ABSTRACT
This chapter takes flight from the evidence about patterns of victimization and perpetration to explore theoretical framings of sex/gender and power. Human rights are at the heart of these analyses. Four concepts are discussed: patriarchal violence as formulated by bell hooks to describe male domination and power; the continuum of violence developed by Liz Kelly to conceptually and experientially link different violations; intersectionality theorized by Kimberlé Crenshaw, and drawn on to reveal how sex/gender, race, and class interact to shape experiences of violence; and Evan Stark's work on ‘coercive control’ that moves understanding of domestic/intimate partner violence beyond physical assaults, to how women's lives and freedom are surveilled and curtailed by abusers. International human rights approaches to violence against women center the continuum and intersectionality as theoretical frameworks for linking forms of violence, contexts, and social structures. Together these four concepts provide epistemological scaffolding for understanding the dynamics of violence against women.
