Conversations about domestic abuse are often focused on what’s visible—physical violence, bruises, the tangible evidence of harm. However, physical violence is an instrument used to enforce regimes of coercive control in which victim-survivors are carefully groomed from subjugation using a pattern of psycho-emotional manipulation called coercive control. Over time, the cumulative effects of this type of abuse lead to the…
Coercive Control
Coercive control is pattern of behavior used by one person to harm, punish, frighten, or threaten another person. It is considered the most dangerous and malicious type of intimate partner and family violence as it is a form of psychological torture. Domestic violence occurs in the context of coercive control. Moreover, it is the foundational strategy used to accomplish the subjugation, oppression, and exploitation of women.
Signs of coercive control include:
– Monitoring your time
– Taking control of your daily life
– Devaluation
– Obstruction of Employment
– Financial abuse
– Criminal damage
– Isolation
– Rules and Regulations
– Deprivation of Basic Needs
– Monitoring Communication
– Threats
– Sexual Assault
It was first criminalized in the UK in 2015. To learn what other countries and states have laws against it, log onto The Coercive and Controlling Legislation Global Database, which we developed in 2020 to monitor legislative updates.
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