Frequency of Physical Aggression in Heterosexual and Female Homosexual Dyads

Abstract

75 self-identified heterosexual and 55 self-identified homosexual women between the ages of 19 and 58 yr. completed a 24-item anonymous questionnaire to determine whether men or women were more violently aggressive in the form of attempted or completed rape, physical abuse, or infliction of pain beyond that which was consensual in the practice of sadomasochism in dyadic relationships. z tests for the significance of differences between proportions in analyzing questionnaire data indicated that men committed violent acts against women significantly more often than did women against men, which supports the hypothesis that the frequency of aggressive violence would be significantly higher for heterosexual than in female homosexual dyads. Of 104 incidents of violence, however, 29 acts (28%) were committed by women, which suggests that the nature of the relationship may also be an important variable in dyadic violence. Further research is indicated.

Prevalence of partner violence in same-sex romantic and sexual relationships in a national sample of adolescents

“…Probably the most difficult methodological obstacle in studying samesex intimate violence is obtaining a representative sample; even studies based on large samples typically have used nonrandom sampling methods, with respondent recruitment often occurring through gay and lesbian publications, organizations, and activities [6]. Two studies with better methodology reported prevalence estimates of 25% and 17% for ever having experienced physical victimization in a lesbian relationship [12,13]; these figures are comparable to figures for heterosexual relationships.…”

Patterns of Sexual Coercion in Heterosexual and Non-Heterosexual Men and Women

“…Examinations of the patterns of sexual coercion among non-heterosexual men and women mainly focus on providing descriptive statistics concerning rates of perpetration and being victimized (for review, see WaldnerHaugrud, 1999; see also Kalichman & Rompa, 1995;Lie, Schilit, Bush, Montagne, & Reyes, 1991;Waldner-Haugrud & Gratch, 1997;Waterman, Dawson, & Bologna, 1989). Those studies that did compare patterns of sexual coercion among heterosexual and non-heterosexual men and women only consider how frequently individuals from these groups report being victims of sexual coercion (Baier, Rosenzweig, & Whipple, 1991;Brand & Kidd, 1986;Duncan, 1990). A study by McConaghy and Zamir (1995) examined sexual coercion in same-and opposite-sex contexts, but did not explicitly compare patterns of perpetration among heterosexual versus non-heterosexual men and women.…”

Violence Against Homosexuals

“…This is not surprising given older studies indicating that people viewed gay victims of violence more negatively compared with straight victims of violence. However, other researchers have focused in detail on domestic violence in gay and lesbian couples, citing some higher estimates of gay domestic violence to support a view of gay and lesbian relationships as inherently dysfunctional (Brand and Kidd 1986;Merrill 1998;Burke and Follingstad 1999;Ard and Makadou 2011). There are several myths and stereotypes in the assessment of male sexuality and especially male homosexuality.…”