Why So Many Bisexuals Are Victimized

The following is a guest post by Joseph Rauch

When I was researching studies for a series on the mental health issues gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people tend to deal with, I encountered a CDC survey with some shocking results regarding sexual violence and victimization among bisexual people, especially bisexual women:

• 61% of bisexual women experienced rape, physical violence and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared to 44% of lesbian women and 35% of heterosexual women
• The same was true for 37% of bisexual men, compared to 26% of gay men and 29% of heterosexual men
• 22% of bisexual women were raped by an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared to 9% of heterosexual women
• 47% of the bisexual women had been raped during their lifetime, compared to 13% of lesbian women and 17% of heterosexual women
• 48% of bisexual women experienced their first completed rape between the ages of 11 and 17 years, compared to 28% of heterosexual women
• 37% of bisexual women reported some form of stalking where they worried someone close to them would be harmed or killed

These statistics horrified me. It wasn’t only that the rates of violence among bisexual people were so high. It was that bisexual women were twice as likely to experience sexual violence as other groups in almost every category.

Why were perpetrators assaulting bisexual women so much more than anyone else? Why were bisexual women more vulnerable to violence?

When I researched the answer, I read many articles where experts, researchers and bisexual community members said they didn’t know why there was this gap in abuse between sexual orientations. There wasn’t enough research examining correlations between victimization among bisexuals and other factors. Those who speculated said it could be because of biphobia and bisexual erasure: discriminating against bisexuals and trying to delegitimize their sexuality.

The problem was the analyses didn’t go far enough. Simply using the word “biphobia” wasn’t sufficient.

What do biphobia and bisexual erasure look like in the context of a relationship? What kinds of attitudes do perpetrators have? Do biphobia and bisexual erasure make bisexuals more vulnerable to abuse? How do other mental health factors play a role?

None of the existing responses to the CDC results answered these questions or thoroughly explored possibilities for why bisexual people, particularly women, experienced staggering rates of abuse and violence. The CDC conducted the survey in 2010, yet it seems we aren’t much closer to understanding the issue.

To provide a more helpful analysis to the bisexual community and inform future research, I reached out to researchers and other experts on bisexual health issues. Based on their experience and the limited amount of research on bisexual health issues, we discussed possibilities for why bisexuals experience these alarming levels of abuse.

Understanding why the abuse happens is part of designing better interventions, education, programs, court responses and counseling, according to Adam M. Messinger, Ph.D., a professor who researches LGBT intimate partner violence at Northeastern Illinois University and the author of LGBTQ Intimate Partner Violence: Lessons for Policy, Practice and Research.

“The more we understand why, the more we can prevent it,” Messinger said.

Keep reading to dig into the “why” and continue the conversation on sexual violence and victimization in the bisexual community.

Factors That Might Contribute to Being More Vulnerable to Violence

In addition to enduring the highest rates of intimate partner violence [IPV] in the LGBT community, bisexuals have severe problems and vulnerabilities in several other areas. It’s possible that biphobia and stigma contribute to these issues (we at least know their sexual orientation is not the direct cause).

Here are some statistics and insights that illustrate this:

• 58.7% of bisexual women in a study published in the American Journal of Public Health had a lifetime history of mood disorder, compared to 30.5% of heterosexual women
• 25% of bisexual men and 30% of bisexual women live in poverty (stats for other sexual orientations are significantly lower), according to a report on bisexual issues
• 60% report hearing biphobic jokes at work and 49% say they are not out to any co-workers, compared to only 24% of lesbian and gay people who are not out to co-workers
• Higher rates of daily smoking and drug abuse
• Higher rates of risky alcohol use
• Highest prevalence of PTSD
• Only 28% of bisexuals who responded to a Pew Research Center survey said most or all of the important people in their lives knew about their sexual orientation, compared to 77% of gay men and 71% of lesbians
• Higher suicide rates than other LGBT members
• 39% of bisexual men and 32% of bisexual women do not disclose their sexual orientation to health care providers, compared to 10% of gay men and 12% of lesbians
• Nearly half of bisexual people face biphobic comments or actions when interacting with health care providers, LGBT services and authorities such as police, according to a report from the Equality Network. This could discourage bisexual people from seeking help when being victims of abuse, allowing the abuse to continue.
• Women are more likely to report bisexuality than men, according to a study from the University of Notre Dame (might factor into why IPV rates among bisexual women are especially high)
• Bisexual women tend to have more contact with men earlier in life and are sexually active at a younger age, so there is more time to experience sexual violence, according to Amber Ault, Ph.D., a therapist who works with LGBT clients and wrote her dissertation on bisexual women’s experiences

It is likely that most of these factors are connected and contribute to victimization. Perpetrators prey and often choose their targets based on vulnerability, so anything that makes people more vulnerable could be a factor. Risky alcohol use, for example, could make bisexual people more vulnerable to sexual violence, according to Amy Hequembourg, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at the Research Institute on Addictions at the University of Buffalo and author of several studies on bisexuals.

A lack of social support could also be a factor in higher rates of abuse, said Eric M. Garrison, a certified sexuality counselor who works with college students. When he was touring college campuses and interviewing bisexual students, he noticed students who lived on campuses with support for bisexuals were less likely to enter abusive relationships or smoke. Some students said “we feel too proud” when Garrison asked why they were more easily able to resist drugs and avoid abusive relationships.

Garrison said a lack of bisexual role models and representation could also be a factor that makes them more vulnerable to abuse. Echoing this sentiment, some of the women in a study Hequembourg conducted felt like the “B” in LGBT was lowercase, not equal to “L” and “G.”

External and Internal Homophobia and Biphobia, and Bisexual Erasure

Whether it’s directly contributing to sexual violence or affecting the factors that are likely connected to abuse, biphobia is a possible reason for the gap in statistics between bisexuals and other LGBT people.

There is a wealth of research that shows the negative effects of homophobia on gay men, lesbian women and bisexual people. Some LGBT people also deal with internalized homophobia, the belief that they are inferior because of their non-heterosexual orientation or that the homophobic rhetoric they hear is at least partially true.

Now imagine dealing with double the amount of stigma, isolation and discrimination. Bisexuals don’t forego homophobia in place of biphobia.

“Biphobia is a form of homophobia,” said Dr. Chris Donaghue, a doctor of human sexuality and author of a book about dysfunctional sex culture. “They aren’t [entirely] separate.”

Heterosexuals and people within the LGBT community discriminate against them on the basis of both homophobia and biphobia. Then add the weight of internalized homophobia and biphobia.

There is also the impact of bisexual erasure.

“People are telling [bisexuals] their identity doesn’t exist,” Garrison said. “Some of them believe it.”

Struggling to legitimize an identity is yet another stressor that could increase the risk of abusive relationships, mental illness and negative coping patterns.

To illustrate what biphobia and bisexual erasure can look like, here are some examples of stereotypes, assumptions and accusations people make about bisexuals:

• Heterosexuals and LGBT people assuming bisexual people are overly promiscuous, constantly ready for sex
• The stereotype of bisexual people as greedy for being romantically and sexually attracted to both genders
• The stereotypes of bisexual people being untrustworthy, indecisive, deceitful, cowardly, irresponsible, more likely to cheat and spread STIs, unable to be satisfied with a monogamous relationship
• Bisexual people, especially women, are more open to threesomes
• Heterosexual men sometimes overly sexualize bisexual women and treat their sexuality as if it were for the pleasure of men
• Gay men sometimes fetishize bisexual men, often because they value the perceived masculinity of a man who has been with women
• Bisexual people are going through a phase before coming out as gay or lesbian
• Bisexual people are gays or lesbians taking advantage of “straight privileges”
• They are experimenting before settling down in a heterosexual relationship
• The gender of their current partner symbolizes a decision to be homosexual or heterosexual

Possibilities for the Perpetrator’s Mindset: How Biphobia Could Be a Factor in IPV

It is possible the above factors and aspects of biphobia play a role in why and how intimate partner violence occurs in bisexual relationships. They might also explain part of why bisexual people experience more frequent sexual assault.

Here are some possibilities I discussed with bisexual community members, researchers and therapists who have worked bisexual clients:

Feeling Entitled to Sex with Bisexual People, Assuming they Want it Because of the Stereotype of Promiscuity

Sexual abusers and rapists are horrible people who feel they are entitled to sex regardless of consent. If they believe bisexual people are promiscuous to the point of constantly wanting sex, they might feel assault or stalking is more justified than it would be with a heterosexual or homosexual person.

Increased Jealousy and Paranoia Regarding Cheating

Abusers tend to be jealous, controlling and paranoid. When they are in a heterosexual or homosexual relationship, they are only worrying about their partner cheating with a person of one gender. With bisexual relationships they might feel more jealousy and paranoia because there is the possibility of their partner cheating with men and women. They could respond to this fear by becoming more controlling and abusive.

Abusing the Victim to Make Him or Her Choose Between Heterosexuality and Homosexuality

It’s possible that some perpetrators have this sick logic that they can make make a bisexual person choose to be attracted to only one gender by sexually assaulting or abusing them. If a hetereosexual man raped a bisexual woman, he might feel like he was claiming her sexuality and erasing her attraction to women.

Limitations of the CDC Study and Current Research

If you read the extensive survey the CDC conducted, it’s clear they put a lot of time and effort into it. Nonetheless, there were some limitations that might have influenced the results. Here are a few of them:

• Of the 16,507 respondents who completed surveys, only 2.2% of women and 1.2% of men identified as bisexual. That comes to a total of around 300 bisexual people, compared to thousands of heterosexuals. Because the survey did not focus only on bisexuals, the sample size was limited.
• The survey used random digit dialing to contact people by phone. It might have been difficult for respondents to talk about abuse over the phone.

All of the experts and researchers I spoke to said there was not enough research on bisexuals alone. They also criticized the practice of researching the LGBT community as a whole rather than examining each letter.

“[LGBT people] were seen as a monolith,” Hequembourg said. “Only in the last five or seven years we've begun to look at them separately.”

“There’s the problem of lumping so many cultures into one community,” Donaghue added.

Suggestions for Future Research

Here are some suggestions the mental health professionals I spoke to had for improving future research on abuse in the bisexual community:

• Conducting more studies and surveys that focus only on bisexuals
• Using larger sample sizes (thousands instead of hundreds)
• Examining both behavior and identity, including surveying the sex of the abuser and sexual history rather than only the identification as bisexual
• Finding safe ways to gather data about people who perpetrate sexual violence against bisexuals
• Interviewing both partners in a bisexual relationship
• Trying to learn more about the perpetrator’s motivations and thinking
• Providing more grants to research on bisexuals
• Exploring issues of emotional abuse in bisexuals and LGBT populations in general, including partners “outing” their victims (Alexis Nicole White, an author of a book about emotional abuse, raised this issue)
• Investing in scientific methods of understanding correlations between sexual violence and other factors that affect bisexuals

Bisexual people are the largest segment of the LGBT community, according to a survey from the Williams Institute. There are more of them than there are gay men and lesbian woman, yet we know the least about bisexals. Millions of them are suffering the burden of both homophobia and biphobia.

By increasing awareness regarding the abuse bisexuals deal with, we can galvanize researchers, community members and mental health professionals to support the bisexual community. We can help the “B” feel like a capital letter, not a lowercase.

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Joseph Rauch is the staff writer for Talkspace, a company that provides convenient and affordable online therapy. He is also an aspiring author, freelance writer and identifies as a half white/Jewish, half Lebanese Atheist (not necessarily in that order). You can follow him on Twitter @jrauch64.