Thank You

This will be my final official post for this blog. I plan to continue my work with the GLBT community - with a heightened awareness about same-sex intimate partner violence - and I will keep this blog updated as I encounter new information.

Additionally, if you continue to access resources and information that is not available here please let me know. I will gladly update the blog with your contributions on a regular basis.

Jess

PowerPoint Presentation

Hello bloggers,

I have had a great time compiling all of these resources for you. I hope that you are able to find some use from them. I know that I have been enlightened by all of this information. It is clear that same-sex intimate partner violence is a very prevalent issues within the GLB community. However, there is a surprising lack of research as well as a lack of resources for those affected by same-sex intimate partner violence.

I have created a PowerPoint presentation that summarizes all of this information and will be giving it in a course I am taking. If you would like access to this presentation, please contact me and I can provide it for you.

Quick Facts

The following statistics are reported by the Commission on Domestic and Sexual Violence

11% of lesbians reported violence by their female partner
15% of gay men reported being victimized by their partner

36% of victims who sought services in NYC also filed a police report (2003)
38% of victims who sought services in NYC also filed a police report (2004)

88% of victims reported prior violence (2003)
91% of victims reported prior violence (2004)

39.2% of same-sex women reported being raped, 21.7% of opposite-sex women reported being raped
15.4% of same-sex men reported being raped, 10.8% of opposite-sex men reported being raped

Survivor Resources

Below you will find a list of some resources if you (or someone you know) is a victim of same-sex intimate partner violence. You can click the links to find more information.

National Domestic Violence Hotline

Gay Men's Domestic Violence Project

Lambda

Stop Abuse for Everyone

Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness

Myths and Barriers

Hello, blog readers! This is the final academic article that I’ll be posting on this site – from my resources, at least. I will continue to reblog anything that you share with me. As always, your input in encouraged and appreciated!

This piece again highlights that little attention is paid to same-sex intimate partner violence. This article is somewhat different in its focus in that it provides information on the roots of same-sex IPV advocacy and also outlines some of the barriers to help-seeking that survivors of same-sex IPV face.

A couple very harmful myths associate with same-sex violence are articulated:

1-    Lesbian Utopia: relationships between women are examples of ideal egalitarian partnerships, meaning that the notion of violent lesbian relationships doesn’t exist because women provide a “safe lifestyle.”

2-    Hegemonic Masculinity: two men fighting with one another is often just interpreted as practicing masculinity, gay men are perceived as “sensitive” so there is a misconception that they are not violent

3-    Mutual Battering: both partners perpetrate violent behaviors, reality is that one partner is consistently the aggressor

Barriers to help-seeking:

1-    Outing: abusers utilize their partner’s fear of being “outed” as a tool or a weapon in their relationships

2-    Homophobia: “The presence of homophobic attitudes permits social tolerance and apathy toward survivors of same-sex IPV, while also giving abusers an additional tool to use to their advantage” (804). 3-    Internalized Oppression: same-sex partners often have feelings of internalize homophobia and internalized heterosexism; they may feel depression, low self-esteem, and other mental health issues

4-    Community Ties: the relationship provides the most obvious connection to the GLB community; breaking up becomes a threat to the community as a whole

5-    Revictimization: service providers aren’t adequately sensitive to the GLB community and their needs

Citation:Duke, Alysondra and Meghan Davidson. (2009). Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence: Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Affirmative Outreach and Advocacy. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma, 18 (8), 795-816.

What Can Clinicians Do?

Welcome back! Here is a piece written by medical practitioners about the ways in which clinicians can take steps to assess intimate partner violence in regard to their GLBT patients. The ways in which they outline clinicians can better address IPV in their GLBT patients is:

1-    have an open discussion about gender identity and sexual orientation

2-    when addressing IPV in GLBT patients, clinicians can serve as an educational resource

3-    providers need to take care to prepare themselves to be informed and address health risks associated with IPV within the GLBT community

4-    clinicians should arm themselves with knowledge of the resources available for GLBT individuals so that they can provide meaningful referrals

5-    make sure that clinical resources and guidelines about IPV include information about IPV within the GLBT community

Citation: Ard MD, Kevin L. and Harvey J. Makadon, MD. (2011). Addressing Intimate Partner Violence in Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 26(8), 930-933.

Is the Lack of Attention to Same-Sex IPV Justified?

The author points out that same-sex intimate partner violence is ignored by researchers as well as policy makers. To assess whether or not this omission is justified, the author analyzed the data from the National Violence Against Women Survey.

The piece examined four types of partner violence: verbal abuse, controlling behavior, physical abuse and sexual abuse. The author used sex and sexual orientation as independent variables to establish comparison rates.

This piece found that – independent of sex – individuals who had a history of same-sex relationships were more likely to experience verbal abuse, controlling behavior, and physical & sexual abuse. Specifically, same-sex individuals experienced all four types of abuse twice as much as opposite-sex couples. Being a member of the GLB population increases a person’s risk for intimate partner violence victimization.

What does this tell us? Based on these survey results, it would seem that individuals in same-sex intimate relationships are at even greater risk, need more resources to deal with same-sex violence, and should be the subjects of research and policy making. 

Citation: Messinger, Adam M. (2011). Invisible Victims: Same-Sex IPV in the National Violence Against Women Survey. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26, 2228-2243.