Differences in victim experiences by gender/sexual minority statuses in Japanese virtual communities

This study clarified the advantages of virtual communities on non‐victim experiences among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals in Japan. A total of 3504 Pigg Party users, including 1390 LGBTQIA individuals, reported their experiences of victimization, perceived emotional support, and concealment of their gender/sexual identity in both physical and virtual communities. Japanese individuals with multiple minority statuses had more victim experiences than those with a single or without minority status. Furthermore, differences in victim experiences by gender/sexual minority status were lower in the virtual community than in physical communities. Similar tendencies were also confirmed on perceived emotional support and concealment. Virtual communities provided a more bias‐free social resource to Japanese LGBTQIA individuals than physical communities.