Femicide by men and of females by other females in the interests of men". Examples of this include neglect of female children in preference of males, as well as dowry related murder where female in-laws kill women due to dowry disputes. Moreover, COST Action 1206 provides definitions of femicide. All of these definitions refer to the idea that femicide is unique from non-gendered descriptions of murder and homicide. Instead, defining femicide exemplifies the fact that women are killed for different reasons and motives from those associated with typical descriptions of murder. Globally, femicide has seldom been investigated separately from homicide, and
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