What is Coercive Control?
Coercive control is a term that can be used interchangeably with domestic abuse, but it is also a framework or model that explains the complex and sometimes seemingly contradictory dynamics of domestic abuse. Abusers rely on a constellation of tactics to frighten, traumatize, isolate, threaten, confuse, control, and harm their adult and child victims. They often also use coercive control over their children, in large part to harm and control their adult victims.
These tactics could involve categories of abuse such as: psychological abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse, legal abuse, immigration abuse, faith-based abuse, animal abuse, and many more. And abusers may try to make their victims change any given aspect of their daily lives from how they walk, talk, eat, have sex, clean, drive, care for their children, to how they work. They may control their victims’ time, movements, communications, resources, access to support, and may blame and discredit their victims in different arenas outside the home. Their tactics tend to change post-separation, because of reduced access to their adult victims.
Dr. Mei-Ling Ellerman
I am a coercive control expert, researcher, and advocate for survivors. I am the Research and Advocacy Fellow on Domestic Abuse and Coercive Control with the Center for Global Development and Sustainability at Brandeis University, Massachusetts. I work directly with survivors, domestic violence coalitions, advocacy groups, and legislators to educate on coercive control and improve protections for adult and child survivors. I am trained as a DV Advocate and have been trained as an Expert Witness by the renowned coercive control expert, Dr. Lisa Fontes.
I have conducted research projects on coercive and controlling dynamics for almost 20 years, funded in part by Fulbright funding, the David L. Boren NSEP Fellowship, and UNESCO. Since 2016, I have dedicated myself exclusively to research and advocacy work against domestic abuse/coercive control. My first domestic abuse research project on the experiences of survivors of color was conducted in collaboration with my organizational partners, the Asian Task Force against Domestic Violence (ATASK), Casa Myrna Vazquez, and the Mass Law Reform Institute (MLRI). Once the opportunity to pass new domestic abuse legislation arose, I put aside my research to work collaboratively with other advocates, survivors, state coalitions, and advocacy groups to successfully pass Massachusetts’ first coercive control legislation.
One of my upcoming research projects will study the implementation of Massachusetts’ coercive control legislation, another will study survivors’ experiences of abusive litigation, and I will continue to work with others to support education, awareness-raising, improved legislation, and reform.
In 2025, I will be dedicating some time to intensively train women survivors on coercive control. Many of the tactics that abusers use, serve to disguise their abuse and deceive their victims. These live online trainings will help survivors to identify the many forms of coercive control they and their children have experienced, so that they can better advocate for themselves and protect their children.