ABSTRACT
Queer people are at higher risk for violence when compared to non-Queer people, yet few studies consider the ways additional intersecting identities may impact Queer people’s victimization. In particular, the experiences of Queer people who also identify as butch, femme, bear, and twink are critical to examine. Specifically, this chapter provides an intersectional investigation of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) (Worthen, 2020) with hetero-cis-normativity (a system of norms, privilege, and oppression that situates heterosexual cisgender people above all others) as the centralized overarching concept that helps us to understand gender-based violence among Queer people. A sample of adults aged 18–64 stratified by US census categories of age, gender, race/ethnicity, and census region collected from online LGBTQ panelists (N = 1,604; n = 313 Queer people) is utilized. Results indicate a staggering amount of gender-based violence among Queer, butch, femme, bear, and twink people (with between 30% and 53% reporting experiences with violence) and that hetero-cis-normativity and intersections among Queer, butch, femme, and twink (but not bear) identities are related to gender-based violence in complex and dynamic ways. Overall, findings lend support to the use of NCST in intersectional explorations of violence in Queer people’s lives.
In recent decades, Queer identity has become attractive to those “who do not feel that LGBT identities (or other identities) adequately or fully capture their experiences, for those who want to challenge the status quo and hierarchies, and/or for those who feel categorically ‘Queer’” (Worthen, 2021a, p. 1; see also Brontsema, 2004; Butler, 1993; Callis, 2014; Gamson, 1995; Khayatt, 2002). However amidst this proliferation, disturbingly, Queer identity has been found to be related to an increased risk for violence (Meyer, 2015; Worthen, 2020). Scholars (Ball, 2013; Bedera & Nordmeyer, 2020; Javaid, 2018; Meyer, 2015; Worthen, 2020) suggest that Queer people’s violations of hetero-cis-normativity may explain such violence yet little is known about the experiences of violence that Queer people who also identify as butch, femme, bear, and twink endure. Especially because butch, femme, bear, and twink people can transgress various gender norms and violate hetero-cis-normativity, they may be at particular risk for gender-based violence. This chapter uses the theoretical lens of Norm-Centered Stigma Theory (NCST) (Worthen, 2020) to offer insight into the intersecting ways that being Queer and being butch, femme, bear, or twink relate to experiences with victimization.
