In a report looking at global LGBT+ issues published earlier this month, the United Nations described the rates of sexual violence against bi women as “shocking”, and bi women as “especially at risk” of sexual violence. In several countries, including the UK, the US and Canada, studies have shown that bi women are the most vulnerable to rape, sexual assault, domestic violence and stalking.
In the UK, studies have found that bisexual women are five times more likely than heterosexual women to be abused by a partner. In one study, 10.8 per cent of bi women reported having been abused, compared to 8.2 per cent of lesbians and 6 per cent of straight women.
Pennsylvania-based intimate partner violence researcher, Dr Nicole Johnson, estimates that up to 75 per cent of bisexual women have been raped or sexually assaulted. She has identified three categories of vulnerability that leave bi women at higher risk of sexual violence: substance misuse, hypersexualisation and biphobic harassment.
‘Bisexual women are more likely to face abuse – and no one is asking why’
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