The Facts
In this day and age, few people realize that domestic violence and abuse affects lesbian couples at a disproportionate rate to their gay and straight couple counterparts. As a society, we regularly attribute sex crimes as a predominantly male offense, but a study published by the University of Houston-Downtown titled "Sexual coercion in gay/lesbian relationships: descriptives and gender differences," found that up to 50% of lesbian victims experienced sexual abuse from a female partner. To the surprise of absolutely no one, multiple studies found that as few as 1 in 4 and as many as 9 in 10 lesbian couples reported psychological abuse occurring at least one time during their relationships.
And remember...
Not all victims of lesbian domestic abuse are foxy, young white women with black eyes and bloody lips.
Some are elderly
A study published in the Journal of Lesbian Studies titled "Domestic violence in lesbian relationships: Findings of the lesbian relationships research project" found that more than 10% of the victims surveyed experienced abuse in the form of pushing or shoving, driving recklessly to punish, and slapping, kicking, hitting, or biting. Women, am I right?
Some are asian and latino
Dr. Suzana Rose from the University of Missouri at St. Louis concludes that "lesbian batterers are motivated to avoid feelings of loss and abandonment. Therefore, many violent incidents occur during threatened separations. Many lesbian batterers grew up in violent households and were physically, sexually, or verbally abused and/or witnessed their mothers being abused by fathers or stepfathers."
Some just don't bruise easily
Dr. Rose also writes, "a unique element for lesbians is the homophobic environment that surrounds them. This enables the abusive partner to exert "heterosexist control" over the victim by threatening to "out" the victim to friends, family, or employer or threatening to make reports to authorities that would jeopardize child custody, immigration, or legal status. The homophobic environment also makes it difficult for the victim to seek help from the police, victim service agencies, and battered women's shelters.
