ABSTRACT
Experiences of violence and abuse do not constitute ‘rites of passage’ in the sense of relatively predictable and patterned life events commonly experienced at particular life stages. Yet, in common with the major life events described elsewhere in this collection, violence often brings significant changes and adjustments to individuals’ sense of their identity and the geographical world around them. This chapter focuses on women, for whom experience or awareness of the threat of aggression contributes to the learning processes involved in growing and ageing, and to a greater or lesser extent affects the way we live, perceive and manage our selves, our bodies and the spaces we use.
