Lori B. Girshick - Woman To Woman Sexual Violence: Does She Call It Rape?

There are times when an idea takes root so firmly that nothing can stop you. The idea for this project felt like an obsession to me, and waiting for several years for the right time to proceed proved to be a challenge. Like most things in life, challenging projects cannot be accomplished alone. Working on an issue that is surrounded by so much silence is not easy, and I have many people to thank for their input, their encouragement, and, of course, their stories.

The process of creating a major research and writing project is my greatest love regardless of the overwhelming responsibilities along the way. I want to thank Anne Alexander for reading the early drafts of questionnaire, flyer, and letters and for listening to me think out loud while I planned my next steps. Thank you to Beth Leventhal of The Network/La Red: Ending Abuse in Lesbian, Bisexual Womens, and Transgender Communities (formerly The Network for Battered Lesbians and Bisexual Women), and Diane Dolan-Soto of the New York Anti-Violence Project for commenting on drafts and encouraging the project from the beginning. I appreciate the early encouragement and feedback on the entire manuscript at numerous points from Claire Renzetti, who is one of a kind in her presence and support. I am grateful for helpful comments and insights from Melissa Burchard on the language chapter, Katie Fisher on the legal chapter, and Carol Plummer for feedback on theoretical ideas. Thanks also to Crissy Stewart for legal research. My anonymous reviewers helped strengthen the book through their perceptive comments.

I spoke to scores of staff people at rape crisis and domestic violence agencies across the country, who helped spread the word about the study and affirmed the need for this work. Thank you for telling me this work was so important and needed to be done and for offering to help me in any way possible. To all of you who posted my flyers, sent out an Internet notice, spoke to friends, and printed a paragraph in your newsletter, you helped make this book possible.

My full gratitude goes to the librarians at Warren Wilson College, especially Mary Brown, who filled countless interlibrary loan requests for me and helped me track down research sources. Without their help and generosity of spirit I would have been bogged down in research quagmire. Several colleagues helped stuff envelopes for the initial nationwide mailing or listened to me prattle on about the details that preoccupied me. I am appreciative for my sabbatical leave that allowed me to write full-time a delicious way to spend a sabbatical, I might add made possible by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Trust, the Appalachian College Association, and Warren Wilson College. Thank you Dr. Virginia McKinley, academic dean of Warren Wilson, for supporting my work.

Friends around the country and here at home allowed me to let off stream when I needed an outlet for what I was absorbing. They encouraged me in every way. To mention only a few of the many, thank you Anne Alexander, Cathleen Desjardins, Bob Overby, and Cynthia Shaeffer.

To Sarah Rowley and Bill Frohlich of Northeastern University Press, thanks is not enough. You believed in the project and in me, and I am appreciative of your support, your time and energy in listening to my concerns, and for understanding the process I was going through. Sarah, to you especially, thank you for those long conversations and e-mails that helped me push on with a project many might not give the time to understand. It isnt easy to say, The rapist was a woman and be taken seriously, but you knew better.

It is satisfying that as I write these words, the domestic violence agency in my city is starting a support group for battered lesbians. I pushed for this group for many years, and now it is happening. I hope this stands as an example for those of you who dont yet have that support group; I encourage you to keep working on it. I hope the rape crisis agency will next be providing targeted services for women survivors of woman-perpetrated rape.

To the brave women who came forwardthose whose words you are about to read, and those who sent me e-mails with stories, comments, and questionsyou are my sheroes. I am grateful that you contacted me, spoke to me, and in some cases, allowed numerous follow-up calls. Thanks for keeping in touch with me, and especially for caring enough to help others. I hope you are proud of what we have accomplished together. One of you told me to stay open and courageous, and I now say that to all of you.