Racial and ethnic minority women in the United States are subject to various forms of violent victimization that happen across several social contexts, including interpersonal (e.g., intimate households), community (e.g., where women live and work, local social services), and societal (e.g., justice processes, mass incarceration, economic inequality). Exposure to violence can also have a negative psychological and socio-economic effect on women. We used Beth Richie's Violence Matrix theoretical model to examine violence (physical assault, sexual assault, social disenfranchisement) across social contexts in the lives of minoritized Latinas. Qualitative life history interviews were conducted with 35 adult Mexican American women who live in a structurally marginalized neighborhood who were affiliated with youth street gangs during their adolescence. We used a general inductive approach to analyze the transcripts following the Violence Matrix theoretical model. Findings include themes of commodification of women, violence in medicine, over-extortion of power over women, intergenerational transmission of power over women, neutralization of violence, violence resulting from the denial of basic needs, community violence, violence resulting from interactions with social service agencies and well-being providers. Overall, the themes we found among the interviews highlight the importance of developing interventions that consider the various social contexts in which women are subject to violence.
