Disclosure of Sexual Assault Among Sexual and Gender Minorities: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Sexual assault is common in sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals, but few studies have examined SGM victims’ disclosure experiences. This systematic review identified 13 studies through searches of research databases on SGM populations with sexual victimization. These studies showed wide variation in disclosure rates, various barriers to disclosure, and psychological impacts of social reactions to disclosure on SGM individuals. Bisexual women were more likely to disclose to formal (e.g., police, healthcare providers) and informal (e.g., friends, family members) sources than other women, and SGM victims disclose to mental health professionals at particularly high rates. Sexual and gender minority victims also reported numerous barriers to disclosure, including those unique to SGM individuals (e.g., fear of being outed). Impacts of negative social reactions appear to be more negative on psychological symptoms of SGM victims, whereas positive reactions are helpful to recovery. Future research is needed taking an intersectional perspective to studying disclosure and social reactions to SGM individuals from both college and community samples, by examining both sexual minority and racial/ethnic identities in the context of intersectional minority stress theory. Studies are needed of both correlates and consequences of disclosures to both informal and formal support sources to better understand SGM individuals’ reasons for telling and not telling various support sources and the impacts of their disclosure experiences on their recovery. Such data is also needed to inform interventions seeking to identify and intervene with support network members and professionals to reduce negative social reactions and their psychosocial impacts and to increase positive social reactions and general social support from informal support sources.

Sexual assault disclosure and outcomes in the LGB+ community.

“…Despite alarmingly high rates of trauma exposure and sexual violence perpetrated against the transgender and gender-diverse community (Coulter et al, 2017; Shipherd et al, 2011), very little sexual assault research has focused on this population, and even less has focused on disclosure tendencies (Edwards et al, 2022; Grocott et al, 2023; Hackman et al, 2022; Langenderfer-Magruder et al, 2016). Given constraints in the way participants reported their gender and the lack of information about sex assigned at birth, we were not able to accurately categorize cisgender and transgender participants, so it is unclear what proportion of our sample identified as transgender or gender diverse.…”

“…Because of this limitation, we chose to focus the current paper only on sexual orientation differences, which has the unintended effect of contributing to the dearth of research on transgender survivors of sexual assault. Transgender and gender-diverse survivors are often excluded from research, or lumped together with sexual minorities (Edwards et al, 2022). Although many transgender and gender-diverse individuals also identify as sexual minorities (Herman, 2016), and both groups experience minority stress (Hendricks & Testa, 2012), these identities and identity-related experiences are unique and may therefore have a differential impact on disclosure tendencies.…”

“…Research on sexual assault disclosure tendencies and outcomes in the LGB+ community is relatively limited (Edwards et al, 2022). LGB+ survivors appear to disclose approximately as often as non-LGB+ survivors, most often disclose to friends, and are equally unlikely as non-LGB+ survivors to disclose to formal support sources like law enforcement (Eisenberg et al, 2021; Koon-Magnin & Schulze, 2019; Langenderfer-Magruder et al, 2016; Richardson et al, 2015).…”

Disclosure Recipients’ Perceptions Related to Helping Victims of Dating and Sexual Violence

“…For example, the gender and race of both the victim and disclosure recipient are related to social reactions to disclosure in that men tend to respond less supportively to sexual assault disclosures and women of color tend to receive more negative social reactions (Banyard et al, 2010; Ullman, 2021). Also, preliminary research suggests that sexual and gender minorities face additional barriers (e.g., fear of being outed) to disclosing DSV and that some groups of sexual minorities (e.g., bisexual women) may receive more negative social reactions to disclosure than other sexual minorities (Edwards et al, 2021). The sample size was too small to examine whether the observed relationships vary as a function of intersectional social identities.…”

“…Journal of Interpersonal Violence 37 (23)(24) disclosure than other sexual minorities (Edwards et al, 2021). The sample size was too small to examine whether the observed relationships vary as a function of intersectional social identities.…”