Power and Inequality: Intimate Partner Violence Against Bisexual Women

What is it about?

Bisexual and non-monosexual women (that is, women who have had intimate relationships/dated both men and women) are significantly more likely to experience sexual, emotional, and psychological/control violence, and intimate stalking. This paper tests four theories of intimate partner violence victimization to see whether or not they can explain these significant disparities. Three of them do (a gender-based perspective: i.e. having an abusive partner who is a man; a social exchange perspective: i.e. having a lot of relative social power; and a minority stress perspective: i.e. self-identifying as “bisexual”).

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Why is it important?

It is the first population-based study to test the major IPV victimization theories while explicitly looking at a sample of bisexual and non-monosexual women (e.g. not lumping them together with lesbian women for analytical purposes).