Domestic and family violence is a society-wide issue, but there are some aspects unique to LGBTIQ relationships, School of Psychology PhD candidate Shannon Stuart explains.
Domestic and family violence is a pervasive social problem that can have significant, long-term effects for a survivor’s physical and mental health.
In Australia in 2012, it was estimated that 17 per cent of all women and 5.3 per cent of all men had experienced an incident of domestic violence at least once in their life since the age of fifteen.
Due to the tireless work of activists, policymakers, victim/survivors and their families in Australia over the past few years, we have seen awareness of the issue gain momentum as an issue that desperately needs to be addressed at a social and political level.
As domestic and family violence is a crime that is predominately committed by male perpetrators against female victims in cis-gender heterosexual relationships, historically, it makes sense that conversations and awareness-raising campaigns have focused predominantly on violence occurring in cis-gender heterosexual relationships.
However, there is a growing body of research to suggest that this kind of abuse is occurring at similar rates in LGBTQI relationships, and around one in three LGBTI people have reported experiencing violence from a partner, ex-partner or family member.
