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“You Want Fireworks? I’ll Show You Fireworks!”: Or Not—Woman-to-Woman Violence on Sex and the City, The L Word, and The O.C.

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Abstract

Instances of intimate partner violence (IPV) between women on Sex and the City, The L Word, and The O.C. reflect the social reality that IPV between lesbians is a serious social and public health issue. However, narrative analysis of IPV in female same-sex relationships reveals the violence is both literally and figuratively rendered unremarkable. The absence of frames common in contemporary portrayals of heterosexual IPV perpetuates the misperception that violence does not occur in same-sex relationships. Further, a specifically gendered, raced and classed image of “the violent lesbian,” and recuperation narratives where heterosexuality is presented as the “solution” to woman-to-woman IPV, raise questions about the increased presence of LGB characters in entertainment media. In sum, thematic elements that unite seemingly dynamic portrayals of lesbian sexuality and relationships in these series do not interrupt cultural narratives silencing victims of intimate violence. Instead, messages about woman-to-woman IPV perpetuate stereotypes and homophobic, sexist, racist and classist ideologies. This analysis presents insight into popular media portrayals of a serious community health issue. Results call for additional research assessing the form and content of media representations of same-sex sexuality in a changing cultural context.

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Notes

  1. See Morgan and Shanahan (2010) for a recent review of cultivation theory, research and perspectives.

  2. The phrase "intimate partner violence" (and acronym "IPV") are used throughout as it is more inclusive and has a relatively less gendered connotation than other terms (e.g. "wife abuse"), connotations that may prove significant in the discussion of same-sex intimate violence. Other terms used to describe the results of specific research studies will be used accordingly.

  3. "Intimate partner violence" and "dating violence" were operationalized using criteria that mirrors the definition offered by The Centers for Disease Control (2011), which reads "intimate partner violence occurs between two people in a close relationship… includ[ing] current and former spouses and dating partners. IPV exists along a continuum from a single episode of violence to on-going battering [and] includes four types of behaviour: physical violence… sexual violence… threats of physical or sexual violence… [and] emotional abuse. It also may include other violent or threatening behaviours such as stalking".

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Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful feedback. Thanks also to Dr. Lisa Cuklanz and Dr. Pamela Allara for their supportive comments and suggestions on the first draft of this paper. An earlier version of this article was presented at the American Sociological Association Annual Meeting in 2010.

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  1. Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA

    Leandra M. Smollin

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Correspondence to Leandra M. Smollin.

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Smollin, L.M. “You Want Fireworks? I’ll Show You Fireworks!”: Or Not—Woman-to-Woman Violence on Sex and the City, The L Word, and The O.C. . Sexuality & Culture 20, 214–235 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-015-9317-y

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