Femicide is a large factor in intimate partner femicide, and worldwide firearms are used in one-third of all femicides. Intimate partner femicide, as reported in the media, often is presented sympathetically towards the male perpetrators. Males are seen as "being driven" to commit femicide due to a "breakdown in love attributed to the female". In defense trials, the defense of provocation is often used to reduce the time men serve in prison. This idea of provocation is that any "reasonable man can be provoked into killing by insubordination on the part of a woman." Conversely, women are not often able to
Femicide and investigation can often differ based on race of the victim. According to Diana Russell and Jill Radford, lesbicide, also known as homophobic femicide, has a long history of legalized murder of lesbians in many different cultural contexts: Today, lesbianism is no longer a capital crime but it remains criminalized by many governments and condemned by most religions. Torture and murder of lesbians occurs in every part of the world, even in "developed" countries. According to Dr. Susan Hawthorne of Victoria University, "...domination is exemplified in the punishment of lesbians as outsiders in patriarchal culture..." Dr. Hawthorne goes on to