In this theme issue of Resources for Feminist Research/Documentation sur la recherche féministe, the ongoing problem of violence in women's lives, particularly sexual violence, is addressed. Men's violence against women remains a fundamental feature of Canadian society, as well as that of societies around the world, and represents one of the most persistent and profound ways in which women's inequality is produced and maintained. While women's experiences of violence and abuse are mediated and shaped by many factors, including social locations and conditions organized around race, culture, class, sexuality, ability/disability, among others, sexual violence is deeply implicated in the unequal relations of gender. Violence against women is a social problem embedded in many layers of social life, then, and one which, as a result, cannot be compartmentalized as a "special interest" or "special topic" because it involves so many institutions and affects so many women's everyday lives.