Why aren’t lesbian couples taken seriously?

Beyond Today

BBC

News

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 10 June 2019

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After Melania Geymonat and her girlfriend Chris were attacked on a London bus last week they chose to share the photo of the aftermath of the attack, and their story, with the world. They wanted people to understand something about what they and other lesbian couples face, not just violence but also the subtle ways in which their relationships are undermined and laughed about by men. On today’s episode Melania explains why she chose to go public about the horrific incident. And couple Bex Wilson and Becky Priest talk about what it’s like for their relationship to be fetishised and misunderstood. Producers: Duncan Barber and Harriet Noble Mixed by Nicolas Raufast Editor: John Shields

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:06.6	Hello, I'm Matthew Price.
0:08.2	This is Beyond Today from BBC Radio 4,
0:10.9	a space to ask one big question about one big story.
0:14.0	Today, why aren't lesbian couples taken seriously?
0:27.0	One of the reasons why the couple who got attacked on a bus last week in London
0:36.5	got so much coverage is because they pushed their story out there
0:40.8	because they wanted us all to understand something about what plenty of
0:45.5	lesbian couples face not just violence but the subtle ways in which their
0:50.7	relationships are undermined.
0:53.0	You probably know what happened by now.
0:55.0	Malania Shaymonat and her girlfriend Chris were traveling home at night.
0:59.0	Some male passengers on the bus told them to kiss.
1:02.0	It ended with the women getting beaten up.
1:05.0	Blood on their faces. Five people have now been arrested.
1:11.0	Hi, Malania.
1:12.0	Hi, how are you? I'm good thank you. How are you? Very well. Thank you for doing this. I just wonder how you're feeling about it all now?
1:23.0	I'm kind of overwhelmed, if I have to say,
1:27.0	because I am in a country which is not mine,
1:30.0	so it's like I can't exactly leave my phone because I'm talking with my
1:36.4	mother with my family my friends which are mostly in Uruguay but all around the
1:41.1	Europe too and I know this of course will delay the emotional
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.