ACADEMICIA: An International Multidisciplinary Research Journal

Violence is a poorly understood phenomena in homosexual interactions. While there is an increasing number of literatures on violence in women of the same sex, few published research explores violence in men of the same sex.Despite evidence of a high frequency of violence in Males same-sex relationships, very little known about the nature of this violence. The nature of male same-sex interpersonal violence was examined in this research. In an interview on their intimate relationships, 69 homosexual and bisexual males were picked at random from a community sample and told about at least one violent incident. The recorded interviews were used to classify the men's accounts of the most serious event in their most recent violent relationship. Intimate violence patterns ranged from moderate to severe, including unidirectional and bidirectional violent scenarios. In the overwhelming majority of instances, violence was an outburst of an ongoing dispute that included bidirectional emotional abuse and became more expressive than instrumental. Conflict resolution difficulties and attachment concerns seemed to explain violence more than the desire to dominate one's spouse.