The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: 2010 Findings on Victimization by Sexual Orientation

This report presents information based on respondents’ self-reported sexual orientation and their lifetime victimization experiences of sexual violence, stalking, and violence by an intimate partner. The findings in this report are for 2010, the first year of NISVS data collection, and are based on complete interviews. Complete interviews were obtained from 16,507 adults (9,086 women and 7,421 men).

Key findings:

• Lesbians and gay men reported levels of violence victimization equal to or higher than those of heterosexuals. Violence affects everyone regardless of sexual orientation.
• Bisexual women had significantly higher lifetime prevalence of rape and sexual violence other than rape by any perpetrator (which includes an intimate partner, acquaintance, family member, stranger, or person of authority), when compared to both lesbian and heterosexual women.
• Bisexual women had significantly higher lifetime prevalence of rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner when compared to both lesbian and heterosexual women.
• The vast majority of bisexual women who experienced rape reported having only male perpetrators.