Acid attacks, a form of gendered violence, have been reported in many parts of the world with high prevalence in South and Southeast Asian countries of India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia. It affects women disproportionately and is often a manifestation of gender and power inequalities. It involves perpetrators throwing acid onto the bodies and faces of the victims. Though a crime mostly perpetrated by men, in Cambodia women constitute nearly half of all perpetrators – a point to which the author will return later in the chapter. These attacks are planned and premeditated with the intent to disfigure but not necessarily to kill. Hydrochloric, sulphuric or nitric acid are commonly available in various businesses at very low cost. The damage to the body is extreme and often irreversible. The health and emotional consequences are devastating. While these attacks are on the rise in both Cambodia and India, law and advocacy campaigns have been more successful in curbing numbers and providing targeted services to survivors in Bangladesh. While patriarchal culture is frequently cited as the primary cause underlying violence against women, in this chapter, the author draws upon life trajectory analysis and a structural lens to illuminate the layered dimensions of gender-based violence and vulnerability. Furthermore, she deploys a transnational feminist analysis, which illuminates the far-reaching relations of domination and resistance in every day narratives of violence.

Life Trajectory and Vulnerability

The film Finding Face provides a clear narration of Tat Marina's story. The story begins on 5 December 1999, when Khoun Sophal, wife of Svay Sitha, a senior official of the Cambodian Government, orchestrated and led an acid attack on Tat Marina – a 16 year-old singer/actor. The attack took place in broad daylight in Phnom Penh at a busy market place near Marina's home. Khoun Sophal, accompanied by a gang of young men with guns, arrived in two cars. Marina was first beaten unconscious by the young men, one of whom, Khoun Vandy, Khoun Sophal's 21 year old nephew, then grabbed a can of acid from one of the waiting cars and poured it on Marina's face and upper body, causing severe burns on 45 per cent of her body. No one dared to intervene because the surrounding crowd was well aware of Khoun Sophal's identity.