The article considers the characteristics of such hostility and the meanings placed upon it by lesbian subjects, and locates the form of hostility within the mechanism of disciplinary power exercised in the regulation of sexuality. The article argues that, by circumscribing public expression of lesbianism, verbal abuse constitutes part of a wider process of reinforcing conformity to prevailing values and norms in a sexist and heterosexist culture. The article claims that abuse directed against gay and lesbian people must be interpreted in terms of their various identities, and notes that any attempt to disentangle the causes, meanings and experiences of violence must be sensitive to the positioning of the subject in hierarchies of gender, sexuality, ethnicity, and race. Notes, references