Exploring technology-facilitated coercive control in a post-relationship context in Ireland

Ayodele , Wuraoluwa Soibi

Exploring technology-facilitated coercive control in a post-relationship context in Ireland

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WuraoluwaSoibiAyodeleCARLReport2024.pdf(893.58 KB)

Published Version

Date

2024

Authors

Ayodele , Wuraoluwa Soibi

Publisher

Community-Academic Research Links, University College Cork

Abstract

Background of Study Coercive control generally represents non-physical forms of violence which one person uses to exert control over another (Stark, 2007). These forms of violence are invisible and capture actions such as stalking, monitoring, victim-isolation and so on. As an invisible form of violence, coercive control is constructed mostly in an intimate-partner relationship and occurs in a way that the victim rarely recognizes or understands the situation of violence. While coercive control may not have physical repercussions such as bruises, it advances psychological repercussions such as losing one’s identity (Johnson, 2008), post-traumatic stress disorder, low self-esteem, suicidal thoughts and so on. Coercive control is further constructed as a structural form of exploitation and deprivation with the use of threats or force to compel a victim to indirectly obey and align to the will of an abuser (Stark 2007). With developments in research, a spotlight has been shone on coercive control as a form of violence. This has led to a higher recognition of the situation by the public and a development in legislation to protect victims. In Ireland, the Domestic Violence Act (2018) established the offence of coercive control. The development in research and legislation has mostly recognized acts of coercive control in the context of relationships where the partners physically live with one another. However, in recent times, the advancement of technology and increased virtual communities and relationships, have caused abusers to become more innovative in using technology to commit coercive control. Hence, technology can be an avenue for abusers to exert coercive control over their victims beyond a shared domestic, or physical space and provides them with overwhelming power to do so (Duerkson and Woodin, 2019). In light of this, it is crucial to understand the nature of technology-facilitated coercive control and how this form of violence is perpetrated against victims in a manner that affects them physically, psychologically, sexually and economically. Recent research has explored social media abuse as a form of technology-facilitated coercive control, including cyber-stalking, deep-fake voices or images, hacking of social media pages and so on. The development of SMART technologies has however, generated potential for another form of technology- facilitated coercive control and this provides the focus of this thesis.

Keywords

Technology-facilitated coercive control , Post-relationship

Citation

Ayodele, W. S. (2024) Exploring technology-facilitated coercive control in a post-relationship context in Ireland. Cork: Community-Academic Research Links, University College Cork.