A new report from the UN has found that bisexual women are more likely than lesbian or gay people to experience domestic and sexual violence.
The study, which had 108,000 participants and examined global LGBTIQ+ issues, said that bisexual women were "especially at risk" to violence with a "shocking" number of cases.
According to reports from the Independent, similar studies in the UK have also found that 10.8 per cent of bisexual women reported having been abused, compared to 8.2 per cent of lesbians and 6 per cent of straight women.
Up to 75 per cent of bisexual women have been raped or sexually assaulted, says Dr Nicole Johnson, an intimate partner violence researcher in the United States.
“The media, and pornography in particular, have long depicted women’s bisexuality as less about sexual agency and more about the pleasure of straight men, which may result in the dehumanisation and objectification of bisexual women resulting in increased acceptance of violence [against them],” Dr Johnson tells the Independent.
She continued: “One stereotype of bisexuals consistent with biphobia is that we are not to be trusted, which has been linked to intimate partner violence, including sexual violence."
According to Jac Applebee, the founder of organisation Bis of Colour, the statistics are indicative of a broader lack of understanding within the LGBTIQ+ community.
“Bisexuals have few places to turn to in order to get support and in turn, the most vulnerable of our members are often recipients of the worst abuse and after-effects of abuse, because they are already oppressed by other factors,” Applebee said.
Additional research conducted in the United States found that even though trans people face even higher rates of sexual violence, bisexual trans women are the most at risk group in the LGBTIQ+ community.
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