Breast cancer in Lesbian and bisexual women

Abstract

This chapter describes breast cancer survivorship of women who identify as lesbian or bisexual and of women who prefer or have a woman partner, all of which are captured under the term sexual minority women. Reviewed are what is known about sexual minority women with breast cancer, comparing sexual minority women to heterosexual women, when information is available, but also paying close attention to unique issues for sexual minority women with breast cancer. Throughout this chapter, shortcomings of the available information and gaps in knowledge are brought to the forefront. Finally, challenges for research are discussed, next steps for breast cancer research that focuses on sexual minority women are described, and a research trajectory for sexual minority women with breast cancer is outlined. Within this chapter, the focus will be on breast cancer survivorship, that is, this chapter will begin with those who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. It will summarize the experiences of those living with breast cancer. While some transgender individuals or gay and bisexual men will develop breast cancer, given the dearth of research on these populations' experiences with breast cancer, they are omitted from this chapter with a call to conduct research on these populations' experiences. To date, lesbian or bisexual women and women who have a woman partner, defined as sexual minority women (SMW) with breast cancer, have almost exclusively occupied research on understanding cancer in sexual minority populations. Despite this focus, the current understanding of sexual minority women with breast cancer is nevertheless incomplete and patchy, which is why this chapter will present what is known but also describe areas of omission and point to questions that need to be answered in the future.