Gender-Based Violence Against Lesbians*: What It Is and How to Recognize It

What Is GBV Against Lesbians?

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Gender-based violence (GBV) is violence rooted in gender bias that most frequently harms women. It stems from contempt and hatred toward women simply for existing. As we can see, discrimination is driven by the stereotypes that abusers hold. For example, a man allows himself to raise his hand against his wife because he is convinced he has the right to "put her in her place" for some perceived transgression.

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At a foundational level, gender-based violence affects virtually all women in one way or another. However, some women also possess other characteristics and belong to additional marginalized groups. In such cases, different forms of bias accumulate and intersect, making a person more vulnerable to discrimination and abuse.

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The framework for understanding how different biases and systems of inequality intersect within society is called intersectionality. It allows for a comprehensive examination of individual human experiences and an understanding of how inequality and violence originate. To have an intersectional lens means to see people as a closely interwoven combination of various characteristics and identities that come together to shape each person's unique experience. We are not two-dimensional characters — we are individuals shaped by many traits and the circumstances in which we were formed. Most of these characteristics are not ones we choose, yet for various reasons, society treats them with vastly different levels of tolerance.

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Sexual orientation is one such characteristic. In our society, only heterosexuality is considered normal and default, while everything else is marginalized — typically perceived with bias and negativity, incomprehension, fear, or disgust.

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Lesbians therefore experience two forms of discrimination simultaneously: misogyny (for being women) and homo-/queerphobia (for being queer).

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By What Criteria Can GBV Against Lesbians Be Recognized?

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• Expressions of hatred toward women and queer people. These are various manifestations of intolerance driven by stereotypes and by the need to otherize an entire social group — often in order to assert one's own "normalcy," superiority, and privilege.

 

Possible rhetoric: "LGBT people aren't human," "A woman should know her place."

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• The presence of a motive to "re-educate," "normalize," or "punish" for failing to meet social expectations. Violence is often deployed specifically to "correct" a lesbian identity, which is perceived as an intrusive and irritating "flaw."

 

Possible rhetoric: "You just haven't met the right man," "If you were normal, I wouldn't have to do this."

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• Exploiting the vulnerability and limited resources of survivors. Like other members of marginalized groups, lesbians often lack significant social capital, support, and credibility in the eyes of society — and abusers take advantage of this. It is a situation similar to how children who lack protection from parents or teachers are frequently bullied at school, because aggressors sense they can act with impunity.

 

Possible rhetoric: "No one will believe you anyway," "Who do you even think you are?"

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• Isolating a person from their partner or community. In order to "correct" or "punish" someone for failing to conform to expectations, they may be forbidden from seeing or communicating with their partner, friends, or people close to them within the queer community, as well as from consuming related content. This mirrors the classic isolation tactics used by abusers to gain greater control over a survivor.

 

Possible rhetoric: "They're a bad influence on you," "You're just being affected by their propaganda."

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How GBV Against Lesbians May Manifest

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This form of violence often presents in ways similar to general misogynistic violence, but with overtones of homophobia. It may include:

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• psychological violence: insults, threats, repetition of hate rhetoric, devaluation, gaslighting, coercion into specific behaviors or modes of presentation;

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• sexual violence: harassment, unwanted touching, so-called corrective rape intended to "fix" a person's orientation;

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• denial of services based on gender or sexual identity: in employment, medical care, or housing;

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• physical violence: assault, attacks, restriction of movement, bodily harm;

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• outing (disclosing another person's identity without their consent) or threats to do so.

 

It is important to understand that GBV against lesbians can be perpetrated not only by cisgender heterosexual men, but by anyone — including members of the queer community itself.