2008 Woodie Awards
RSSLGBT sexual violence discussed
By Brooke Blythe
Issue date: 10/23/07 Section: News
Many people do not realize that violence occurs in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community at Lehigh, said graduate student Christina Diggs and Women's Center Assistant Director Michelle Issadore as they led a program titled "Sexual Violence in the LGBT Community" on Wednesday.
The program, which was cosponsored by the Women's Center and LGBTQA Programs and Outreach, focused on sexual assault, rape, domestic violence and relationship violence and how they affect those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"There isn't a peer hot line necessarily related to rape and abuse in the LGBT community, but we definitely do receive calls from members of this community on the Break the Silence peer hot line," Issadore said.
After an overview of Lehigh and state policies with regard to sexual and domestic violence and the definition of key terms, volunteers from the audience read excerpts of survivor stories from "Woman to Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call it Rape?" by Lori Girshick.
According to research by Diggs and Issadore, many myths regarding sexual violence exist in the LGBT community.
"Many times people look at the LGBT community and seem to think they're saying, 'We're a happy community. We have parades and rainbows and lots of pride. There's nothing wrong,'" Diggs said. "That's not the case. The reality is that sexual abuse cuts across all races, religions, ethnicity, genders and sexual orientations. It happens, and it's something to be conscious of."
Another myth is women can't be abusive and men can't be abused.
"Although 90 percent of sexual abuse survivors are women and 99 percent of perpetrators are men, we can't forget these other small percentages of people involved, whether it is women perpetrating women or men perpetrating men," Issadore said.
Morgan Frick, '10, said though she heard about men raping other men, she had never heard about lesbians engaging in sexual violence.
The program, which was cosponsored by the Women's Center and LGBTQA Programs and Outreach, focused on sexual assault, rape, domestic violence and relationship violence and how they affect those in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
"There isn't a peer hot line necessarily related to rape and abuse in the LGBT community, but we definitely do receive calls from members of this community on the Break the Silence peer hot line," Issadore said.
After an overview of Lehigh and state policies with regard to sexual and domestic violence and the definition of key terms, volunteers from the audience read excerpts of survivor stories from "Woman to Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call it Rape?" by Lori Girshick.
According to research by Diggs and Issadore, many myths regarding sexual violence exist in the LGBT community.
"Many times people look at the LGBT community and seem to think they're saying, 'We're a happy community. We have parades and rainbows and lots of pride. There's nothing wrong,'" Diggs said. "That's not the case. The reality is that sexual abuse cuts across all races, religions, ethnicity, genders and sexual orientations. It happens, and it's something to be conscious of."
Another myth is women can't be abusive and men can't be abused.
"Although 90 percent of sexual abuse survivors are women and 99 percent of perpetrators are men, we can't forget these other small percentages of people involved, whether it is women perpetrating women or men perpetrating men," Issadore said.
Morgan Frick, '10, said though she heard about men raping other men, she had never heard about lesbians engaging in sexual violence.
