"Physical and Sexual Violence Experienced by Lesbian and Heterosexual Women" by Bernhard (2000). The purpose of this study was to add to the database regarding lesbian and heterosexual women's experiences of physical and sexual violence with a comparison of the two groups regarding prevalence rates of the abuse and actions used in response to the abuse. Since information regarding this topic was lacking survey research was used to explore and describe the issues.
A review of the literature described the previous research regarding the topic. It was noted that only two small studies were found that compared these groups with regard to the physical and sexual abuse. One study found that rape was slightly more prevalent in lesbians (33%) compared to heterosexual women (30%) and the other study showed that heterosexual women reported more instances of this abuse compared to lesbians. Bernhard stated that little is known about the responses to this abuse. An earlier study investigated a sample of lesbians to determine the resources they would tend to use following this experience of abuse; findings were that counseling, support groups, and battered women's shelters were selected as being likely to use, however this did not indicate that they were used. Findings regarding what help was actually sought were not reported. Thus the problem remained that information was lacking and the current study was designed to fill this gap in knowledge.
Formal research questions and hypotheses were not stated. This was a descriptive study which sought to add to the knowledge regarding the topic by comparing lesbian and heterosexual women on the following variables: prevalence rates of physical and sexual violence; and actions used in response to the violence. There was no theoretical framework provided. The study simply sought to explore the variables described. The unit of analysis was female lesb
...