Perceptions of risk in cases of intimate partner violence with a specific focus on gender and sexuality

Research relating to intimate partner violence (IPV) responses and risk assessments are plentiful, but center around a heteronormative framework omitting various gender and sexuality configurations. This thesis sought to evaluate how the gender and sexuality of IPV perpetrators and victims, as well as categorizations of risk influence perceptions. Participants (N = 1,481) were recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk and were asked to read a fictional vignette regarding an IPV incident with varying perpetrator/victim gender and risk conditions. Participants were asked questions relating to perpetrator dangerousness, victim experience, influence of risk, and sentencing recommendations. Overall, perceptions were influenced most by affirmed gender (male/female) over a designation of transgender/cisgender or sexuality. The findings have implications that (a) show a promise for the successful implementation of risk communication systems, but (b) necessitate a requirement for more education and training surrounding 2SLGBTQIA+ IPV.