Differences in Intimate Partner Violence Reported by Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women

Articles
By Tania Lejbowicz, Amy Jacobs-Colas
English

This article examines intimate partner violence inflicted against women by those women’s sexual identification and the violent partner’s sex. Drawing on the Violences et rapports de genre survey, the article shows that the acts of violence women in same-sex couples are subjected to are less intense and involve less physical or bodily violence than in different-sex couples, wherein female partners are exposed to more severe acts involving more sexual violence. In male–female couples, victim-reported acts of violence differ by victim’s self-reported sexual identification: heterosexual women report having been subjected to more physical violence than lesbian or bisexual women; the latter categories report more sexual violence. This article recalls the importance of having detailed data on couple and sexual trajectories for effective apprehension of report differences. It also highlights the need to investigate variability in the experience and perception of violence against women by couple type (same- or different-sex) and the sexual identification (lesbian, bisexual, heterosexual) of the woman reporting the acts of violence.

  • intimate partner violence
  • women
  • homosexuality
  • bisexuality
  • heterosexuality
  • gender
  • VIRAGE surveys
  • France
Go to the article on Cairn-int.info