Pikić, Aleksandra and Jugović, Ivana (2006) Violence against lesbians, gays and bisexuals in Croatia: research report. Bibliotheca Kontra (3). Lesbian group Kontra, Zagreb. ISBN 953-98889-2-1
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Abstract
This is the first research conducted within the LGB community in Croatia which investigated the extent and structure of violence against the LGB persons due to their sexual orientation. The goals of the research are as follows: 1. informing Croatian LGB community about their member’s life experiences with homophobic violence, 2. drawing attention of the public and the relevant state institutions to the prevalence of the homophobic violence and to the need of its better legal regulations and 3. raising awareness of the police, psychotherapists, social and medical workers, e.g. everyone responsible for offering help to the victims of violence on the issue of violence against the LGB persons. The research was conducted in late 2005 at the sample of 202 persons from the LGB population in Zagreb, Rijeka and Osijek. It became apparent that every second lesbian, gay and bisexual person in Croatia had suffered violence due to her/his sexual orientation in the last 4 years. Almost 40% of participants experienced insults or swearing in that period, 20% of them suffered threats with physical violence, while 14% of participants suffered physical violence. The violence had mostly been committed by the persons who were unknown to the victims, either in open or enclosed public areas. As the numerous studies before this, our study showed as well that the experience of violence was related to several symptoms of the psychological problems. The persons who experienced assaults and limitation of freedom due to their sexual orientation from 2002 up to the end of 2005 show more anxiety, depression and lower self-esteem that the persons who had not experienced violence and those who experienced verbal violence, and feel that belonging to the LGB community is important for defining their own identity. It also appeared that the social environment of the victims of violence knew better about their sexual orientation than of those LGB persons who did not experience violence. Even 84% of participants are aware of more than one case of a physical violence against an unknown to them LGBT person due to his/her sexual orientation. 56% of participants in the research have one or more close LGBT persons who were victims of physical violence. People whose several friends or partners were attacked show more depression and anxiety than the others. When it comes to belonging to the LGB population, we noticed that a lesbian, gay or bisexual person who is more open about his/her views on homo/bisexuality has a higher level of a personal self-esteem. The results have also shown that less anxious persons are those who do not conceal his/her sexual orientation in order to avoid unease, discrimination or violence. At the end of the report we gave basic recommendations to the institutions in charge of helping the victims of violence as well as LGBT organisations on prevention and reduction of primary and secondary victimization due to sexual orientation.
| Item Type: | Book |
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| Additional Information: | Language: English. - Publication is also published in Croatian. - Title in Croatian: Nasilje nad lezbijkama, gejevima i biseksualnim osobama u Hrvatskoj: izvještaj istraživanja (URI: http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/566). |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Nasilje, diskriminacija, seksualna orijentacija, LGB, mentalno zdravlje (violence, discrimination, sexual orientation, LGB, mental health) |
| Subjects: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BF Psychology H Social Sciences > HM Sociology |
| Depositing User: | Karolina |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Dec 2016 14:29 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Dec 2016 14:29 |
| URI: | http://idiprints.knjiznica.idi.hr/id/eprint/567 |
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