Domestic Violence in Lesbian Relationships

This paper is an attempt to examine domestic violence in lesbian relationships, and the modern response to it, in a social and historical context. I chose to examine domestic violence within lesbian relationships in an attempt to look at violence in relationships outside the context of male and female. I did this because the popular beliefs that men are abusers and women are abused made it difficult to discuss or consider what was actually occurring in these troubled relationships, and what each partner contributed to the dynamic.

(Now, in 2011, those attitudes and beliefs have become imbedded into law and practice, particularly since the O.J. Simpson trial, and it is even more difficult to attempt a discussion on these issues. In an increasing number of occasions, the laws passed to control domestic violence have become a form of violence in themselves. However, the idea that at least occasionally these laws, and their enforcement, may be a source of social problems, rather than the solution, is ignored or shouted down.

I can only hope that in the next few years, as more and more middle- class families experience what happens when, in their opinion, an ordinary intense disagreement between two people in a relationship turns into an emotional and financial disaster because of intervention by the legal system, these laws will be amended to reflect real social needs.)

THE SOCIAL ACCEPTANCE OF VIOLENCE AS A MEANS OF CONTROL OR AS A SIMPLE, EVEN PREFERRED, SOLUTION TO PROBLEMS

In 1985 one fifth of the worlds population was living under military controlled governments (Harper's Index Book), and it may around half now since China so brutally squashed its citizens' move toward democracy (Harper's Index Book). The reunificat...

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