression: Examining the Practice and Meaning of Transgender Women's Shelters in China from a Social Justice Perspective

Abstract

This thesis examines the practice and meaning of grassroots transgender women's shelters in China as spaces of social justice and marginal resistance within an oppressive socio-cultural and policy structure. Drawing upon Iris Marion Young’s "Five Faces of Oppression," Nancy Fraser’s three-dimensional social justice framework (redistribution, recognition, and participation), and feminist agency theory, the study explores how a highly vulnerable group navigates systemic marginalization. The research methodology employs qualitative fieldwork, participant observation, and semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted over two weeks in the summer of 2024 at an transgender women shelter, supplemented by follow-up online contact.

The findings indicate that while transgender women experience severe structural oppression across employment, housing, education, and healthcare, the shelter functions as a crucial mechanism for material redistribution, cultural recognition, and socio-political participation. By providing stable housing, shared hormone medications, identity validation, and collective decision-making, the shelter allows residents to transform from passive victims into active agents of resistance. However, the study also highlights significant limitations, including internal tensions—such as hidden power imbalances between core managers and regular members, and friction between long-standing and new residents—alongside severe external constraints like police harassment, landlord evictions, and institutional pressures. Ultimately, the thesis underscores both the transformative possibilities and the structural boundaries of informal queer mutual aid networks in post-socialist China.

Popular Abstract

An Invisible Crisis In contemporary China, transgender people—particularly transgender women—face multi-layered social, institutional and familial challenges. Traditional cultural expectations rooted in strict gender binary roles, coupled with a lack of anti-discrimination policies, often push these individuals to the very margins of society. Research indicates that the vast majority of transgender women have experienced domestic violence or been completely abandoned by their families, often leading to homelessness, forced withdrawal from education, and severe mental health crises. Furthermore, as changing one’s legal gender marker requires a full course of gender reassignment surgery, many are trapped in a legal grey area where their official documents do not match their physical identity. This discrepancy excludes them from the formal labour market, forcing them into precarious informal work where they frequently face blatant exploitation and wage arrears, yet are unable to seek redress through legal channels.

In the absence of institutional safeguards, grassroots mutual aid networks have emerged within the transgender women’s community. This article provides an in-depth analysis of an independent shelter for transgender women in China. Although operating in a legal grey area, the shelter has become a vital refuge by directly alleviating material deprivation through the provision of free accommodation, meals and essential oestrogen medication to its residents. More importantly, as a rare ‘safe space’, the shelter actively resists traditional gender norms and social oppression. Within the shelter, residents are addressed by their chosen names, their gender identities are fully recognised, and they receive psychological care and support through shared collective narratives and an atmosphere of mutual respect.

The core of this study lies in emphasising the ‘agency’ of transgender women—that is, their conscious choice to act, rather than merely being victims. Although the research describes and analyses the multiple forms of oppression and hardships they endure, it focuses on how these transgender women actively practise social justice. Within the shelter, they have established democratic decision-making mechanisms, with both daily rules and emergency actions determined through collective, fair voting. The shelter also serves as a crucial first line of defence against mental health crises. Given that shelter members commonly suffer from deep-seated trauma, they have spontaneously organised internal psychological support and crisis intervention. In the event of severe depression or self-harm, the shelter intervenes promptly to protect and safeguard the lives of its members.

However, this study also reveals the fragility of such grassroots mutual aid networks. Externally, the shelter faces structural and social pressures. Landlords frequently breach tenancy agreements and evict residents due to social stigma and frequent police scrutiny, forcing the shelter to relocate repeatedly. Internally, there exists an implicit power imbalance between core managers, long-term residents and ordinary members.

By living alongside residents for several weeks as a participant-observer, this study captures the lived reality of resistance among marginalised groups. This study emphasises that whilst grassroots shelters cannot single-handedly eradicate deep-rooted structural inequalities, they provide an indispensable space for survival, dignity and collective empowerment. It calls for public recognition of the agency of sexual and gender minorities, and highlights the significant gaps that remain in Chinese society regarding policy reform, social acceptance and institutional protection for transgender communities.

• author: Xu, Jiayi
• supervisor: Uzma Kazi
• organization: Master of Science in Social Studies of Gender
• course: SIMZ21 20261
• year: 2026
• type: H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
• subject: Social Sciences
• keywords: transgender women, oppression, social justice, agency, shelter
• language: English
• id: 9236606
• date added to LUP: 2026-06-25 11:54:04
• date last changed: 2026-06-25 11:54:04