Thread by @globeandmail

Jacqueline Suchite Rivas thought she knew what abuse looked like. When her ex-husband hit her, that was abuse. When he pointed a gun at her and threatened her life, that was abuse.

But the name-calling, the jealousy, the isolation? That was just life.
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While they were dating, he isolated her from her friends, telling her she only needed him. After they married, he ran up their credit without telling her. When she complained about his cruelty, he would tell her to lighten up.
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Coercive control is the term for this form of abuse, and it can be an early indicator of relationships that will escalate into physical violence, and even homicide, according to a growing body of research. But many people don’t recognize it as abuse.
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In Canada, researchers who looked at femicides from 2015 to 2019 found controlling behaviours such as stalking, intimidation, isolation and threats were frequent. But those patterns are often recognized only in hindsight, after violence turns lethal.
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On average, a woman is killed by an intimate partner every six days in Canada. Zoom out to include attempted murders and that stat becomes one almost every other day.
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Some researchers say that criminalization is the way to crack down on coercive control. But others are leery about looking for solutions in a criminal justice system that disproportionately punishes Indigenous and racialized people.
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What both sides agree on is that this form of violence needs to be much better understood; not just by the healthcare, education and justice systems, but also by the general public. It's a life or death issue.
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The Globe and Mail set out to analyze this violence and the gaps in the system that have enabled it.
Read the full story by @mollyhayes, @lizrenzetti and @TaviaGrant
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For more information about coercive control and how to find help if you're experiencing it, read our Q&A:
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