Serial Acid Attacks and Women’s Online and Offline Resistance and Activism in Iran

Abstract

Abstract In the autumn of 2014 in the city of Isfahan, a series of acid attacks targeted women who were driving in urban public spaces. The violence raised public fear among inhabitants of Isfahan. The Isfahan serial attacks were widely perceived as systematically organized and politically motivated. As a result of the attacks, Isfahan’s female inhabitants’ everyday life was disrupted, and the public spaces, once perceived as partially safe, turned into spaces of terror, limiting women’s movement and activities. This qualitative research explores Isfahani women’s experiences and perceptions on and reactions to the attacks.