Journal Article

Sexual violence against women with disabilities: intersection between race/color and vulnerability

Siqueira, Luciola Demery, Caluaco, Hortência Gueve Fonseca, Vieira, Ed Wilson Rodrigues, Hino, Paula, Fernandes, Flávia Saraiva Leão, Caldas, José Manuel Peixoto, Fernandes, Hugo

2025

Overview

Introduction Sexual violence is characterized as any unwanted sexual act to obtain one’s own pleasure or actions to commercialize or otherwise use a person’s sexuality through coercion, regardless of the person’s relationship to the victim. Objective To correlate the sociodemographic characteristics of disabled women victims of sexual violence with race/color. Method This is a cross- sectional study. The data was collected between June and July 2024 in São Paulo, using information from the Notifications of Confirmed Cases of Sexual Violence against Women with Disabilities in the Notifiable Diseases Information System (SINAN), on the TabNet platform of the São Paulo Municipal Health Department. R software, version 4.0.2 and the Chi-squared test were used. Results A total of 3,288 notifications were recorded. The main sociodemographic characteristics of women with disabilities, according to race/color, reveal that black women were the most victimized compared to other women. The majority were young, single, heterosexual, with little or no schooling and living in the poorest areas of the city. The most frequent disability was intellectual or significant mental disorder. The most reported type of violence was rape, motivated by sexism. In addition, black women received fewer referrals to human rights bodies and, in general, were treated mainly for STI and HIV prophylaxis. Conclusion The study shows that black women with disabilities are more vulnerable to sexual violence. It is suggested that health professionals who treat victims of this type of violence receive continuous training, with an emphasis on improving the recording of notifications to avoid blank or ignored data and on offering specialized care, taking into account the particularities of each woman, as in the case of people with intellectual disabilities. It should be noted that the research has limitations as it uses secondary data.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Abused women / Adolescent / Adult / Age groups / Aggression / Biostatistics / Black people / Brazil - epidemiology / Chi-square test / Crimes against / Cross-Sectional Studies / Disabilities / Disability / Disabled persons / Disabled women / Environmental Health / Epidemiology / Female / Gender equity / Gender identity / Gender-based violence / Health aspects / Health information systems. intersectional framework. Gender-Based violence. black people. persons with disabilities / Human rights / Humans / Information systems / Intellectual disabilities / Intersectionality / Mediation / Medical informatics / Medical personnel / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental disorders / Mental illness / Middle Aged / Murders & murder attempts / Online health care information services / People with disabilities / Persons with Disabilities - statistics & numerical data / Prevention / Professional ethics / Professionals / Prophylaxis / Public Health / Racial Groups - statistics & numerical data / Risk factors / Sex crimes / Sex Offenses - ethnology / Sex Offenses - statistics & numerical data / Sexual abuse / Sexual assault / Sexuality / Sexually transmitted diseases / Social aspects / Sociodemographics / STD / Transgender persons / Vaccine / Violence / Vulnerable Populations - statistics & numerical data / Womens health / Young Adult