Is There a Typical Victim Profile?
The victims of coercive control are predominantly women and their children1. Coercive control is rooted in relationships of domination and inequality, both within couples and in society.
However, just as there is no typical profile for abusive partners, there is no typical profile for victims of conjugal violence. Coercive control is found in all social classes, regardless of education, age, socio-economic status, or ethnocultural background.
However, certain factors may make it more difficult for some women to seek help, and abusive partners can exploit these factors to reinforce their control over them.
Any woman can find herself under the control of a partner, regardless of her culture, social status or income. She could be your colleague at work, your neighbour, your doctor, etc.
Vulnerability factors
These factors can be individual or societal. Some examples include:
| Immigration Status | A victim may fear deportation or being reported to border services. She may fear losing her status in Canada or being separated from her children. |
| Consequences of colonialism | Victims may face barriers and prejudices when it comes to disclosing or denouncing violence or seeking help. They may experience the intergenerational effects of historical trauma or racism and suffer from a lack of access to services and support resources in their community. |
| Cultural barriers | A victim may be afraid to seek help. She may be distrustful of the police, face threats from her family or community if she reports the violence to the authorities, fear breaking up the family, and so on. |
| Isolation and marginalization | A woman may live in a remote, rural area or in an Indigenous community. She may face a lack of accessible resources in her living environment, a lack of public or affordable transportation, or a lack of access to the Internet. She may also have trouble speaking, understanding, reading, or writing French or English. |
| Disability, physical, and mental health problems | A victim may be faced with a lack of adapted services. She may be a victim of discrimination or stereotypes linked to disability. She may be deprived of care by her partner and fear losing him as her caregiver. |
| Alcohol/drug use | A woman may feel blamed or made to feel responsible by society and the organizations that are supposed to help her. |
| Financial insecurity | A victim may be in a situation of poverty (e.g., difficulty or impossibility of finding housing, inability to receive her first individual social aid cheque before leaving her partner); be suffering from economic violence or homelessness. |
| Partner in a position of authority or power | Such as a lawyer, judge, doctor, police officer, boss, or criminal. Due to his position of authority, the woman may be less likely to be believed and may face a support network that favours the perpetrator. She may fear damage to her reputation, reprisals, or that her partner will use the system to his advantage. |
| Racism | A woman may face prejudice, racism, and discrimination in her contacts with institutions (e.g., justice system, police, child protective services, health system). She may develop a loss of confidence in these institutions, preventing her from speaking out or asking for help. |
Taking into account the diversity of experiences
Professionals need to consider these factors to understand victims' experiences and the obstacles they face.
Referring victims to resources with expertise in these areas helps to provide them with a support network.
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References
1 95% of coercive control victims are women. In Barlow, C., et Walklate, S. (2021). Gender, risk assessment and coercive control: Contradictions in terms?. The British Journal of Criminology, 61(4), 887-904. doi:10.1093/bjc/azaa104
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