Growing up as a transgender woman in Singapore, Sheila says she lived in fear of her parents “finding out who she is. As a result of me trying to express my liking of feminine toys, my father finally paid attention and grew suspicious of me,” says Sheila, who spoke on condition of not providing her real name. “My father thought I was too soft, and not manly enough. He would beat me up at every opportunity.” Sheila says that when her father was beating her, he would sometimes justify his actions by saying “that the law already says we are criminals,” adding that her father didn’t care that laws he was referring to didn’t apply to the transgender community.