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Experienced Violence & Challenged Sexual Identity
We are keen to emphasise that the LGBTQ+ community experiences sexual violence on a nuanced, complex spectrum encompassing gender – as well as sexuality – based abuse.
Although our other resources can still be helpful for LGBTQ+ survivors, they do not speak to the intersectionality between gender and sexual orientation in the same way as the resources below.
Experiencing sexual violence can impact your relationship with your sexuality in various ways, and all shifts are equally valid reactions.
No emotion is the ‘right’ emotion, so it is important that you give yourself the permission, time, space, and energy to feel those psychological and physical responses. Hypersexuality (an increase in sexual behaviour following sexual trauma), for instance, is just as acceptable of a response as hyposexuality (a decrease in sexual behaviour). Likewise, feeling empowered in your sexuality is just as valid as feeling like your sexuality is more fragile after sexual trauma.
These resources might help you rebalance your relationship with your sexuality, or else find an entirely new way of experiencing and expressing it.
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