Differences in Intimate Partner Violence Reported by Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women.

The issue of intimate partner violence reached the political agenda in France only after a considerable number of feminist actions and the diffusion of social science research findings. Implicitly, this form of violence referred to acts perpetrated in the framework of the heterosexual couple and in a context of male domination. But what of other types of couples, for example, intimate relationships between two women? Drawing on INED’s VIRAGE survey on violence and gender relations, the author looks at intimate partner violence as reported by female victims and regardless of whether the partner perpetrator was a man or woman. This approach brings to light a gendered construction of intimate partner violence while accounting for differences in the types of violent acts and perpetration frequency women report depending on their couple experience and sexual identification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]