Citation

Rohrbaugh JB. Fam. Court Rev. 2006; 44(2): 287-299.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2006, Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1744-1617.2006.00086.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Physical violence occurs in 11–12% of same-gender couples, which suggests that domestic violence is an abuse of power that can happen in any type of intimate relationship, regardless of gender or sexual orientation. Although incidents of violence occur at the same rate in same-gender couples and cross-gender couples, the violence appears to be milder in same-gender couples and it is unclear what percentage of same-gender violence should be characterized as abuse or intimate terrorism. Same-gender victims also suffer from the additional stress of severe isolation and the abuser's threats to expose the victim's sexual orientation in a hostile manner.