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What We All Stand For

All of the organisations working together on the LARS project agree with the following statements:

• Domestic violence occurs as frequently within women-to-women relationships as within heterosexual relationships.
• The type of violence which occurs within women-to-women includes all the same types of violence as in heterosexual relationships, in terms of severity, pattern and frequency, however it also includes additional forms of violence, affected by the same-sex context.
• Although there are many similarities with heterosexual domestic violence, the context of domestic violence between women differs for a range of reasons including heteronormativity and homophobic structures in society. As a result, there is a need for support services to gain knowledge about these differences in order to offer effective,
• Mainstream organisations are often unable to adequately address the needs of women who experience domestic violence from other women because of a lack of specialist knowledge in this area.
• Many of the women who experience domestic violence from other women do not seek help from helplines, or from non-LGBT community organisations.
• The LGBT communities haven’t been able to communicate to all women that help and support exists for both victims and perpetrators of women-to-women domestic violence.
• Generally, society as a whole has not engaged with the issue of domestic violence in women-to-women relationships.
• The lack of suitable provision, the lack of a coordinated community response to women-to-women violence, and the isolation of lesbian, bisexual and trans* victims and perpetrators combine to indicate that there is a taboo about domestic violence in these relationships, which exist both within the LBT communities and within the mainstream.
• The LARS project is seeking strategies to make the LBT communities able to discuss violence within women-to-women relationships.
• The LARS project is aiming to improve the LBT communities’ response to domestic violence within women-to-women relationships.

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