Ain’t I a victim? A study of how Swedish organizations and authorities support lesbian victims of intimate partner violence

Abstract

Internationally there has been a reluctance to recognize the issue of IPV (intimate partner violence) in lesbian relationships up until the 2000s, even though it was exposed in the 1980s and in Sweden it remains an under-researched topic. The aim of this study is to investigate if and how official material in Sweden includes lesbian IPV in their documents and policies. This might shed light on the knowledge that help providers have or don’t have on the subject. Qualitative content analysis of official and governmental texts and two interviews with help providers working at Roks (National organization for women’s and girl’s shelters in Sweden) is the method used and intersectionality and critique of heteronormativity is the theoretical framework. The main findings are: 1) the information and knowledge presented in the official and governmental texts is insufficient 2) heteronormativity is heavily present in the way that lesbian IPV is written about and there is a lack of intersectional perspectives and 3) there is a risk of victim reproduction depending on how lesbian IPV is talked about but it is also important to talk about it specifically, since using gender neutral language to include everyone risk erasing lesbians and other minorities.