Same-sex Victims Research Articles

Examining perceptions of blame and homophobia: the impact of sexual orientation on non-consensual intimate image dissemination

ABSTRACT Our aim was to investigate whether blame attribution toward same-sex victims compared to heterosexual victims of NCII and offense severity evaluation were associated with homophobic attitudes. Two-hundred-and-sixty men and women, who described themselves as heterosexual, were presented with vignettes depicting an NCII offense in which the intimate material was released by the victim’s ex-intimate partner. Victim’s and perpetrator’s sex were manipulated (i.e. gay, lesbian, heterosexual). We found that higher levels of homophobic attitudes were linked with lower severity attributions for same-sex perpetrator-victim pairs, but not for opposite-sex pairs. Additionally, higher levels of homophobic attitudes were associated with lower blame attributed to the perpetrator, but higher blame attributed to the victim. Sex differences were found, revealing that men tended to attribute higher blame to same-sex victims compared to heterosexual victims, whereas women showed no significant differences in blame attribution based on victim’s sexual orientation. Men also exhibited higher levels of homophobic attitudes than did women. The study reveals the impact of homophobic attitudes on blame allocation in NCII cases, emphasizing the need for targeted interventions to reduce victim-blaming and promote inclusivity. The role of technology in shaping behavior was also underscored, urging consideration of sex and sexual orientation in response strategies.

Police Officers' Attributions of Victim Culpability in Scenarios of Same-Sex Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has garnered the attention of scholars, policymakers, and social justice actors for several decades. Shortcomings in police response to IPV may be related to police attributions of victim culpability. A dearth of research has assessed police officers' assignment of blame, responsibility, and causality directed toward IPV victims, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+. Using a randomly assigned, experimental vignette design, the current study employed surveys from a sample of 305 police officers commissioned at a sizeable police department in one of the most populous and diverse U.S. cities to (1) assess culpability attributions directed toward same-sex IPV (SSIPV) victims, (2) determine whether culpability attributions differed between male and female SSIPV victims, (3) examine officer demographic, occupational, attitudinal, and experimental predictors of IPV culpability attributions directed toward SSIPV victims, and (4) assess differences in predictors of culpability between male and female SSIPV victims. Results from the current study suggest police officers attributed average levels of culpability toward SSIPV victims and levels were not significantly different between male and female SSIPV victims. Adherence to heteronormative IPV myths and trauma misperceptions increased police officers' attributions of culpability directed toward same-sex victims. Presence of physical evidence decreased culpability attributions among police officers. Educational programming developed for police officers should focus on the dynamics of IPV and cultural competency. Future research should continue to explore police officers' perceptions of and responses to SSIPV incidents.

Self, peer, and teacher reports of victim-aggressor networks in kindergartens.

This study investigated if and how children and teachers differ in their assessment of victim‐aggressor relationships in kindergartens. Self‐, peer, and teacher reports of victimization‐aggression networks (who is victimized by whom) were investigated in 25 Swiss kindergartens with 402 5‐ to 7‐years‐old. It was examined whether child characteristics (sex and parent‐reported internalizing and externalizing behavior) influence informant reports of victimization and/or aggression. Findings from statistical network models indicated higher concordance between self and peer reports than between one of these and teacher reports. Results further showed more agreement among informants on aggressors than on victims. Aggressors reported by self and peer reports were low on internalizing behavior, and aggressors reported by self and teacher reports were high on externalizing behavior; teacher‐reported victims were also high on externalizing behavior. Internalizing behavior was unrelated to victimization. According to self and peer reports, boys as well as girls were victimized by boys and girls equally; teachers reported less cross‐sex victimization than same‐sex victimization. The different views of teachers and children on victim‐aggressor relationships have implications for the identification of aggression in early childhood. Mutual sharing of information between children, their parents, peers, and teachers may contribute to signaling victims and aggressors in the early school years.

Adolescent sexual violence: Prevalence, adolescent risks, and violence characteristics

The purpose of this research is to investigate peer-to-peer sexual violence victimization and perpetration among male and female adolescents in a large, racially and economically diverse, community-based sample. Using cross-sectional data over a four-year period (2009–2013) from a regional sample of middle school and high school students in southeastern Michigan, we examined the prevalence and correlates of peer-to-peer sexual violence victimization and perpetration among adolescents. 33.9% of males and 53.5% of females reported sexual violence victimization, while 22.8% of males and 12.6% of females reported sexual violence perpetration. The majority of peer-to-peer sexual victimization and perpetration occurred by someone of the opposite sex, however, same-sex victimization and perpetration were not uncommon. Substance use, depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and conduct disorder were associated with peer-to-peer sexual violence (victimization or perpetration) for both males and females, with few differences in the patterns of associations by sex. These findings are an important step in better understanding the types of peer-to-peer sexual violence that adolescents experience and risk factors for both male and female youth.

Police Students’ Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence in Same-Sex Relationships

The knowledge of same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) is limited. This study aims to investigate the perception of seriousness of same-sex IPV. A vignette study was undertaken among 248 police students (69% males and 31% females) in Sweden. The vignettes portrayed an intimate partner relationship between two people and were available in four versions with the sex of the offender and victim being alternated. Perceptions of IPV were measured using the Opinions of Domestic Violence Scale (Ahmed et al., 2013). The results showed that regardless of gender, IPV was considered serious; however, same-sex IPV was perceived as less serious than victimization of a heterosexual female but more serious than victimization of a heterosexual male. Police interventions were found to be less needed for same-sex victims than for heterosexual female victims.

Same‐ and Other‐Sex Victimization: Are the Risk Factors Similar?

Risk factors for same- and other-sex victimization were examined in a longitudinal data set involving 9- to 14-year-old students. The findings regarding same-sex victimization supported the view that bullies select personally and interpersonally vulnerable targets in order to maximize their gains in status while minimizing loss of affection within their same-sex peer group. Although low self-esteem was a joint predictor of same- and other-sex victimization, rejection and lack of friends among other-sex peers failed to predict victimization by other-sex bullies, and being perceived as popular among other-sex peers increased the risk. Although the findings suggests that interpersonal risk factors for other-sex victimization differ from those found for same-sex victimization, they do not provide strong support for heterosexual interest being the basis for other-sex target selection, as suggested by some previous literature. As about half of the study participants were involved in the KiVa antibullying program, we had the possibility to examine whether the program effects were similar for same- and other-sex victimization. It turned out that in middle schools the program decreased only same-sex victimization, whereas in elementary school the decrease was observed regardless of the sex composition of bully-victim dyads.

Juvenile Homosexual Homicide

Limited information exists on juvenile homosexual homicide (JHH), that is, youths who perpetrate sexual homicides against same-sex victims. Only a handful of cases from the United States and internationally have been described in the literature. This study, the first of its kind, examines the epidemiology, victimology, victim-offender relationship, and weapon-use patterns in JHH offenders using a large U.S. database on homicide spanning three decades. The data for this study were derived from the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Supplementary Homicide Reports (SHRs) for the years 1976 through 2005. A total of 93 cases of JHH were identified. On average, three of these crimes occurred annually in the U.S., and there was a marked decline in its incidence over the study period. Ninety-five percent were male offender-male victim cases and 5% were female offender-female victim cases. JHH offenders were over-represented amongst all juvenile sexual murderers, similar to their adult counterparts. The majority of these boys were aged 16 or 17 and killed adult victims. They were significantly more likely to kill adult victims than other age groups, to be friends or acquaintances of the victims, and to use contact/edged weapons or firearms. Most offenders killed same-race victims, although Black offenders were significantly more likely than White offenders to kill interracially. A case report is provided to illustrate JHH. Further research is needed to promote our understanding of the pathogenesis, etiology, and associated risk factors for this aberrant form of murder by children.

Comparisons of Intimate Partner Violence Among Partners in Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships in the United States

Using 2005-2007 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data, we examined intimate partner violence (IPV) by same-sex and opposite-sex relationships and by Metropolitan Statistical Area status. Same-sex victims differed from opposite-sex victims in some forms of IPV prevalence, and urban same-sex victims had increased odds of poor self-perceived health status (adjusted odds ratio=2.41; 95% confidence interval=1.17, 4.94). Same-sex and opposite-sex victims experienced similar poor health outcomes, underscoring the need both of inclusive service provision and consideration of sexual orientation in population-based research.

Do You See What I See? The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Student and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Perceptions of Violent Same-Sex and Opposite-Sex Relationships

ABSTRACT Forty-one men and 67 women undergraduate students, as well as 35 men and 27 women Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers, rated the abusiveness of intimate partner violence (IPV) vignettes portraying each possible gender combination of victim and perpetrator (Harris & Cook, 1994). Rating differences according to victim and perpetrator gender, occupation (student or RCMP officer), and participant gender were anticipated. Analyses found that student and RCMP ratings of abuse severity were both highest for the male-female scenario. However, the RCMP considered the female-male, male-male, and female-female scenarios to be more abusive than did the students. Our findings suggest that, while the RCMP appeared to be more sensitive to male and same-sex victims than students, both groups remain somewhat biased.

Perceptions of domestic abuse in same-sex relationships and implications for criminal justice and mental health responses.

Male and female university students (N = 171) read scenarios describing a domestic abuse incident that systematically varied the sex of victim and perpetrator to produce four between-participants conditions. Results were consistent with and extended previous findings about perceptions of heterosexual domestic abuse to include gay and lesbian domestic abuse. Findings suggest that participant perceptions of abuse in same-sex and heterosexual relationships are similar. Where they differ, the differences have significant implications: (a) participants considered male against female abuse to be more serious than same-sex domestic abuse, (b) participants were more likely to recommend that the victim press charges in male against female abuse than in same-sex domestic abuse, (c) participants perceived same-sex victims to be less believable than heterosexual victims, and (d) victim believability was correlated with sentencing recommendations. Implications for criminal justice and mental health intervention are considered. Directions for future research are outlined.

Sexual Victimization of Boys by Men

Abstract Sexual abuse of boys by men and older boys has been misunderstood in the professional and lay literatures. Because they confuse same-sex victimization with a homosexual orientation, many abused boys, and the people they talk to about their abuse, understand it as a sign of the victim's or the abuser's homosexuality. These reactions will confuse how a boy processes his victimization, regardless of whether he was previously developing toward a homosexual or heterosexual orientation. Gay boys may see it as a sexual initiation rather than an abusive exploitation; straight boys may understand it as a sign that they are “really” gay. In addition, gay boys may fear that their orientation derives from their sexual abuse history. Both straight and gay boys may consider that the abuse is a sign that they are unmanly and weak.

Same-sex harassment: implications of theOncale decision for forensic evaluation of plaintiffs

The US Supreme Court recently rendered an opinion in Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc. (1998), holding that same-sex sexual harassment of a male by another male provides a basis for a title VII hostile work environment claim. Social scientists have recently begun to research same-sex sexual harassment. The data indicate that men are the predominant targets of intra-gender sexual harassment, and that patterns of same-sex harassment differ from those of inter-gender harassment. The clinical research on male victims of sexual abuse suggests that symptom pictures for same-sex victims may differ from models based upon women's experience of hostile work environments. Implications for social science research and clinical practice are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en