Women around the world routinely suffer from beatings, rape, torture and murder. These are not the practices of a few demented individuals, but are often institutionalized, culturally-sanctioned behaviors. Millions of women live in a constant state of isolation, terror and fear; for most, escape is nearly impossible due to economic, social, or cultural restrictions. Forsaken Females describes the many types of global brutalization that occur against women: including feticide, infanticide, female genital mutilation, sexual slavery, honor killing, acid attacks, trafficking, dowry death, rape, and intimate partner violence. The violence is varied in both method and practice and is often supported by patriarchal ideologies or policies that maintain the social conditions and cultural framework that accept women's brutalization. Forsaken Females also addresses the physical, emotional and economic impact of the violence. The discussion is structured around the experiences of women who describe their personal victimization. Each chapter concludes with examples of promising policies and practices developed to address and reduce violence perpetrated against women.

By Andrea Parrot and Nina Cummings

Chapter 1 Perspectives on violence against women: Historical, methodological and theoretical
Chapter 2 The sociopolitical conditions that predispose women to violence
Chapter 3 Femicide
Chapter 4 Female Genital Cutting: Clitoridectomy, female circumcision, female genital mutilation, or rite of passage
Chapter 5 Sexual Violence
Chapter 6 Sexual slavery
Chapter 7 Trafficking
Chapter 8 Intimate partner violence
Chapter 9 Honor Killing
Chapter 10 The impact of violence on women
Chapter 11 Working toward a world without violence against women