Same sex domestic violence seen as less serious than straight DV: researchers

New York researchers have concluded that frontline domestic violence workers take same sex domestic violence less seriously than heterosexual domestic violence.

Michael Brown [email address] and Jennifer Groscup [email address], both of the City University of New York concluded:

Crisis centre staff help form the frontline in the fight against domestic violence. Therefore, it is important that we understand any biases they may have when addressing cases of same-sex domestic violence. In this study, 120 crisis center staff members were given a vignette depicting a domestic dispute and asked to complete a questionnaire about their perceptions of the incident and the parties involved. We manipulated the sex of the perpetrator and victim. All other aspects of the vignette remained consistent. Because gay and lesbian relationships are often perceived as less serious than heterosexual relationships, we hypothesized that participants would perceive same-sex domestic violence as such. Consistent with this hypothesis, participants rated same-sex domestic violence scenarios as less serious than opposite-sex domestic violence and as less likely to get worse over time.

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