Introduction

Despite the popularised idyll of rural life, domestic violence transcends community contexts and geographies. The Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women defines domestic violence as:

Estimates suggest 25 per cent of all women will endure domestic and/or intimate partner violence at some point in their lives, with approximately three women killed by their husbands or boyfriends each day in the United States (CDC, 2020; Futures Without Violence, 2021). Domestic violence impacts people of all races, cultures, gender identities, sexual orientations and relationship types. Yet, scholarship routinely focuses on metropolitan women's experiences of domestic violence even though rural women and women of marginalised identities are disproportionately impacted.

This chapter expounds the intersection of rurality, domestic violence and social inequality. Specifically, this chapter delineates what is known about domestic violence in rural locales and the ways it disproportionately impacts those most vulnerable. To humanise rural domestic violence scholarship, the chapter leverages my own community-based, action-oriented ethnographic research to highlight several survivors’ lived experiences of domestic violence in their rural western United States community. Importantly, survivors’ lived experiences raise awareness about the unique, intersectional dimensions of rural domestic violence. From this, the chapter offers suggestions for ways to better address rural domestic and gendered violence, offering a path forward for future scholarship and social action.

The interface of rurality and domestic violence

Rurality is a critical dimension of the social world. Rural community contexts have been under study for decades, with rural poverty and economics, housing and food insecurity, transportation, racial justice and Indigenous rights being some of the most central areas of study. Rural crime, criminal justice and social justice are also blossoming areas of international scholarship, with domestic violence no exception (Rennison et al, 2013; Carrington et al, 2014).