The bloody rainbow: The creation of the second closet – Lesbian Blackwomxn, intimate partner violence and third parties’ responses

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Date: 14 September 2020
• Published date: 14 September 2020
• Citation: 2020 Acta Juridica 267
• Pages: 267-286
• Author: Mailula, L.

267

The bloody rainbow: The creation of the

second closet – Lesbian Blackwomxn,

intimate partner violence and third

parties’ responses

LETHA BO MAILULA* and LETLHOGONOLO

MOKGOROANE†

Intimate partner v iolence (IPV ) is an epidemic that is often viewed

through the singular lens of heterosexuality. The discou rse about

IPV and mechanisms to combat IPV are heteronormative i n nature

and erase the experiences of queer persons in relationsh ips and the

manner i n which violence manife sts in these relation ships. This paper

explores third part y response s to IPV in lesbian relationships. This

violence is informed by heteropat riarchial att itudes and is re-enac ted

by third party responders, which has the eect of si lencing survivors

of same-sex IPV. The conceptualisation of the second closet emerges

from this phenomenon.

For lesbians, keepi ng secrets about abu se in our relationships is al so linked to

homophobia and het erosexism: it is still risky for som e of us to be out, and it

can be dangerous to r eveal abuse within a n already oppressive con text.1

I IN TRODUCTION

The Constitution of the Republic of South Afr ica is lauded

as one of the best constitutions in the world; it is founded on

democratic values that enshr ine the principles of human dignity,

freedom, equality and social justice.2 However, endemic cr ime

and violence continue to overshadow the utopian ideals of the

Constitution. The post-apartheid ideal of a state governed by laws

that protect everyone has been ruptured by the rise of intimate

* L LB LLM (Universit y of Pretori a).

† L LB (University of Stellenbosch) L LM (Univer sity of Californ ia).

1 J I Ristock No More Secret s: Violence in L esbian Relati onships (2002) x.

2 J A Nel & M Judge ‘Exp loring homoph obic victi misat ion in Gauteng ,

South Africa: Issues, impac ts and responses’ (2008) 21(3) Acta Criminologica 9.

2020 Acta Juridica 267

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd

268 VIOLENCE AGAI NST WOMEN

partner violence (IPV). Serving as a harrowing indication of the

crisis t hat South Africa faces w ith regard to IPV, a study conducted

in 2015 found that more womxn (57 per cent) were murdered by

their husbands or boyfriends, also known as intimate femicide,

than by crimina ls.3

The discour se surroundin g IPV has larg ely focused on womxn in

heterosexua l relationships; however, IPV is increa singly recogni sed

as also occurring in same-sex relationships.4 Despite a growing

awareness that IPV is not restricted to heterosexual relationsh ips,

there remains a lack of research exploring such violence in the

relationships of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and

intersex) persons, and even less research specical ly concerned

with lesbian relationships.5

Violence in lesbian relationships manifests in similar ways to

violence experienced by heterosexual womxn, including physical,

sexual, psychological and economic abuse. However, widespread

heterosexism and homophobia compound lesbians’ exper iences of

IPV, and limit the socia l support they receive.

3 Women’s Lega l Centre, Sonke Gender Just ice and Gun Fr ee South Af rica

‘Stop Guns I n Domestic Violence!’ (2015) avai lable at https://genderjustice.org.

za/publicat ion/stop-gu ns-in- domestic-v iolence/ (accesse d on 10 March 2020).

We use the term ‘wom xn’ to denote gend er uidit y and inclusivity. We also

use it as a rejec tion of heteropat riar chal concept ions of woman hood. An in -

depth ana lysis of the crim e statistics publ ished in 2019 by Statistic s South Africa

revealed th at rape, target ing womxn and g irls, is a ser ious problem. For exam ple,

in the 2016/17 Victims of Cr ime stat istica l release, it wa s reported t hat 250 out

of every 100 00 0 women were victims of sex ual oences, compared t o 120 out

of every 100 00 0 men. Dur ing the sa me period, 8 0 per cent of the rep orted

sexual o ences were rape, with an est imated 68.5 per cent of those cases bei ng

reported by wom xn. See Statist ics South Africa V ictims of Crime Surve y 2016/17

(2017) available a t http://www.statss a.gov.za/publicat ions/P0341/P03 412016.

pdf (accesse d on 10 March 2020).

4 I Ly nch & N Sanger ‘“I’m your maker”: Power, heteronorma tivit y and

violence in women’s same -sex relat ionship s’ Report suppor ted by a gra nt from

the Open Socie ty Foundation of South A frica (OSF -SA) and publ ished by the

Triangle P roject (2016) 9.

5 Ly nch & Sanger (n 4) 9. We are aware of the lim its of the categor y ‘lesbian’

and that many womxn i nvolved in relat ionships with womx n identif y as queer

and bisexu al, to na me a few. We use the term ‘le sbian’ relat ionships t o denote

any inti mate relationship s between womxn, not to re strict our focus to wom xn

who identif y as lesbian: see Ri stock (n 1) xi.

© Juta and Company (Pty) Ltd