Sex, sexuality and gender diverse communities are increasingly recognised as vulnerable to intimate partner and sexual violence, but very little is known of specific experiences of people from these communities in Aotearoa New Zealand due to a lack of research and Rainbow specific services.
Bisexual and pansexual people are a heavily under-researched population group in terms of violence in Aotearoa New Zealand and elsewhere. In fact, due to bi-erasure, historically bisexual and pansexual people’s experiences of violence have been conflated with lesbians and gay men in research about similar-gender violence and invisible entirely in research about different-gender violence. It has only been more recent research that has attempted to tease out different experiences across sexuality.
The Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura – Outing Violence survey was developed through drawing on international violence surveys, surveys specifically targeting sexuality and gender diverse populations, our analysis of existing research about partner and sexual violence in Rainbow communities and discussions and feedback from the Hohou Te Rongo Kahukura – Outing Violence advisory group about community experiences.