Is domestic violence a gender hate crime, and why does it matter?

Again, a cursory search of the literature will reveal some significant material on lesbian DV and IPV, though the area is still very under-researched.

The following is a paper delivered at the Australian and New Zealand Critical Criminology Conference 2010 by researcher Justine Hotten, on the lack of services and research in Australia for lesbians who experience and perpetrate DV and IPV. The author concludes that Australian research inevitably assumes heterosexuality in issues of DV and IPV, due to the use of dominant feminist frameworks for identification of the problem.

This heterosexism is identified as a serious barrier to seeking help with lesbian partner violence, as the prejudice informs service provision.

This research from Murdoch University reports:

Some studies also suggest that the rate of violence is higher in same sex relationships. A 1985 study of 1109 lesbians by Gwat-Yong Lie and Sabrina Gentlewarrier reported that slightly more than half of the respondents indicated that they had been abused by a female partner. Coleman, in a 1990 study of 90 lesbians reported that 46.6% had experienced repeated acts of violence. Finally, Ristock's study of 113 lesbians reported that 41% said they had been abused in one or more relationships.

The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearing House offers this UK study on DV in gay and lesbian relationships. It states:

Domestic violence in gay and lesbian relationships, as in heterosexual relationships, ranges from physical or sexual violence to psychological, emotional or economic abuse (Bagshaw et al. 2000). Like domestic violence in heterosexual relationships, domestic violence in gay and lesbian relationships includes: a pattern of behaviour, involving one partner using and maintaining power and control over the other, which causes fear in the other partner (ACON 2004, p. 5).

The report concludes:

Future research could also seek to provide a better understanding of how current approaches to domestic violence marginalise people on the basis of sexual preference, identity, orientation…

Studies such as this one this one by Mark W Lehman (2007) conclude that:

The vast majority of experts state that same-sex domestic violence occurs to the same extent or more frequently than does opposite-sex domestic violence: on average one in every four couples.

There is a considerable body of evidence on female perpetrated DV and IPV, and enough on DV and IPV in lesbian relationships, to justify questioning the heterosexist assumptions on which the 12-year National Plan is based. Given this research, combined with the anecdotal evidence of victims and an increasing unease amongst commentators and clinicians, is it either legitimate or useful to continue to define DV, IPV and family violence as a gender hate crime, perpetrated overwhelmingly by men against women and children?