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Battering in Lesbian Relationships: Mainstream Response and the Real Story

by Gail Farmer & Julia Young

Battering in lesbian relationships is a reality. It is an important community issue that is often misunderstood and as such is minimized, dismissed or even ignored. Research indicates that the incidence of domestic violence between two women is similar to the incidence within heterosexual relationships. In addition, the level of physical injury that results is comparable for both types of relationships.

Although there are similarities, there are also differences of which health care providers should be aware. One major difference is the context in which the battering takes place. Battering in a lesbian relationship takes place in the context of a homophobic society. While white heterosexual women have to deal with misogyny, lesbians have to deal with the double oppression of misogyny and homophobia. In each case, women of colour and women with disabilities have to deal with multiple oppressions. The fear of and hatred toward homosexual people affects the lesbian's access to the legal system, access to treatment and support, the quality of the treatment or support she receives, and contributes to the fear and terror that plagues victims of domestic violence seeking help.

Police routinely fail to respond to distress calls when they learn that the violence involves two women in a relationship.Since the legitimacy of the women's relationship is irrelevant given that police routinely respond to charges of assault between unrelated parties, we wonder whether this failure to respond is due to a minimization of the possible injuries (ie: the violence isn't real) or whether the police simply don't care.

Currently the services available to lesbians who are victims of battering or who are batterers are severely limited. Lesbians as a community generally have less discretionary income than their heterosexual counterparts and consequently cannot afford fee for service treatment. As this issue has yet to be taken seriously by the battered women's movement in general, free services which respond to the specific needs of lesbians are not yet available through the traditional social services network. The occasional support group for battered lesbians exists from time to time, offered by typically dedicated but underfinanced lesbian community groups.

Furthermore, there are no transition houses as yet specifically geared to the needs of lesbians. Because lesbians use transition houses that are designed to meet the needs of straight women, there are a host of treatment challenges facing the service providers.

A unique concern facing transition house staff is they may not know who is presenting themselves for treatment; the victim or the batterer. It is not uncommon for the lesbian batterer to seek treatment in this way, as they often characterize themselves as being emotionally or even physically battered by their partners. This raises the issue (and the myth) of mutual battering. Many service providers minimize the need for service by believing that there isn't a victim or a batterer in lesbian violence, but that rather the lesbian couple is engaging in mutual battering. Although violence may be mutual, by definition battering cannot be mutual.

As in heterosexual relationships, battering involves a pattern of behaviour designed to coerce, dominate, isolate and control. This confusion between the batterer and her victim presents a huge barrier to access to a safe place for the victim, since the batterer has equal access to the same services. Appropriate training in transition houses is therefore crucial.

As a final point, homophobia is a deterrent to all service providers working together and advocating for improved services for lesbians. It has often been reported that straight service providers who would like to advocate for additional training with respect to working with lesbian clients and staff, still fail to speak out in fear of being labeled lesbians.

In addition, lesbian service providers whose work on behalf of heterosexual women in the transition houses is so appreciated, are often accused of furthering their own self interest if they actively advocate for the needs of lesbians. It is a sad truth that homophobia affects all of us, men and women, straight and gay, by limiting our actions for fear of the label with which society may brand us. Clearly, appropriate training in homophobia and in the specific needs of lesbians is crucial to all service providers working with battered women, whether they know they're working with lesbians or not.

This article first appeared in the Volume 3, Issue#4 of the BCIFV newsletter.