We used data from the National Survey on Violence against Women in France carried out in 2000 on a representative sample of 6970 women to compare the social characteristics of women who had sex with women (WSW) and women who had sex only with men (WSM). The WSW were more likely to be of a high socio-economic level and living in large cities. They were more frequently unmarried, without children, and had a more diverse sexual life, generally beginning younger, with more partners, mainly men. They were also more likely to use tobacco, alcohol and drugs. WSW reported more physical violence in the recent past and more suicide attempts than WSM, despite a lack of difference in psychological distress and stress. These results, in a field little studied in France, are consistent with international findings attesting to the difficulties faced by women in situations involving autonomy and marginality.
Since the middle of the 19th century, the character of the homosexual, man or woman, has been constructed through psychiatry, forensic medicine, and the emerging discipline of sexology. Some scientists considered homosexuality to be a natural phenomenon, equivalent to a “third sex”, whereas most described it as a mental illness, a form of degeneracy, a state of arrested development or a perversion. These constructions are based on an absolute dichotomy in the definition of the sexes, treating men and women as two entirely separate entities, almost as two different species (Lhomond, 1993). The concept of “homosexuality” has since undergone a radical transformation, from a mental disorder to a way of life. Key steps in this ongoing transformation include the removal of homosexuality from the list of mental disorders by the American Psychiatric Association in 1974 and by the World Health Organisation in 1993. These changes came about as a result of much debate among scientists and strong pressure from the gay and lesbian movements (Bayer, 1987). Research into gay and lesbian mental health has changed considerably as an outcome (Rothblum, 2000b). In western countries, while the search for a genetic or biological basis of homosexuality continues, the view of homosexuality as a mental illness has been replaced for the most part by a concern with the general and mental health of homosexuals. In 2001, the American Journal of Public Health published a special issue dedicated to “Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender health” ( Northridge, 2001). In February 2004, the British Medical Journal published a front page editorial entitled “Treating homosexuality as a sickness. One of medicine's many mistakes” ( King, Smith, & Bartlett, 2004; Smith, Bartlett, & King, 2004).
The number of publications on homosexuality, mainly from the United States, has increased in recent years, but few quantitative studies have focused on lesbians, bisexuals or women who have sex with women. Many of these studies are based on non-random samples, with participants recruited via community groups, commercial venues, and from newspaper readers. This limits the extent to which the results may be generalised, even if they provide useful information. Studies comparing such women with heterosexual women are even rare, with almost no data available for France. Large quantitative surveys, unless focusing on sexuality, rarely ask questions about same-sex behaviour. The HIV epidemic has brought the topic of homosexual behaviour to the fore, but mostly as concerns gay men and the risk of HIV transmission. This topic is also not explored in surveys focusing on violence against women. National representative surveys on violence against women in Switzerland (Gillioz, De Puy, & Ducret, 1997), Finland (Heiskanen & Piispa, 1998), Canada (Johnson & Rodgers, 1994) and New Zealand (Morris, 1997) did not ask any questions on same-sex behaviour, as if this subject were not relevant for the analysis. Sexual behaviour, especially same-sex behaviour, is not considered to be of sociological interest. Instead, sexuality is treated as separate from social practices and situations. As Gagnon and Simon stated (1973) “Even when such aspects of [a lesbian's daily] life have been considered, they have been used to show the way her sexuality expresses itself in this non-sexual activity. Rarely, for example, has her sexual activity been viewed as something that can be, and is, an expression of other forms of social activity”.
The aim of this paper is to use data from a national survey on violence against women in France, based on a large representative sample of adult women, to investigate whether same-sex sexual behaviour, defined as having at least one female sexual partner, was associated with different life histories and with the frequency of violence and suicide attempts.
