CCChat-Magazine_Issue-26-Trauma-Bonding

of torture and we teach professionals
how to recognise and resist those
manipulations. We do so through
mapping perpetrators’ patterns across
all sorts of relationships, across work,
across all their interactions so that we
can get a greater view of their patterns
of perpetration which would give us a
sense of their potential harm and
lethality for children and their adult
survivors. The first step is admitting
there’s a problem then recognising and
defining the problem and I think we
are starting to get there, people are
starting to wake up.
perpetrators respond to domestic and
sexual violence emergency calls is
going to improve our responses, it’s
just common sense. You can see this in
Australia right now where they’ve been
really going through it with their
Attorney General who has historic
sexual assault allegations against him
where his alleged victim committed
suicide after her claim was denied. The
fact that this person is the power that
holds the authority for how victims
and survivors get justice is highly
problematic. There needs to be a lot of
accountability, a lot of transparency in
order for us to reach a point that
victims and survivors can be
reasonably assured that the systems
" Government control is fundamentally paternalistic and
patriarchal and benefits people who have
tremendous power and money."
In the UK you have a super complaint
against the police because the police
retain domestic violence and sexual
violence perpetrators and they answer
domestic and sexual violence calls and
have authority over our pathway to
prosecting our perpetrators. It’s not a
coincidence, the low prosecutorial
rates. It’s not a coincidence so many
rape kits go untested, it’s not a
coincidence that our responses to
policing sexual and domestic violence
are so horribly victim blaming. It’s
because the culture itself is tainted by
abusers who have tremendous power
and impunity. In the UK there are
people working to make sure that the
police do the right thing by firing
perpetrators of domestic and sexual
violence. We don’t yet have any idea
how that will improve our responses
but we can safely say that not having
are free of this biased influence. That
means independent bodies which have
the authority to investigate patterns of
behaviors of those who hold power and
control over our ability to seek justice
and safety.
M: I have a big issue at the moment
with the message that is out there
saying go and report coercive control,
you will be supported and you will get
help. I have countless women contact
me to say that they have reported and
have provided evidence but have been
told that there is nothing there and
there is nothing they can do and come
back if something else happens. It is
hugely frustrating that there is this
message which is conveyed and then
that is not acted upon.
Making The Invisible Visible