A new study from the Williams Institute published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence indicates that bisexual women and gay men are more likely to be the victims of domestic violence than individuals with other sexual orientations.
Sampling the 2007-2008 California Health Interview Survey, the report found that bisexual women had “elevated risks of experiencing intimate partner violence compared with heterosexual women, lesbians and women who have sex with women over the course of the lives and in the past year.” Notably, in 95% of those incidents, the perpetrator was male.
Gay-identified men had a higher risk of intimate-partner violence as compared with heterosexual and bisexual men, and “men who have sex with men but do not identify as gay or bisexual,” the study indicated. In almost all (97%) of the episodes cited, the perpetrator was male.
Two factor that predicted domestic violence were binge drinking and a history of “psychological distress,” but researchers say that doesn’t explain the disparities among orientations.
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While this is certainly distressing news, some outside factors might be at play: If you accept that men are more physically aggressive than women, it wouldn’t be surprising that male-on-male partner violence is more common than female-on-male or female-on-female attacks. Furthermore, bisexual women may feel more comfortable reporting intimate-partner violence than their heterosexual counterparts because they have already stepped outside societal “norms” to some degree and feel less pressure to keep it quiet.
Just some food for thought.
Mr. Enemabag Jones
I knew a male couple who use to beat the shit out of each other on a regular basis. I still believe they thought it made them feel more masculine. Some guys just have issues with the fact that they love the taste of dick.
pierre
I had a lover who became increasingly physically abusive. I left his sorry ass over 20 years ago.
GeriHew
Report after report has found that women, regardless of sexual orientation, who live near, on or below the poverty line are more likely to be victims of domestic violence. Statistically speaking, bisexual women are apparently far more likely to live in poverty than heterosexual women and lesbians.
The San Francisco Human Rights Commission “Bisexual Invisibility” Report:
http://www.birequest.org/docstore/2011-SF_HRC-Bi_Iinvisibility_Report.pdf
quotes research which found that bisexual women were more than twice as likely as lesbians to be living in poverty.(page 27) where it also states:
“It was clear from the body of research that no LGBT people fared well when their wages were compared to straight men’s. One study of California data was striking, though: it found that while gay men earned 2-3% less than straight men and lesbians 2.7% less, bisexual men earned 10-15% less and bisexual women nearly 11% less.”
Also (page 12):
Compared to lesbians:
Bisexual women had significantly lower levels of education, were more likely to be living
with income below 200% of the federal poverty level, and had more children living in the
household.
Bisexual women were significantly less likely to have health insurance coverage and more
likely to experience financial barriers to receiving healthcare services.
Bisexual women were more likely to be current smokers and acute drinkers.
Bisexual women showed significantly higher rates of poor general health and frequent
mental distress, even after controlling for confounding variables.
Also (page 11):
Bisexual women in relationships with monosexual partners have an increased rate of
domestic violence compared to women in other demographic categories.
The comparative “Suicidality” stats for bisexual people quoted in the report are totally horrific
Bi women – 45.4%
Lesbians – 29.5%
Heterosexual women – 9.6%
Bi men – 34.8%
Gay men – 25.2%
Heterosexual men – 7.4%