Understanding Power Dynamics in Bisexual Intimate Partner Violence: Looking in the Gap

Speaking the Unspoken: Abuse and Help Seeking Experiences of Bisexual Young Women in an Intimate Relationship With a Man

“…Subtheme 4.4 Support is key to leaving abuse showed that both formal (support services) and informal (family and friends) support which allowed the women to feel heard and understood with regards to their bisexuality and experiences of IPA, was key to the women in the current study being able to recognise the abuse and obtain the help they felt they needed to help them leave their abusive relationship. This supports findings in helpseeking literature which have shown that bisexual women, as well as other sexual minority groups, highly benefit from support services that are inclusive and queer-affirming, and friends or family who can accept the bisexual person's lived experiences as their truth without questioning the legitimacy of their experiences or their sexuality (Head, 2020;Messinger, 2017).…”

“…Indeed, Flanders et al (2019) also found that bisexual women were less likely to seek help and report sexual violence and verbal sexual coercion than heterosexual or lesbian women, which was reflected in current findings where some of the women who experiences sexual aggression did not want to disclose their experiences in order to avoid binegative attitudes towards themselves as well as the LGBTQ+ community. These findings challenge previous models of help seeking, such as Turrell and Herrmann's 2008 Diamond Model of bisexual and lesbian help seeking which suggests that lesbian and bisexual women tend to seek help from groups and individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ rather than mainstream services (Head, 2020;Turrell et al, 2012). Subtheme 4.4 Support is key to leaving abuse showed that both formal (support services) and informal (family and friends) support which allowed the women to feel heard and understood with regards to their bisexuality and experiences of IPA, was key to the women in the current study being able to recognise the abuse and obtain the help they felt they needed to help them leave their abusive relationship.…”

“…The clinicians also admitted to having difficulties in sometimes acknowledging LGBTQ people's experiences of IPA as genuine, rather than stemming from minority stress and trauma. For the women in this and previous studies, real and perceived bisexual invisibility within support services acted as a significant barrier to disclosing IPA abuse and seeking help, which left the women feeling that their experiences of bisexual-specific IPA experiences as well as their bisexual identity were not understood and remained unseen (Head, 2020). Indeed, Flanders et al (2019) also found that bisexual women were less likely to seek help and report sexual violence and verbal sexual coercion than heterosexual or lesbian women, which was reflected in current findings where some of the women who experiences sexual aggression did not want to disclose their experiences in order to avoid binegative attitudes towards themselves as well as the LGBTQ+ community.…”

“…Even though the majority of research continues to focus on general LGBT-related IPA tactics, there is still little awareness of IPA within the LGBTQ+ population, and a distinct lack of understanding of the existence and the role of-bi-specific tactics and motivations in IPA, particularly with regard to intensity and escalation of behaviours following a bisexual partner's disclosure of their sexuality to their partner (Bermea et al, 2018;Head, 2020). The lack of bispecific research and understanding of bisexual people's experiences of IPA is also evident in some researchers' still making gender-based assumptions about a person's sexual orientation based on the gender of their partner, and varied conceptualisation of bisexual identity which can misrepresent bisexual people's experiences and skew data (Messinger, 2011;Walters et al, 2013;Bermea et al, 2018;Rollè et al, 2018).…”

“…Inconsistent constructs of plurisexuality and bisexuality are problematic in research, policy and practice as they continue to erase individuals who do not externally or internally fit the construct being used. This can not only directly affect study results, but also unintentionally erases certain identities perpetuating bi/plurinegativity and erasure (Bermea et al, 2018;Flanders et al, 2019;Head, 2020;Maliepaard, 2021;Swan & Habibi, 2019). Social awareness of intersectionality within LGBTQ+ group programmes is growing, with research-based policy and resources for gender minorities such as transgender and intersex groups becoming more accessible and visible (InsideOUT, 2022).…”