When the personal remains personal. Intimate partner violence in lesbian relationships

Abstract

The past couple of years have seen a groundswell of women’s voices speaking out about gender-based violence (GBV). However, even in the current climate of raising issues about GBV, including in the global #MeToo movement, and more recently #TheTotalShutdown, the issue of violence in lesbian relationships remains largely unspoken. As activists we are aware that it happens - through our own personal experiences and those of comrades and friends, yet it continues to be a taboo topic in certain lesbian circles, communities and organisations. Individuals who have experiences of intimate partner or domestic violence remain silent: as a community we are outraged (and rightly so) about the hate crimes of rapes and murders of lesbian women and yet we do not acknowledge, even to ourselves, the extent of violence in our relationships.