Introduction

Abstract

This edited collection has its roots in the 200S conference of the Feminist and Women’s Studies Association (UK and Ireland) (FWSA), held in Aberdeen, on the theme of Gender and Violence. Almost 90 papers across six strands — domestic abuse; war, politics and history; literary representations; media responses; violence and sexuality; and cultural practices — were presented at the conference. The papers included here are drawn predominantly from this conference, with the exceptions of those by Jane Kilby, Bipasha Ahmed, Paula Reavey and Anamika Majumdar, whose contributions were added later. The papers were all purposefully selected in relation to two core ideas: first, the diversity of ways in which interpersonal violence, and its gendering, is conceptualised, interpreted, resisted and embraced in different contexts and disciplines; and secondly, the role of language in facilitating and constraining the ‘speakability’ of interpersonal violence. The focus of the book, therefore, is the complexity of violence as it is lived, represented and (re)defined in the context of gendered norms and practices. We draw on research from both the humanities and the social sciences, including contributions from sociology, history, psychology, film studies and media studies, offering a range of perspectives that collectively constitute what we hope is an original contribution to the literature addressing issues of gender and violence. Our aim is to challenge accepted understandings of violence both within and outside of feminism and to identify emerging sites and forms of resistance to violence.