Femicide partner femicide rate of one woman every two days. Yearly, India's government reports the deaths of 5,000 woman to this cause, but this number is believed to be grossly underestimated due to the under-reported prevalence of honor killings and dowry-related murders. However, intimate partner homicide only accounts for 5–8% of all murders of men, disproportionately affecting women to a large extent, making it a gendered problem. In fact, women are disproportionately represented as victims of all family violence including incest, sexual harassment, rape and battering. These acts of violence are found to escalate over time within a relationship, possibly resulting
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