“A Kiss Delivered as a Punch”: Coercively Controlling Tactics in Australian Women’s Same-Gender Intimate Relationships
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Griffith University
Australia -
Griffith University Australia
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Griffith University Australia
Abstract
In 2007, Evan Stark consolidated decades of feminist scholarship and advocacy on intimate partner violence (IPV) into a framework he coined “coercive control” (Stark 2007). Stark’s model was initially heteronormative. He later contended that heteropatriarchy may condition abuse in women’s intimate relationships with other women, but more research was needed to clearly understand how coercive control manifests beyond heterosexuality (Stark and Hester 2019). In this paper, we utilise the voices of 18 Australian same-gender attracted women who experienced IPV in intimate relationships with other women. The participants’ narratives, revealed through this qualitative method, provide insights into perpetrator tactics of coercive control in these relationships. Situating these stratagems within Stark’s framework, we gain a deeper understanding of this, often invisible, manifestation of coercive control. This study is essential and timely because, since Stark (2007) published his book, several countries have criminalised coercive control and some states in Australia have recently followed suit.
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Author Biographies
Melissa Gampe is an academic and researcher with a passion for improving the lives of vulnerable people and communities. She holds First Class Honours in Criminology and Criminal Justice, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), both received from Griffith University in Brisbane, Queensland. Her doctoral research delved into the nuanced aspects of coercive control experienced by same-gender attracted women, exploring the tactics, trajectory, and consequences of this phenomenon. Her research illuminates the unique abuse experiences faced by same-gender attracted women, and highlights the importance of the voices of LGBT+ victim-survivors in narratives of intimate partner violence. Currently, Melissa contributes her expertise to a Non-Government Organisation that champions health and wellbeing in the Darling Downs and West Moreton region.
Samantha’s research focuses on marginalised social statuses, criminalisation, victimisation and (in)justice. She has conducted research on LGBTIQA+ domestic violence, the sex industry, problem-solving courts, sentencing, gender and Indigeneity. In focus more recently has been the needs and experiences of domestic violence victims in the family law system and restorative justice processes. Since 2015, she has been undertaking studies in Southeast Asia and Kenya on gendered criminalisation, women’s imprisonment, as well as re-integration and human rights. She has co-authored a book on domestic violence (Romantic Terrorism: An Autoethnography of Domestic Violence, Victimization and Survival) and co-edited the book Gender, Criminalization, Imprisonment and Human Rights in Southeast Asia.
Zoe Rathus AM is a senior lecturer at the Griffith University Law School. She has published and presented widely on women and the law, particularly the family law system and the impact of domestic and family violence on women and children. Zoe commenced private legal practice in 1981 and became coordinator of the Women’s Legal Service in 1989 – where she then worked for 15 years. For periods of time between 1995 and 1998 Zoe worked in South Africa on issues of gender, violence and the law. She was Deputy Chair of the Taskforce on Women and the Criminal Code in Queensland in 1999-2000. Zoe has been at Griffith University since 2005. She has been a vocal advocate for legal system reform for 40 years. She is currently Chairperson of the Immigrant Women’s Support Service and a member of the Queensland Law Society Domestic Violence Committee. Zoe has received a number of awards, including Woman Lawyer of the Year in 2001 and an Order of Australia in 2011 for her services to women, the law, Indigenous peoples and education