Study finds higher incidence of domestic violence among gay, lesbian & bisexual adults
So the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research has done a huge study on the incidence of intimate partner violence (including rape) in California, and found that gay, lesbian, and bisexual adults were much more likely to report having been victims than straights:
Specifically, 27.9 percent of all lesbian or gay adults reported experiencing IPV in their adult lives. The rate of reported IPV is even higher among bisexual adults, at 40.6 percent. In contrast, only 16.7 percent of heterosexual adults reported incidences of IPV.
My first response? I'm glad this is out there and getting media attention, but it's really not news. The astonishingly high rates of abuse in the LGBTQ communities have been known since the late 1970s. Plenty of us have not only known about it, but have been trying to do something to change it, for years.
Second, I'm really curious about the decision to report these statistics without separating out gender. I strongly suspect that the rates of abuse among gays and lesbians mirrors pretty exactly that of heterosexual women--a finding other studies have made, time and again--and I think the very low number for straights is being artificially held down by the inclusion of men. (Not that straight men don't experience abuse, but the rate is dramatically lower than it is for women.)
Third, I am astonished that the discrepancy between the gay & lesbian category and the bisexual one is that great. As a bi activist, I'm inclined to think that both gender and age have something to do with it. Despite much progress, the stigma of identifying as bi is still much stronger for men, who may experience less abuse and/or feel more stigma about reporting it.
But I also suspect that those who identified as bisexual in this survey skew younger, as the stigma around that identity has been loosening up with time. And while abuse does cut across all demographics, there is a lot of evidence, numeric and anecdotal, that younger people (in which I include people in their 20s) are at higher risk for abuse. That's why it's so important that services for LGBTQ youth include resources for recognizing and dealing with abuse, and that domestic violence and rape services do targeted outreach to LGBTQ youth. (I also think age bias is the reason the study found that Latinos were more likely to have experienced recent IPV; the Latino population of California skews young.)
And yes, this is why California's dramatic cuts to domestic violence services are a bad idea.
There is so much more I could say about this study, both about the findings and the way they've chosen to present them--the whole "less IPV among Asians" is a topic in itself--but I'd rather ask what other people think. Do you have questions, or thoughts, or reactions?
Specifically, 27.9 percent of all lesbian or gay adults reported experiencing IPV in their adult lives. The rate of reported IPV is even higher among bisexual adults, at 40.6 percent. In contrast, only 16.7 percent of heterosexual adults reported incidences of IPV.
My first response? I'm glad this is out there and getting media attention, but it's really not news. The astonishingly high rates of abuse in the LGBTQ communities have been known since the late 1970s. Plenty of us have not only known about it, but have been trying to do something to change it, for years.
Second, I'm really curious about the decision to report these statistics without separating out gender. I strongly suspect that the rates of abuse among gays and lesbians mirrors pretty exactly that of heterosexual women--a finding other studies have made, time and again--and I think the very low number for straights is being artificially held down by the inclusion of men. (Not that straight men don't experience abuse, but the rate is dramatically lower than it is for women.)
Third, I am astonished that the discrepancy between the gay & lesbian category and the bisexual one is that great. As a bi activist, I'm inclined to think that both gender and age have something to do with it. Despite much progress, the stigma of identifying as bi is still much stronger for men, who may experience less abuse and/or feel more stigma about reporting it.
But I also suspect that those who identified as bisexual in this survey skew younger, as the stigma around that identity has been loosening up with time. And while abuse does cut across all demographics, there is a lot of evidence, numeric and anecdotal, that younger people (in which I include people in their 20s) are at higher risk for abuse. That's why it's so important that services for LGBTQ youth include resources for recognizing and dealing with abuse, and that domestic violence and rape services do targeted outreach to LGBTQ youth. (I also think age bias is the reason the study found that Latinos were more likely to have experienced recent IPV; the Latino population of California skews young.)
And yes, this is why California's dramatic cuts to domestic violence services are a bad idea.
There is so much more I could say about this study, both about the findings and the way they've chosen to present them--the whole "less IPV among Asians" is a topic in itself--but I'd rather ask what other people think. Do you have questions, or thoughts, or reactions?