Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call It Rape?

Abstract

Woman-to-Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call It Rape? Lori B. Girshick. Boston: Northeastern University Press. 2002. 201 pp. ISBN 1-55553-527-5. $16.95 (paper). If sexual violence is rooted in patriarchy, male dominance, and oppression of women, then how do we explain women's sexual violence? If women are nonviolent and lesbianism an egalitarian Utopia, then how do we understand women's violence against other women, especially their own partners and lovers? As Lori Girshick so ably points out, heterosexism and homophobia mean that the ways women experience sexual violence by other women are frequently not recognized as rape or sexual assault, thus depriving victims of support and services. Women-to-Woman Sexual Violence confronts the paucity of research, popular press attention (even in the queer press), and services. Sexual violence is "any unwanted sexual activity" and includes "contact" and "noncontact" sexual activities (p. 19). Girshick's data come from a self-administered, largely open-ended survey and follow-up interviews collecting detailed information about sexual violence incidents and their aftermath and women's understandings of sexual violence and homophobia. Participants were recruited via announcements posted throughout the United States to domestic violence and rape crisis agencies and feminist, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender centers, organizations, groups, and media. The 70 women, aged 18-64 (average age 37), thus comprise a self-selected, unrepresentative, but nearly national sample of women who experienced woman-to-woman sexual violence. Most of the women were White, lesbian, and working or middle class in terms of education and occupation, though frequently not income. They described 91 situations of sexual violence, most of which occurred during or before the 1980s and when the average age of the women was under 25. The women's youth and the historical time period (the earliest years of lesbian activism), in combination with significant abuse histories for many women, made it more difficult for them to speak out and seek help. The experiences of these women are remarkably similar to those of women experiencing heterosexual violence. Most of the incidents occurred within the context of committed or romantic relationships or with acquaintances or friends. Nearly half of the incidents occurred in a battering relationship. Women frequently remained silent about their victimization, either because of the assailant's terrorizing or because of their own or their friends' disbelief. Legal assistance was seldom sought and rarely effective. In relating the incidents of sexual violence suffered by these women, Girshick makes clear that violence is not about gender but about power and control. Citing bell hooks' (1984) examination of interlocking systems of oppression and domination, she explores the ways in which heterosexism (and monosexism) and homophobia (also bi- and transphobia) collude to assist the assailant in maintaining power over her victim. …