Lesbian DV "Impossible"

As one lesbian said in my study, the feminist analysis used by the domestic violence agency she volunteered at not only made her abuse "invisible, it made it impossible."

Here's an interesting article about a study of domestic violence in lesbian couples (Off Our Backs, 10/01). Its findings include the fact that DV shelters for women often simply deny services to lesbian victims of DV. It seems the workers there just can't wrap their minds around the concept of female perpetrators of DV, even when the victim is a woman. They'll tell you they're all about protecting women who are victims of DV, but apparently that's only true when the perp (or claimed perp) is a male. Some of the lurid case histories in the piece show the need for women's shelters to change their ways.

In short, this article and the study it's based on come uncomfortably (for some) close to revealing that DV shelters are as much about demonizing men as they are about helping women. That's not news, of course, as anyone who's read Erin Pizzey's experiences with feminist true believers knows. But it's further corroboration. (Here's a link to a short description by Pizzey of her early DV efforts. If you don't know her work, please check it out.)

Don't get me wrong, this article makes no reference to female DV against men. Despite the quotation above, it still manages to advocate a "feminist" view of relationships and DV. It accepts the feminist notion that DV is all about power - the control by one partner of the other. It doesn't even consider the possibility that DV results from personality disorders that can be treated therapeutically.

So it more or less stumbles across the truth about the domestic violence industry, but it's the truth nevertheless.