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48 Austl. Feminist L.J. 1 (2022)

handle is hein.journals/afemlj48 and id is 1 raw text is: AUSTRALIAN FEMINIST LAW JOURNAL R td 2022, VOL. 48, NO. 1, 1-9 dJ I)Routledge https://doi.org/1 0.1080/13200968.2022.2138181 Taylor&FrancisGroup introduction: Conceptualisations of Violence Sayomi Ariyawansa', Anjalee de Silvab and Balawyn Jonesc 'Melbourne Law School, Melbourne, Australia; bARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, Melbourne Law School, Melbourne, Australia; cLa Trobe Law School, Melbourne, Australia Feminist legal scholarship has long been concerned with the subject of violence. In fact, some of the core contributions of feminist legal scholar- ship in Australia and worldwide have been to identify and examine the specific forms of violence faced by women - and critically, to move beyond perceptions of such violence as being comprised of discrete and private acts between individuals to illuminate its structural impacts and causes.' However, prevailing scholarly and legal conceptualisations of 'vio- lence' continually frame it as a phenomenon that is predominately direct and physical. There is a need to challenge and expand on these conceptu- alisations of violence. This special issue seeks to fulfil this aim by drawing together feminist scholarship relating to structural violence and women's lived experiences of violence, as well as philosophical and phenomenolo- gical accounts which challenge established and widely accepted under- standings of violence. Our call for papers was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic, when important questions were being raised concerning the treatment of margin- alised members of our community, and during the growing backlash to movements such as #MeToo which saw an upswing of what has been called 'an asphyxiating vortex of litigation'.2 We saw a need to complicate the notion of 'violence' as being direct and predominantly physical in _CNTACT Balawyn Jones balawyn.jones@latrobe.edu.au 'See, for example, Shazia Choudhry, 'Towards a Transformative Conceptualisation of Violence Against Women - A Critical Frame Analysis of Council of Europe Discourse on Violence Against Women' (2016) 79 Modern Law Review 406; Donna Chung, 'Questioning Domestic Violence Orthodoxies: Chal- lenging the Social Construction of Women as Victims and as Being Responsible for Stopping Male Vio- lence' (2002) 11 Women Against Violence: An Australian Feminist Journal 7; Mala Htun and Francesca Jensenius, 'Fighting Violence Against Women: Laws, Norms & Challenges Ahead' (2020) 149 Daedalus 144; Rashida Manjoo and Daniela Nadj, 'Bridging the Divide: An Interview with Professor Rashida Manjoo, UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women' (2015) 23 Feminist Legal Studies 329 and Kelly Weisberg (ed), Applications of Feminist Legal Theory (Temple University Press 1996). 2Richard Ackland, '#MeToo has led to an asphyxiating vortex of litigation' The Guardian (online, 3 April 2018) <https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/03/metoo-has-led-to-an-asphyxiating- vortex-of-litigation>. 0 2022 Australian Feminist Law Journal Inc.