Layla* was in a lesbian relationship with her girlfriend for five years. Over the years, Layla experienced escalating incidents of physical and emotional abuse and coercive and controlling behaviour from her girlfriend. Each time her girlfriend was physically abusive, Layla called the police. 

Despite her girlfriend already being known to the police for perpetrating abuse in previous relationships, the police did nothing. 

Layla felt this was because her abuser was a woman and was even told that she was just as responsible as her abusive partner. Now, her confidence and trust in the police is so damaged that she has stopped calling them altogether. She feels there is "no point".

This is a common pattern that repeats itself in abusive same-sex relationships. Claims aren't taken seriously and people quickly become trapped in escalating situations. For sapphic women especially, same-sex intimate partner violence (SSIPV) is rarely treated with the urgency and care it demands, but why?