Fearful Spaces:Factors Eliciting Fear and Avoidance Among the LGBTQ+ Community

• In Event: Poster Session I

Abstract

The concept of ‘hot spots’ for fear of crime (Nabar and Fisher, 1993; Jorgensen et al., 2013) has long been established. Clearly, environmental cues to danger exist on both a macro (city or neighborhood) and micro (proximate) level. Little work, however has considered the influence of type of victimization on the factors that evoke fear. As the literature has expanded to consider contextual risk factors that may depend on the type of crime under investigation (domestic violence, hate crime) (Outlaw, 2015), there has been little to no corresponding assessment of factors related to fear and/or avoidance among specific populations whose fear in any given situation is a product of both the physical space and their own vulnerability (see Cops and Pleysier, 2011 for an exception). The current study explores the factors that elicit fear and/or avoidance among the LGBTQ+ population as they navigate their everyday lives. The data are derived from qualitative interviews with a broad sample of adults who identify as LGBTQ+ from all over the United States. Their responses indicate that there are both macro and micro-level ‘cues’ they use to assess danger and or discomfort in unfamiliar settings.

Author

• Mauren C Outlaw, Providence College