Hey FDS,

I just read a very informative article from NBC about a form of gender-based abuse called "Coercive Control." Coercive Control is when a man attempts to control all aspects of his intimate partner's life, using "range of emotional, physical and other abusive behaviors like isolation, humiliation, financial control, sexual coercion and low-level violence." While the concepts of and behaviors characterizing Coercive Control are generally widely known in the framework of abusive relationships, this article stood out to me because it illuminates aspects of this kind of abuse that I hadn't thought about before, including:

  • how "unlike battering, most of these behaviors don’t violate criminal laws if done by an intimate partner, and they are often misunderstood or minimized by authorities and even victims"
  • and therefore, how difficult it currently is for a woman victims in the US to use this concept as self-defense in court proceedings because it is not widely accepted as a form of legitimate gender-based abuse

I was also surprised to learn that although Coercive Control is "form of abuse long seen by domestic violence advocates," it wasn't until 2007 that it was "first described as a pattern and criminal violation."

Here is the article link: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/his-killing-was-described-love-triangle-gone-wrong-what-happened-n1272997

I had trouble deciding what flair to use for this post. The perfect flair would be "you should know this to protect yourself!" "Strategy" seems the closest, so I ended up going with that.