Stonewall’s new report on queer women’s health has drawn a flurry of media attention, such as here on the BBC and here on PinkNews. It’s great proof that if you use the B word in a credible, respected report on gay issues, the media won’t necessarily edit things down to “lesbian and gay”.
As a report it highlights some of the key health issue differences, comparing the figures the research found with the accepted figures for women in the UK as a whole. For example, the pub / club commercial gay culture which leads to higher levels of drinking and smoking in the bisexual and lesbian population. There is also a wealth of anecdotal information on the failings of mainstream health provision across the board to cope with anything but heterosexual experience.
The report does not differentiate between lesbians and bi women though, so it does not make clear whether for example the Stonewall findings reinforce MIND’s findings on the different levels of mental health issues for gay and bisexual people.
Stonewall say that of 6,000 people interviewed, 81 per cent identified as lesbian, and 16 per cent bisexual. This means nearly 1,000 were bi – a good sample size from which to extract bi-specific data.
