Unprotected and Unheard: Professionals’ Perspectives on Sexual Violence Against SGM Youth

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth face a heightened risk of sexual violence, yet their experiences are often overlooked in mainstream frameworks of prevention and care. Access to appropriate support may be further limited by biased or uninformed professional attitudes toward both SGM identities and sexual victimization. This study explored how professionals in Israel understand and interpret sexual violence against SGM youth and how structural, psychological, and cultural factors shape vulnerability and barriers to healing. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty professionals working with SGM youth in clinical, educational, and community settings. Three interconnected themes emerged: (1) Longing for Recognition, showing how unmet attachment needs and isolation drive SGM youth into unsafe digital spaces; (2) When Shame Meets Shame, illustrating how internalized stigma and identity-related shame complicate the recognition and disclosure of harm; and (3) Silenced Pain, highlighting how family rejection, institutional neglect, and intra-community denial contribute to systemic invisibility. Five subthemes, including digital risk-taking and the burden of double disclosure, further detailed these dynamics. Identity-based stigma, digital vulnerability, and institutional gaps converge to create complex pathways of harm. Trauma-informed, LGBTQ-affirming interventions are urgently needed across clinical, educational, and policy domains.