 Being free of violence and the threat of violence: Violence and the threat of violence violate women’s dignity; they make women do what others want or reduce women’s sphere of activity to avoiding harm. In some cases violence fractures the self and takes from women their sense of self-respect (Brison 1997). The feminist literature on violence against women documents the particular role that violence and the threat of violence play in unfairly disempowering and limiting women (Cudd 2006: 85–118).