Femicide kill the woman if she cheats on him and/or leaves him, when there is elevated alcohol or drug abuse by either partner, or when a male attempts to control a woman's freedom. Two-fifths of intimate partner femicide are related to use of intoxicants. Other factors commonly associated with male perpetrators of femicide include gun ownership, forcing sexual intercourse, and unemployment. Risk factors for women include: if they are pregnant, have faced prior abuse from their partner, are estranged from their partner or are attempting to leave a relationship, their likelihood of femicide increases. The presence of firearms within a home
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