Irish Examiner view: Coercive control is as old as time — its perpetrators must be called out

Recent court cases in Cork and Wexford recount horrifying tales of coercive control. As an MEP, herself a survivor, says, such abuses 'must be treated with the seriousness they deserve'

One landmark analysis points out that abuse does not consist of separate physical acts but rather a systematic strategy of domination, isolation, and deprivation. Stock picture: Alamy

Although it is a behaviour as old as time, it is only in recent years — fewer than 20 — that the disquieting phrase “coercive control” has entered the contemporary lexicon.

It appears to have made its bow in a 2007 book Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life by the American sociologist and academic Evan Stark which has gained currency in Western universities over the past two decades.