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Reconsidering The Abuse That Dare Not Speak Its Name: A Criticism Of Recent Legal Scholarship Regarding Same-Gender Domestic Violence, Ryiah Lilith

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This article argues that while recent legal scholarship effectively disputes the applicability of a gendered model of domestic violence to same-gender abuse, it goes too far in embracing a completely gender-neutral model. Part I explains the theoretical problems with the non-gendered model of domestic violence by examining in detail the research which is most often cited in legal writings in support of this model. Part II briefly explores the pragmatic implications for lesbian and gay male victims of domestic violence when law enforcement policies such as mandatory arrest are based on a model of domestic violence which ignores contexts such …