This work explores the complex and diverse feminist and legal responses to domestic violence from a cross-cultural perspective. In addition to more general discussions of violence against women, the essays in this volume consider child abuse by mothers, battering in lesbian relationships, state sanctioned violence, non-physical violence and incest. The contributors argue that domestic violence must be viewed in its social and cultural context, in which the state is complicit, and not simply within the private, psychological domain of the family. The Public Nature of Private Violence offers a vast array of practical suggestions for different governmental and non-governmental actors attempting to combat the incidents of abuse and oppression suffered by women and children.