On agents of power and support: Case studies regarding NGO and State institution discourses on intimate partner violence in the context of LGBT identities

Abstract

The topic of intimate partner violence in contemporary discourse offers theoretical discussions, suggestions for policy reform, and movements for activism across many fields in the current context. However, it appears that LGBT perspectives are often ignored in such discussions. Moving outside of the normative frameworks of which to approach violence in close relationships, this study aims to investigate how perceptions on cases of intimate partner violence experienced by LGBT individuals are situated across the discourse of NGO and police institutions, with the further intent to outline the implications that such findings have on the level and nature of support for LGBT individuals who experience such realities. Adopting the framework of an intersectional ‘Queer reading’, this study shall engage with the ignored area of LGBT specific issues within the area of intimate partner violence through two separate case studies concerning an LGBT rights organisation and a municipal police division, with the intent to investigate and identify approaches towards bodies’ conceptualisation, processing, and support mechanisms of vulnerable individuals that experience violence in close relationships.