Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life

"Evan Stark writes, “To make contemporary women their personal property, the modern man must effectively stand against the tide of history, degrading women into a position of subservience that the progress of civilization has made obsolete.” Coercive Control is about a man getting his power fix through abuse and it’s about how intimate partner violence preserves patriarchy. My situation, with Eric, manifested this. He subjected me to his master-slave fantasies, which were flat-out racist. There needs to be a whole ecosystem change, that begins with education from a young age. Millions of women and men experience intimate partner violence before they turn 18. Parents need to talk to their children. We must make peace and kindness more exciting than violence and bullying. Female empowerment and anti-violence programs can play a role. On a legislative level, there need to be more repercussions for abusers. Laws need to be strengthened. I believe in restorative justice, when victims are willing. Law enforcement need to go through intimate violence training to have a more victim-centered approach. There also need to be increased government resources for organizations that provide shelter, legal services and mental health counseling for victims, survivors and their loved ones."