Every day I read articles of victim/survivors and targets of abuse and coercive control being failed by the system. The media tends to characterize the level of corruption, misogyny, racism etc. in these stories as "shocking". However, what is most frightening thing about these cases of systemic coercive control is that they are not "shocking". They are common, they are increasing, and they are only the tip of the iceberg.
While there are many many professionals working diligently within systems to protect victim/survivors and hold perpetrators accountable, these courageous and dedicated professional's efforts are, unfortunately, far outweighed by the powerful systemic coercive control that keeps abuses of power in place.
Coercive control is said to be invisible in plain sight (Stark, 2007, Fontes, 2015), which makes addressing it very difficult indeed. And, because coercive control is invisible in plain sight, most people cannot recognize it even when they come face to face with it. This advantages the perpetrators, who use people's ignorance against them to exploit vulnerabilities, within the minds of the victim, the bystander, and within systems.
Perpetrators manipulate and deceive outsiders to see them as the victim. They do this using a strategy called DARVO, which stands for Deny, Attack, Reverse, Victim and Offender. And this strategy is highly effective at keeping coercive control invisible in plain sight. So, when the details of systemic coercive control and corruption do finally come out into the open, as in this article, society thinks these are isolated incidents... rare. But they are not! The truth is that victims, survivors and targets of coercive control are very often afraid to report the abuse. The media is also discouraged from reporting on them, often by wealthy powerful owners who don't want their own abuses of power to be highlighted. So, we can assume there are far more "incidents" than the ones we know about.
Coercive controllers minimize their own negative behavior and they mischaracterize the target's (victim) responses to the coercive control as being the problem. Until professionals become savvy to the tactics coercive controllers use, they will be complicit in harm to victims, survivors, and targets of coercive control.
If you would like to learn more about how to address systemic coercive control within your organization, you can book a free consultation here with a coercive control expert.
If you are a victim, survivor or target of coercive control and need assistance on a civil, criminal or family case you are involved in, you can book a free consultation here with a coercive control expert.
