"It’s Not a Ghost. It’s Right There": The Twilight Zone of Lesbian and Bisexual Women, Intimate Partner Violence and Research Possibilities

Violence Against Women was declared a human rights issue in the UN in 1993, and within the field of research on Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), research has shown IPV happens in LGBTQ relationships at equal or higher rates to the general population. However, studies on the effects and prevalence of IPV in the relationships of lesbian and bisexual women are rare. The intersection of IPV, gender, and LGBTQ identity results in a population nearly invisible to both research and social services. To flesh out the nuanced levels of oppression facing these intersectional victims, this thesis was completed in two parts: interviewing victims of violence and interviewing researchers about their experience with vulnerable populations. Through these interviews, barriers came to light about researching lesbian and bisexual IPV victims. The result was a new perspective on how homophobia and sexism have resulted in a lack of visibility for this population. Ultimately, the institutional barriers present within the experiences lesbian and bisexual IPV victims create a need for more research on their experience – both to determine the victims’ needs and to determine how to protect them from intersections of violence