RESEARCH
It is well documented that gender and sexual minority college and university students experience higher rates of sexual violence than the cisgender heterosexual students. Previous studies have described how gender and sexual minority students had little understanding of their higher vulnerability to sexual violence or where these experiences occurred. Studies also discuss the lack of perceived support from their own communities when both victim and perpetrator were from the same sexual or gender minority communities.
This study however focused on how sexual and gender minority students do (or do not) relate gender and sexuality to their sexual violence experiences. These insights could be useful may help to identify patterns useful to intervention and prevention approaches. Alex Martin-Storey and colleagues included (n=223) students who identified as sexual or gender minority and who experienced sexual violence.
Understanding the Risk of Sexual Violence: The majority of cisgender women and transgender and nonbinary individuals reported having men as perpetrators. The findings suggest their victimization from individuals outside of their communities. Whether they connected their victimization to their minority identity appears to be connected to two factors: certainty that the individual who harmed them were aware of their identity as well as a shorter time period between telling them and the sexual violence.
Discrimination and Sexual Violence: Participants consistently described heterosexist and cissexist experiences as sexual harassment. Many participants described jokes and intrusive questions as well as other forms of discrimination creating a toxic environment that may allow others to justify their actions by claiming they don’t mean serious harm.
Reactions to Sexual Violence Experiences: Finally, the participants reported two primary responses to the sexual violence they experienced. One was “push-out” from social or academic activities where the individual was choosing to not attend other campus activities or choosing to transfer to a different academic program or campus. Previous studies have suggested a higher level of vulnerability for post traumatic symptoms among sexual and gender minority students. Minimization was also observed in this population. This finding was also in alignment with previous studies which showed that victims of homophobia and sexual violence often minimized as a coping mechanism.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PROFESSIONALS
Perhaps most importantly, this study offers a rare view into the world of gender and sexual minority students; professionals of all background will find this helpful. Those professionals treating teens and adults who engage in some form of sexual misconduct or sexually abusive behaviors can benefit from these findings as well. They remind us that when working with gender and sexual minority youth or young adults, we can raise awareness with our clients not only of the risks of being socially isolated (which can, under the wrong circumstances, lead to harmful behaviors), but also of the importance of understanding one’s own vulnerabilities. It also reminds us to work with clients to help them develop healthier alternatives for coping so that they can move beyond minimizing the potential for risks and harm for themselves or for others.
IMPLICATIONS FOR THE FIELD
By listening to how people within the sexual and gender minority community describe their own experience, this study focuses the discussion on the importance of understanding our client’s experiences of their own lives. By showing how this population does not disconnect the continuum of behaviors from homophobic and transphobic remarks to sexual harassment and sexual violence. Therefore, any prevention or intervention program needs to address this full range of experiences since they are tied together for this population. In many cases, gender and sexual minority youth may minimize not only their past experiences, but their vulnerabilities as well.
Given the response of many individuals in the sexual gender minority community to either minimize or “push out”, this study can be a road map about the way forward with traumatized clients. With this information in mind, there are concrete areas where we can be helpful, such as creating programs that address the wide range of behaviors as prevention and finding ways to assist individual clients to safety re-engage with the community around them.
CITATION:
Martin-Storey, A., Paquette, G., Bergeron, M., Castonguay-Khounsombath, S., & Prévost, È. (2022). How sexual and gender minority students discuss sexuality and gender in describing their experiences of sexual violence. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity.
ABSTRACT
Gender and sexual minority university students experience higher rates of sexual violence than their cisgender heterosexual peers. The objectives of this study were to use a qualitative thematic analysis to understand how gender and sexual minority students discuss (a) gender and sexuality in describing their sexual violence experiences and (b) their reactions to sexual violence experiences where gender and sexuality were considered. Participants were drawn from a mixed-methods study addressing experiences of sexual violence in university contexts and were eligible for the current study if they (a) reported a sexual or gender minority identity and (b) described their sexual violence experience (n = 223). We used an iterative and inductive process to examine descriptions of university-based sexual violence and identified three themes in how participants discussed gender and sexuality in describing their sexual violence experiences. These were (a) direct discussion of their own sexual or gender identities (where subthemes of precipitating and shaping responses were identified), (b) discussion of elements of the sexual violence experience that are particularly salient to gender and sexual minority populations (where subthemes of homophobia and transphobia, gender nonconformity were identified), and (c) reactions to gender and sexuality-related sexual violence experiences (where subthemes of pushout and minimization were identified). These findings suggest the importance of gender and sexuality in gender and sexual minority students’ descriptions of university-based sexual violence experiences, and implications for intervention and prevention efforts are discussed.
If you would like a copy of the full article, please email us directly at info@masoc.net
*****
