ttering and SM and that any woman involved in such a relationship is getting what she asked for. Many therapists share this view to the point of being unwilling to even ask any questions, so counseling may be unavailable. The shelter itself may be hesitant to allow lesbians to be there or work there for fear that if the shelter becomes known as a place that allows lesbians, they may lose their funding from the community. While the womens' movement in general has stopped rejecting lesbians, the larger society has not, and the shelters exist within that context. Particularly in communities with less gay/lesbian activism, a battered lesbian or lesbian couple who need help may be hesitant to go into any sort of counseling for fear the counselor will just try to treat them for "lesbianism". PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE IN SERVICES TO REDUCE DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN LESBIAN RELATIONSHIPSThe prospects for the future for both hetero and gay/lesbian domestic violence reduction is very good. The growth of this movement has been absolutely phenomenal! While it may seem much too slow to those in the trenches, if looked at historically, it is building at an astounding rate. It takes about 50 years for a political change to come to full fruition. Since the domestic violence movement is about 15 years old, I hope in moments of discouragement that all those involved can take heart from the huge change in public education and sentiment that has taken place in such a short time. I also sincerely hope that many of the people now becoming involved in stopping DV don't become so angry and impatient that they drop out of social activism completely. Social change takes a long time and there is no other way to do it. If these were simple problems, we would have solved them by now. Many sincere, well-intentioned people work on social issues from many different points of view. People who do not agree to the one perfect solution do not have to be seen as enemies. Being a...
