Marshalling the Evidence: Using Intersectionality in the Domestic Violence Frame

The movement against domestic violence has achieved a number of successes in challenging violence between intimate or formerly intimate partners and in providing services for survivors of domestic abuse. It has, in effect, mainstreamed the message that domestic violence is common and dangerous to women of all backgrounds. In this article, we look closely at statistical evidence around prevalence, gender, ethnicity, and poverty to investigate this claim. We argue that the framing of domestic violence could be advanced through the use of a social movement frame that draws on issues of intersectionality.