Heteronormativity and monogamy in violence records involving former partners

Abstract

In this article we address cases of violence involving lesbianities in which the perpetrator is the victim’s ex-partner or someone within this context. To this end, we approach the official data from the Social Defense Events Registry (Reds) – a system used by security institutions in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais – including cases of violence against women who either identify as lesbians themselves or perceive of lesbianity as a decisive component of the complaint they made at the Police Station. We seek to understand how intertwined are those records and the heteronormative, patriarchal, and monogamous patterns that appear to trigger off this specific context of violence lesbianities have been subjected to. By analyzing the available information on violence occurrences against these women, we have already recognized some recurring factors, such as: passionateness as a presumed, alleged cause for lesbophobia; lesbianity as a disqualifying appraisal of women and even an impediment to a good upbringing of children the examined ex-couples had had; lesbianity as a threat to nuclear family life, among others.