Richard Hogan: Coercive control slowly reduces the victim to 'nothing'
Coercive control is a type of abuse that is almost impossible to see. It is an invisible prison that subjugates and obliterates the agency and self of the person caught in its terrible grip. It is a protracted system of control designed to shrink the victim's life down to nothing so that they are dependent on the perpetrator for nearly everything. To achieve their heinous outcome, the perpetrator (usually a man) will utilise tactics such as micro-managing the minutia of their life, humiliation, and surveillance via technology. They will gaslight and degrade their partner so that the ground beneath them is constantly moving. Disorientated, and uncertain about what is happening to them, the victim becomes easily manipulated and controlled.
Violence is often the last weapon used by a coercively controlling partner. That is what makes this crime so difficult to police and makes a victim so utterly vulnerable. In fact, many victims often describe how violence would have almost been easier to experience because at least then they would have known they were being abused.
