Sussex based charity Mankind are runnning a new online survey to uncover the extent and effects of sexual violation on LGBT people.
Mankind is a specialist agency that provides counselling to men who have experienced sexual abuse and is concerned by the lack of research and knowledge around the experience of LGBT people.
Mankind CEO, Martyn Sullivan, said:
“We are aware that individuals from LGBT communities face unique difficulties and challenges in disclosing sexual abuse. We want to address this by giving them a safe way to tell us about their experiences.”
The survey is called ‘With Consent?’ and aims to go beyond clearly defined instances of sexual abuse, assault and rape.
Martyn added:
“Sometimes, it is not that clear.
“Sex can be used in many different ways and we sometimes find that we’ve been involved in something that later on we are not entirely happy or comfortable about.”
This is especially true for people first becoming aware of their sexuality and beginning to experiment with different sexual experiences, or when sex is used as payment for shelter, food and drugs etc. In these circumstances it can be very confusing about how consensual the sex was, and how much control the person actually felt they had.
This is why the survey is described as ‘Discovering how sex is abused, used and confused in LGBT communities.
Martyn concluded:
“We want this survey to cover the whole spectrum of negative sexual experiences in order to give a true account of the sexual lives of LGBT people.”
“This is the first survey of its kind – we’ve put it online to make sure it’s 100% confidential and enable as many people as possible to take part.”
To participate in the UK LGBT Survey, view:
To find out more about Mankind, view:
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