https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801220942848 Violence Against Women 1–8 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/1077801220942848 journals.sagepub.com/home/vaw Guest Editors’ Introduction Violence Against Women: Representations, Interpretations, and Education Meenakshi Chhabra 1 , Lisa B. Fiore 1 , and Sonia Pérez-Villanueva 1 Abstract Cultural representations of violence against women have been mystified, eroticized, and depicted as heroic, camouflaging, and trivializing acts of violence as a societal norm for thousands of years. This themed issue invites people to re/claim identities and power, and enter into a global cultural discourse connected with cross-disciplinary channels and creative work. Keywords cultural representations, human rights violation, Spanish Inquisition, India, child homelessness, trauma Cultural representations of violence against women have often been mystified, eroti- cized, and depicted as heroic, camouflaging, and trivializing acts of violence as a societal norm. This publication comes at a time when people—emboldened with dif- ferent levels of comfort and action—are claiming identities and power all their own, thereby challenging the prevalent cultural discourse as they find the courage to speak up against perpetrators and those who would prefer to maintain a stance of silence and denial rather than address the violation, shame, and trauma associated with acts of violence against women. As a result of this changing cultural narrative, violence against women is gaining a new kind of attention—attention that elevates voices pre- viously silenced or muffled, demanding change with a sharing of information that 1 Lesley University, Cambridge, MA, USA Corresponding Author: Lisa B. Fiore, Lesley University, 29 Everett St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA. Email: lfiore@lesley.edu 942848VAW XX X 10.1177/1077801220942848Violence Against WomenChhabra et al. research-article 2020