Connectedness, communication and reciprocity in lesbian relationships : implications for women's construction and experience of PMS

Lesbian relationships may have been so unimaginable to the Victorian prelates who enshrined male homosexuality as a crime within British law that their very existence was denied. However, over the past two decades, researchers have more than compensated for this neglect. There is now a substantial body of research examining the nature of lesbian relationships, both in comparison to gay male and heterosexual relationships and in their own right. This research has been partly motivated by the desire to understand the unique dynamics of lesbian relationships in order to be able to inform social theory in relation to gender relationships (Metz, Rosser, & Strapko, 1994) or to inform clinicians working with lesbian clients and couples (Ossana, 2000; Scrivner & Eldridge, 1995).