dden victims of domestic violence is an important one because it means that thousands of women are suffering in silence, with no where to turn, and no one to listen to them and offer help. Many lesbians are insecure because of their sexual orientation, and if they are abused by their partner, they are made even more so. They are already made to feel inferior by many heterosexuals because of their preference for women, and if they are then rejected and abused by the women they love and who share their sexual preferences, this can be a very devastating situation which can rob them of their self-esteem entirely. This paper will review some of the literature on domestic violence between women.
According to Nealon (1992), though large number of lesbians, as many as 100,000 a year, are battered by their partners annually, the lesbian community has been very slow to acknowledge this violence and to set up a network to deal with it. Nealon, a reporter for the Boston Globe, reports that Massachusetts has no shelters or safe houses for lesbians, and they are often turned away from battered women's shelters. She quotes Beth Leventhal, coordinator of the Network for Battered Lesbians in Boston as saying the ratio of battering in the lesbian community mirrors that of women in the heterosexual population. Leventhal believes the same societal forces that keep many lesbians closeted also keep their violent relationships from public view. Many lesbians, she believes, are afraid that if they go to the authorities, their relationship will be revealed to neighbors and coworkers who may not know. The abusing partner can use this as a threat to keep the victim quiet. Even though the domestic abuse act was extended in 1990 to apply to same-sex relationships, Leventhal knows of cases where courts have refused to issue restraining orders requested by lesbians.
While a law in Vermont now allows marriage between couples of the same sex, this law ...