In addition to relying on the research and work produced by leaders in the field of domestic violence over the past 25 years, this discussion draws on the author's experiences in work with the Education and Emerging Issues Committee of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Domestic Violence. The author first notes that unlike stranger violence, in which men are the most frequent victims of what is usually a one-time occurrence, intimate partner violence, with women as the most frequent victims, tends to be an ongoing pattern of abuse based in the male's motivation to exert power and control over his intimate partner. The article then develops the argument that both race and class analyses are crucial in addressing female violence and understanding that the battered women's movement, the criminal justice system, and other systems have failed to adequately address the needs of many battered women of color, poor women, and other women from marginalized communities. The lack of appropriate services and options for these abused women may lead them to resort to force or other negative coping strategies. The article then notes that the dominant pattern of male perpetrator and female victim in domestic violence reflects and is encouraged by societal power inequalities between women and men while tending to perpetuate gender inequality. Given this dominant circumstance, the author advises that it is important to have and use trustworthy assessment tools that can help identify a circumstance when women use force in self-defense or within the context of long-term battering. This should be standard practice in investigating cases that involve female perpetrators of violence against male partners, since the context and consequences of male and female violence within intimate relationships tend to be different. Other contexts for women's use of violence in intimate and familial interactions are discussed in this article for lesbian relationships, women as perpetrators of child abuse, and teen dating violence. The author advises that female violence in intimate and familial relationships must be thoroughly researched in all of its manifestations, while recognizing that there are many factors that make the context, dynamics, and motivation for female violent behavior in intimate relationships significantly different from those of male perpetrators of domestic violence. 6 notes and 29 references