LGBTQ+ Research
Engaging with the resources below can enhance your understanding of how you fit into the wider community.
But please do remember to undertake this work at your own pace and look after yourself in the process.
Researching the overlap between queerness and sexual violence can often be difficult emotional work to undertake and is somewhat of a double-edged sword.
On one hand, the data is highly disappointing, highlighting how systemic the issues we, as a community, are facing.
On the other hand, one may also find togetherness in these qualitative and quantitative surveys because they highlight that you are never alone in your experiences.
Perhaps you'll resonate with an LGBTQ+ survivor’s story or find solace in an optimistic statistic (some things are improving!)
Human Rights Campaign
Human Rights Campaign provides quantitative data, drawing on CDC’s (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention) National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey.
This is only two pages long, so would recommend checking it out, but research is limited to lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.
The Trevor Project
The Trevor Project’s 2023 U.S. National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ Young People does not centre around experiences of sexual violence, but much of the data links to this either directly, or indirectly by conveying the treatment young queer people endure in school.
28,000 LGBTQ+ youth aged 13-24 across the U.S. responded to this very recent survey, and the breakdown is very thorough.
National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey
The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) is an ongoing survey collecting comprehensive state-level data on intimate partner violence, sexual violence, and stalking victimisation among adult women and men in the U.S.
Although this is not centred around LGBTQ+ respondents, question A6 does provide insight into how survivors identify their sexual orientation.
The pdf here is a short seven-page document breaking down how the survey operates, but it has details on how to access more thorough data at the bottom. The breakdown by sexual orientation as of 2010 can be found here.
Survivors UK
A 2021 report on ‘Silenced Survivors’ by Survivors UK seeks to understand gay and bisexual men’s experience with sexual violence and support services.
Although the report is largely quantitative, it does open with a personal story from Alex Feis-Bryce, CEO of Survivors UK.
Their introduction also provides a brief history of society’s relationship with the taboo of sexual violence, and a glossary of relevant but often misused terminology.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Centre X Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape
The National Sexual Violence Resource Centre, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, released a publication examining sexual violence (hate or bias-motivated crimes, intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse, and adult sexual assault) against survivors who identify as LBTQ+.
The report can be found here.