The type of violence that lesbian and bisexual women most frequently suffer is verbal and psychological aggression.
Eight out of ten Lesbian and bisexual women in Spain, 81,9%, have suffered violence due to their sexual orientation, especially psychologically and verbally, and invisibility persists as a survival strategy. This is evident from the study:Lesbian and bisexual women in Spain» that has been published by the Ministry of Equality, through the Institute of Women.
The report, in which they have participated 4.362 women, was carried out from an online survey aimed at these groups residing in Spain from 16 years old, with the average age being 36 years old.
Violence based on sexual orientation
The report reveals that the attacks they suffer most frequently are verbal and psychological materialized as: inappropriate comments (71%), lack of respect (54,1%) and intimidating looks (43%).
It also reflects the violence that women suffer lesbians and bisexuals increases progressively as there is a greater visibility. In the most frequent type of violence, inappropriate comments, the percentage of women who say that "are never visible» up to 77,5% for women who «usually»Or“always"They are.
Likewise, she adds that the risk of suffering violence also increases when women show greater male gender expression, which "breaks with heteronormative gender expectations«.
lack of referents
According to the investigation, the heteronormativity has direct consequences on the lack of references For lesbian and bisexual women, 43,3% of participants did not have any role models when they discovered their orientation, a figure that is even higher among women over 65. In this age group, 75% directly stated that they had no role models.
The main references were fictional characters (26,2%), women from their immediate surroundings (24,3%), social networks (21,6%), and female artists (20,5%). Only 3,3% encountered them in sex education, which highlights a shortcoming in the education system.
Regarding support networks, friendships They constitute the greatest support (92,7%), far above the family environment (43,5%). Only four in ten say their family includes their partners in events, and a third find their support network through social media.
Awareness at 14 years old
Another of the most relevant data that the report reveals is that the age of awareness of sexual orientation is relatively early. With 14 years, almost a third of lesbian and bisexual women were already aware of their sexuality.
On the other hand, the study shows that They do not perceive educational centers as safe spacesThus, 7,8% of girls and 15,5% of adolescents felt supported to be visible at school, a percentage that increases when they move on to university (68,3%).
The world of work and motherhood
As for the world of work, for more than half of the participants it represents a setback in their freedom of affective-sexual expression. The number of visible women in the professional environment falls to 55,8%, which represents almost half of those surveyed.
The research also includes the extent to which non-normative sexual orientation affects the construction of maternity hospitals, what are the demands of older generations or the realities of disabled, racialized, migrant, and rural women.
Finally, the director of the Women's Institute, Cristina Hernández, has indicated that it is necessary to "scontinue generating scientific feminist knowledge from a perspective intersectional to recognize that inequalities do not operate in isolation and to detail the specific situations of discrimination suffered by lesbian and bisexual women", on Spain.
It's clear that the more visible they are, the more they are punished. The fewer regulations, the more violence. There has been progress, of course, but the road is long, and it's always better to walk it with friends and chosen family.
