Domestic violence, as Mastaneh defines it, is when one individual in a partner relationship (whether heterosexual or homosexual) inflicts physical, emotional, sexual, or financial harm, abuse, and control over the other individual within that partnership.

As more calls began coming into the Iranian Peer Counseling Helpline, Mastaneh and others at Jewish Family Services began to see a trend in the domestic violence calls. It is important to note, however, that individuals were not describing their situation as “domestic violence” since this term was not part of their vocabulary. In fact, it was not until they started to trust their peer counselors that Iranian men and women began to speak of the violence they experienced at home as opposed to simply alluding to headaches, physical pain, stress, or the like.

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