The French have already criminalised “psychological violence”. British ministers – who are considering making “coercive control” within intimate relationships a crime should do the same. Coercive control is sometimes described as if it is a mild form of domestic abuse, but this is a mistake. It is, in fact, the foundation stone on which abusive relationships are built. If a stranger hit you, you wouldn’t go home with them, much less deny it happened later – often the very modus operandi of domestic violence. Coercive control creates the psychological conditions that allow abusive relationships to exist and to escalate, often with fatal consequences – an average of seven women and two men are killed by their current or ex-partners every month in England and Wales. Coercive control is increasingly being acknowledged as a significant predictor of future violence and murder by domestic violence charities and the police (for more on warning signs visit refuge.org.uk).
Thirty percent of women have experienced this kind of relationship. I’m one of them. What I remember most about emotional abuse is that it’s like being put in a box. How you end up in there is the biggest trick – I never managed to work that one out.
For the rest of this story by Lauren Laverne, go to: http://www.theguardian.com/lif...tional-abuse-a-crime
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