Intimate and Domestic Violence in the Middle East

Abstract

This chapter explore the definition, occurrence, and confrontations of intimate and domestic violence in the region through various studies and literature on the topic. The work does not seek to provide an exhaustive or comprehensive review of the literature on gendered violence in the region or produce an encompassing account of all forms of gendered and sexual violence, which women disproportionately experience throughout the region. Instead, it discusses some of the major issues concerning how intimate and domestic violence is defined, experienced, and combatted in several locations throughout the Middle East. In this work, intimate and domestic violence are not read as private (or privatized acts), but they are instead placed within the broader public, social, and historical contexts in which they occur. By utilizing an intersectional analysis of gendered violence attuned to the complexities of gender, race, class, and the nexus of nationality and citizenship, the work seeks to unpack the various politics underpinning the economies of domestic and intimate violence taking place and efforts to confront gender violence in both the private and public spheres in the Middle East.