What is coercive control and why is it so difficult to recognize?

a post by Charlotte Barlow, Sandra Walklate and Kelly Johnson for the OUP blog


“Grayscale Photograph of Woman Touching Her Eyes” by Juan Pablo Arenas. CC0 via Pexels

Engaging in controlling and/or coercive behaviour in intimate or familial relationships became a new criminal offence in England and Wales in December 2015.

Coercive Control involves a pattern of abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten the victim.

Example behaviours included in this legislation are

• isolation from friends and family,
• deprivation of basic needs,
• monitoring behaviour and time,
• controlling a victim’s life and/or finances, and
• may include physical violence.

The introduction of this offence was welcomed for recognising the cumulative impact of various forms of domestic abuse and for encouraging police and other criminal justice agencies to move beyond an incident-led and physical violence-based understanding of domestic abuse.

However, four years on since the legislation was enacted and with no compulsory national level training or support, what has actually changed?

Coercive control as an offence carries implications for how we record and understand coercive control and domestic abuse victimisation more broadly in the UK. Despite recent figures suggesting an increase in recorded crimes of coercive control (from approximately 4,000 in 2016-17 to over 9,000 in 2018-19), prosecutions and convictions for the offence remain consistently low.

This is in contrast to other domestic-abuse related crimes, namely those that result in actual bodily harm, which are 20% more likely to result in an arrest and a charge.

Furthermore, the Office for National Statistics recently removed coercive and controlling behaviour questions from the Crime Survey for England and Wales because of uncertainty as to whether the questions were adequately capturing victims of the offence.

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See also:
Putting Coercive Control into Practice: Problems and Possibilities
Charlotte Barlow, Kelly Johnson, Sandra Walklate, Les Humphreys
The British Journal of Criminology, azz041,
Full text (PDF 20pp)

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Identifying risky Internet use: Associating negative online experience with specific online behaviours

an article by Sally M Gainsbury (The University of Sydney, Australia) and Matthew Browne and Matthew Rockloff (Central Queensland University, Australia) published in New Media & Society Volume 21 Issue 6 (June 2019)

Abstract

Experiencing negative outcomes online is increasingly common, with more people active online and the continued presence of aggressive online behaviours.

This study sought to uncover the underlying factor structure of negative online consequences. It investigated how experiencing negative outcomes is associated with engaging in specific online activities. Australian adult Internet users (N = 1773, mean age = 42.5 years, 54.8% female) completed an online survey.

An underlying factor structure was identified with subgroups of negative outcomes identified relating to hacking/identity theft, abuse/harassment, non-targeted scams and targeted scams. Victimisation was associated with engagement with online pornography and forums; use of multiple discussion forums, dating, and gaming sites; and expenditure on gaming, dating and pornography sites.

Results suggest that overall Internet involvement does not predict victimisation, but specific activities are linked to certain harms.

This research creates a framework to inform policy and practice to minimise online victimisation and guide ongoing research.

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5 Victim-Shaming Myths That Harm Abuse and Trauma Survivors and Encourage Spiritual Bypassing

a post by Shahida Arabi for the "Recovering from a Narcissist2 blog [via World of Psychology]



As an author and researcher who has communicated with thousands of trauma and abuse survivors, I’ve become all too familiar with the victim-shaming myths which cause retraumatization in those who have suffered the unimaginable. These myths are often normalized as everyday platitudes that, even when said in well-meaning ways, can pose unnecessary harm to survivors and their healing journeys.nger,

Research has shown the powerful detrimental effects of victim-blaming and victim-shaming statements. Studies have confirmed that when victims encounter negative reactions from professionals, family members, and friends, this destructively affects the willingness of victims to come forward to disclose their pain and only leads to further self-blame and uncertainty about their experiences (Williams, 1984; Ahrens, 2006). This is a harmful form of secondary gaslighting and victimization which needs to be reexamined and dismantled.

Below are some common victim-blaming and victim-shaming myths which need to be exposed, reevaluated and reframed to help, rather than hurt survivors of abuse and trauma.

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Breaking the Chains of Victimhood When You’ve Been Abused

a post by Paul Hellwig for the Tiny Buddha blog


“Toxically shamed people tend to become more and more stagnant as life goes on. They live in a guarded, secretive, and defensive way. They try to be more than human (perfect and controlling) or less than human (losing interest in life or stagnated in some addictive behavior).” ~John Bradshaw-Healing the Shame That Binds You

Do you feel like a victim? Are those around you suggesting that you are acting like a victim? Are these same people telling you to get over it and move on? Do these judgments and statements feel harmful or helpful for you?

Most people making these harmful statements and suggestions do so with very little understanding or experience with being a victim. They have not taken the time to really listen to your story of what has happened in your life. They make their judgments from the place of never being a victim or not being willing to accept that they were.

People with a history of victimization do not need tough love, harsh words, or anyone’s reality check. Those things are most likely part of what happened to them. They need love, support, empathy, and compassion. If you are unable to give these things to them, the best thing you can do for them is to please stay out of it!

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‘The language is disgusting and they refer to my disability’: the cyberharassment of disabled people

an article by Zhraa A. Alhaboby, Haider M. al-Khateeb, James Barnes and Emma Short (University of Bedfordhshire, Luton, UK) published in Disability & Society Volume 31 Issue 8 (2016)

Abstract

Disabled people face hostility and harassment in their socio-cultural environment. The use of electronic communications creates an online context that further reshapes this discrimination.

We explored the experiences of 19 disabled victims of cyberharassment.

Five themes emerged from the study: disability and health consequences, family involvement, misrepresentation of self, perceived complexity, and lack of awareness and expertise.

Cyberharassment incidents against disabled people were influenced by the pre-existing impairment, perceived hate-targeting, and perpetrators faking disability to get closer to victims online. Our findings highlight a growing issue requiring action and proper support.

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