Student organizations Promoting Awareness, Victim Empowerment and the UW-Madison LGBT Campus Center hosted a workshop, ""Break the Silence Around Violence,"" to discuss domestic violence in same-sex relationships Wednesday.
In light of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, LGBT intimate partner violence expert Molly Herrmann discussed the struggle she said LGBT community members face when trapped in an abusive relationship.
According to Herrmann, the main struggle for women in the LGBT community is breaking away from the ""lesbian utopia"" mindset: The idea that women are gentle by nature and would not harm one another.
Instead, Herrmann said the LGBT community dismisses abusive male aggression toward one another as playful or expected.
According to Herrmann, about 25-33 percent of heterosexual and homosexual relationships are abusive.
""There's a tendency for people to be afraid to say how much it happens,"" she said.
Herrmann said many people believe same-sex relationships lack the gender dominance present in heterosexual relationships. Despite the misconception that only a stronger partner can be abusive, she said, the assumed lack of gender dominance in homosexual relationships does not prevent abuse.
""Power and control is available to anyone,"" Herrmann said.
She said some LGBT victims who have yet to come out are hesitant to seek help out of fear that their abusers might reveal the victims' sexual orientation. Compounding the problem, there are fewer legal protections for the LGBT community.
Herrmann said most victims report abuse to trusted family members or friends, but feel uncomfortable reporting abuse to agencies. Less than 2 percent of LGBT victims report to shelters, according to Herrmann.
She said since LGBT victims report abuse less often than heterosexual victims, agencies fail to recognize the number of abusive relationships in the LGBT community.
