The "bi", a sexual minority very exposed to violence

"Bi people appear particularly vulnerable compared to homosexuals and homosexuals" -

If gays and lesbians suffer particularly from physical and psychological violence compared to heterosexuals, there is a population that is even more affected: that of bisexuals and bisexuals.

The idea may seem counter-intuitive, yet it is demonstrated with precision by one of the largest surveys on violence in France,

, carried out in 2015 by INED (National Institute for Demographic Studies) and which is released in book this Tuesday, November 23, with a chapter devoted to LGBT violence that

delivers to you exclusively.

The bi men in the

survey

are rather young, much less often in a relationship than the hetero, and when these people are in a relationship, it is overwhelmingly with a person of the opposite sex.

Bisexuality thus appears as a "sexual repertoire extended to partners of the same sex, but whose center often remains partners of the different sex".

Bi women very exposed to psychological violence in the family

This relative “adaptation” to the heterosexual norm does not, however, prevent bisexual people, even more than those who are homosexual, from suffering violence, as other studies, particularly American ones, had already sensed before.

Bisexual people are, for example, more than twice as likely as straight people to domestic violence, bi men even being even more than gays, according to

.

47% of bisexual women have declared at least one act of violence on the part of a family member during their life, against 47% of lesbians and 19% of straight women.

This is the case for 36 bi men, against 30% of gays and 13.5% of straight men.

Bi women are particularly exposed to psychological and physical violence within the family, categories where they have figures much more worrying than their lesbian and straight counterparts.

40% of bisexuals say they have suffered psychological violence, against 32% of lesbians and 15% of heterosexuals.

Lesbians, however, report more sexual violence within the family.

Bisexual people are also much more likely to leave the home because of a family conflict: almost a quarter of bi women have experienced this situation, against 17% of lesbians and 6% of straight.

Bi men suffered less (9%), but they too experienced this situation more than straight men (5%) and homosexual (6%).

The bisexuality of children is also "less known by parents," adds Tania Lejbowicz, sociologist at INED and one of the two co-author and author of the study.

Extract from the Virage 2015 survey. - Capture

Targets in public space

In public spaces, bisexual people are also very affected by unwelcome flirting or insults.

They are more than 63% to have declared it in their life, against 38% of lesbians and 26% of straight women.

"We assume that bisexuals are brought to frequent more mixed places than lesbians and that this exposes them more", tries to explain Tania Lejbowicz.

Bi women are also particularly affected by sexual violence committed in public spaces (46% of them declare it, against 28% of lesbians and 10% of heterosexuals).

They are also much less likely than lesbians and straight women to say that they control their visibility in the public space, in particular avoiding holding hands or kissing, which may partly explain why they suffer more violence than lesbians for example.

All violence combined, bi men also have more concern in public space than gay men and straight men, even if it is in much smaller proportions than their female counterparts.

41% of them are affected by violence (whether it is unwelcome flirting, insults, physical or sexual violence) against 20% of straight men and 33% of gays.

Extract from the Virage 2015 survey. - Capture

"Standard of monosexuality"

This study by

confirms that homo and bi are much more exposed to violence than heterosexuals, but “bi appear particularly vulnerable compared to homosexuals and homosexuals”, comments

Mathieu Trachman, sociologist at INED

, for

.

This can also be explained by the very pervasive norm of exclusivity of sexual choice.

If the fight for marriage for all, and a form of awareness of society on the question of homosexuality have made it possible to achieve a relative normalization on this side, the “norm of monosexuality” dominates. still largely, note the academics.

Or as Mathieu Trachman points out: “It is socially difficult to conceive of a desire that is not for the other sex and which, moreover, is not for one sex only.

"

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Methodology

, for "Violence and gender relations", concerns a sample of 27,000 people representative of the French population, interviewed by telephone.

In this sample, 1.5 of the women and 1.8% of the men identify as “bi” or “homo”, and in these two groups, almost half say they are bi.

To complete these responses and have a larger sample, Mathieu Trachman and Tania Lejbowicz carried out a new survey, an online questionnaire distributed by LGBT associations and centers that completed 7,148 people.

The researchers questioned people according to their attractions, their practices and finally their identification with homosexuality or bisexuality.

It is this last criterion that they retained, in particular because, “from the point of view of the analysis of violence, it makes it possible to focus on people for whom their sexuality is an aspect of their self-definition, and which is therefore likely to give rise to stigmatization or violence.

"

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