The Hidden #MeToo Epidemic: Sexual Assault Against Bisexual Women

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The #MeToo movement is invaluable to sexual assault and rape survivors. It’s created an unparalleled site of solidarity and potential for dialogue.

Part of that dialogue means noting the gaps. The silences #MeToo leaves behind are as important as the voices it encourages.

For me, this meant remembering, “What? How can a woman rape you?” and “Oh. I didn’t know you had a girlfriend,” as the primary reactions to my sexual assault narrative.

#MeToo and its discursive aftermath have also exposed our societal assumptions about rape and other forms of sexual violence — assumptions that aren’t all true. Often, I see rape and sexual violence, including harassment, framed by media outlets as a cishet male/cishet female problem: A heterosexual man harasses, rapes, or sexually assaults a heterosexual woman.

While this framework overlooks many realities about sexual assault, the one I’m focusing on here surprised me, in part precisely because I’m part of the demographic in question.

Bisexual women are three times likelier to be raped than heterosexual women, and are also likelier to be raped than lesbians, according to the 2010 CDC report on…