Abstract
Sexual minority women report higher levels of lifetime sexual victimization than heterosexual women. Most prior studies on this topic have used cross-sectional data and implicitly assume that sexual identity is fixed and precedes sexual victimization. Yet, as I have demonstrated throughout this book, women can and do change their sexual identities. It is therefore plausible that the association between sexual victimization and queer identification runs in both directions. In this chapter, I argue that the unique positions occupied by queer women in the heteropatriarchal order make them more vulnerable to sexual violence in the forms of prejudice, predation, and punishment. In addition, I contend that young women who experience sexual violence are more likely to subsequently adopt a queer identity due to increased motivation to engage sexually/romantically with other women, and decreased motivation to abide by heteronormative strictures. Analyzing data from young Millennial women, I find evidence that sexual victimization both precedes and follows from changes in identity away from heterosexuality. More qualitative research is needed to better understand queer women’s lived experiences of heteropatriarchy and sexual violence.
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Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course (CE140100027 and CE200100025). The research on which this paper is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle. We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided the survey data.
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Campbell, A. (2022). Heteropatriarchy, Sexual Violence, and Sexual Fluidity. In: Sexual Fluidity Among Millennial Women. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-13650-4_7
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