When people think about sexual assault they think about girls being raped by strangers. No one truly understands the width or depth of sexual assault or harm of the stigmas that surround it. It would take a book to fully educated someone but today we’re going to shed some light on one under discussed topic.
Sexual assault in the LGBTQ+ community
According to the CDC’s National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey for the LGBTQ+ community faces:
- 44 percent of lesbians and 61 percent of bisexual women experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 35 percent of heterosexual women.
- 26 percent of gay men and 37 percent of bisexual men experience rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner, compared to 29 percent of heterosexual men.
- 46 percent of bisexual women have been raped, compared to 17 percent of heterosexual women and 13 percent of lesbians.
- 22 percent of bisexual women have been raped by an intimate partner, compared to 9 percent of heterosexual women.
- 40 percent of gay men and 47 percent of bisexual men have experienced sexual violence other than rape, compared to 21 percent of heterosexual men.
Also, within the LGBTQ+ community, transgender people and bisexual women face the most alarming rates of sexual violence. Among both populations, sexual violence begins as early as childhood.
Source: Giphy
Now, sexual assault is a terrible crime no matter who it happens to but these numbers show the extreme need to address it in the LGBTQ+ community. Being LGBTQ+ makes you a target for discrimination, mental, physical, and sexual abuse.
Speaking from a lesbian stand point I can attest to the fact that being a lesbian makes guys want you even more. Whether it’s some twisted threesome fantasy or their desire to sex you straight, they are intrigued and it’s creepy. Obviously, I’m not speaking on all males here but there are quite a few of them.
If dealing with creepy strangers isn’t hard enough, the LGBTQ+ community in many cities, especially on college campuses, is tiny. Everyone knows everyone and at least 7 times out of 10 they’ve probably dated.
Source: Giphy
Nastassja Schmiedt, a former Dartmouth College student, was featured in a Huffington Post article and said, “there’s already such a small community that you really have to take what you can get, even if that person is your rapist,”
Sexual assault is already an underreported crime so when you throw the shame of being assaulted on top of the shame for being LGBTQ+, things get very bad. Members of this community are already struggling to be accepted for who they are so when someone comes along and strips them of their peace of mind it makes life that much harder. That is why this issue needs to be discussed more often. This issue needs to be talked about and dealt with by addressing the true source of the problem, the assaulter. No one deserves to be sexually assaulted regardless of their race, gender identity, sexual orientation, or what they had on that day.
Source: Giphy