Violence Against Women

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Book Review: Stark, E. (2007). Coercive Control: The Entrapment of Women in Personal Life. New York: Oxford University Press
TK Logan and Jody Raphael Violence Against Women 2007 13: 885 DOI: 10.1177/1077801207304805 The online version of this article can be found at: http://vaw.sagepub.com/content/13/8/885

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Book Review
Stark, E. (2007). Coercive Control: The Entrapment of Women in Personal Life. New York: Oxford University Press.
DOI: 10.1177/1077801207304805

Violence Against Women Volume 13 Number 8 August 2007 885-890 2007 Sage Publications http://vaw.sagepub.com hosted at http://online.sagepub.com

Most of those who work in the area of partner violence understand that psychological abuse is a very devastating part of partner violence, with many women indicating that it is more painful than the physical abuse. What we have not discussed in a long time, or perhaps in a consistent way, is why. Evan Stark brings back into focus the why. Psychological abuse, or coercive control, as Stark phrases it, is devastating because it is about attacking a persons individual agency, liberties, and autonomy. We know that many scholars have compared partner violence victimization to the process by which prisoners of war are broken down. The psychological degradation, humiliation, and breaking of spirit, as a prisoner of war, can and does happen to men and women. But, until recently, the United States has not been in a war, and the idea of a prisoner of war is far from our younger generations consciousness, a distant horror story but not directly relevant to daily life. Stark brings back into focus the relevance of the psychological component of partner violence that is so devastating for women living with it. He calls it an invisible cage, and, by framing the psychological component of partner violence in this waycoercive controlthe true dynamics of women living with partner violence, or rather the control tactics their partners direct toward them daily, are better explained. One review cannot do justice to such a big book, which was 10 years in the making. This ambitious book fills a much-needed gap in the literature by bringing together important pieces of early research, historical aspects of the domestic violence movement, recent research, and case insights from the authors 30-year history of clinical and forensic work. Regardless of whether readers agree or disagree with Starks contentions or agree only in part, we guarantee they will not ever be bored. It is hoped that this book will be widely read and discussed and its major points incorporated into our daily work. In essence, this book should serve as a catalyst to reinvigorate the domestic violence movement. Stark begins the book by reminding us of the history of the movement to end violence against women in the United States. The first part of the book provides readers with a level of historical development that every student interested in violence against women should read and understand. This, we think, is an often-overlooked disconnect with students today; they too often jump into the topic of violence against women without the historical context, without which the movement cannot go forward. Stark outlines the development of the first abuse shelters, what empowerment of survivors meant at the time when advocates were first trying to bring this issue to public awareness, and how professionalization changed the movement. He reminds us that physical assault is just one tool within the context of coercive control and that
885

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it is this more narrow focus where we have begun to get off track or that has contributed to the stalling of the movement. The second part of the book continues with outlining the progress, or lack of progress, of the movement today by turning attention to measurement of abuse and how the traditional characterization of battered women fails to truly capture their experience, especially in the criminal justice system. Starks discussion shows the wide difference between fights occasioned by anger and failure to communicate and those purposely and inventively designed to control and dominate ones partner. He criticizes the previous frameworks that have been used to characterize battered women and their experiences, specifically focusing on the battered womens syndrome and the trauma framework. Stark believes that these two explanations overlook womens survival strengths and reactions to the coercive control they are experiencing, and he is convincing in his arguments, especially when applied to cases in which women have killed their batterers. Later, Stark outlines a new model of characterizing the experiences of women battered by their partners, the coercive control model, and then applies this model to cases that he has encountered in his 30-year career of treatment and forensic work. Stark concludes the book by suggesting what can be done to move forward the revolution of ending violence against women. One of the books great strengths is the observation that coercive control serves a rational purpose for men, who insist on personal dominance over their partner as proof of their own masculinity. Stark argues that batters expend
hours in surveillance, rule making, and enforcement . . . for three compelling reasons: because womens gains threaten the privileges they believe are their due simply because they are men, because womens gains increase the potential rewards if abuse is successful, and because they can think of no equally effective way to secure these privileges and benefits. (p. 131)

In other words, Stark writes that these men are defending their traditional prerogatives against the perceived threats posed by womens equality. In light of this new equality, most men, Stark says, decide to compromise their privileges and accept a certain reciprocity, as unfamiliar as this may feel. However, some men, especially those who seem more disadvantaged by society, find ways to decrease equality and increase their privileges through coercive control of their partner and perhaps even their children. By way of illustration, Stark discusses the benefits accruing to the men who threaten or who rape their partners: The implied threat of sexual force allows an abusive partner to dictate the when, how, where, and even the with whom of sex (p. 388). Sex is just one illustration of the benefits men derive from being controlling and abusive; others include such services as food on demand, housecleaning, income, laundry, taking care of the children, and a variety of other personal services. In other words, the batterer receives free labor or services from her, whereas he enjoys leisure, freedom, being the center of attention, and controlsomething Lundy Bancroft (2002) refers to as the illusion of being a good husband and father without any of the sacrifice.

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In todays times of official liberation of women, when men want a universe where male dominance over women is the norm, they will have to create a new world and condemn their partner to it. Starks analysis would have been strengthened had he also recognized the extent to which cultural messages continue to beam out messages counter to womens equality or confusing signals, including the profanitylaced epithets of radio sports jocks, advertisements portraying women only as sexual creatures available to service men, and pornography. In a recent commentary on a spate of mainstream movies that are getting darker and more violent, involving violence and death of highly sexualized young women, one critic wrote,
Of course, watching one of these films wont turn a sane, decent individual into a killer or torturer, but you have to wonder what effect this widespread meshing of sexuality and graphic violence will have on the young men at whom they are primarily aimed. The clear logic behind all these films, TV shows, and images appears to be that if a young, good-looking, barely-clad woman is sexy while alive, shes even sexier when shes being tortured, or when shes a bloody corpse. (Cochrane, 2007)

When the broader culture picture is surveyed, perhaps we might see these holdouts as those more heavily influenced, for whatever reason, by these commercial images of women. Close to the end of the book, one begins to wonder what is to be done. And, as mentioned earlier, the concluding chapter outlines Starks arguments in answer to this question. First, Stark urges the separation of fights from incidents of coercive control. This differentiation, he states, needs to be demonstrated through research. He believes that researchers perpetuate the wrong focus on battering because they continue to study only part of the problemphysical violenceand physical abuse without regard to its context misses key elements of coercive control that have far more serious effects. Stark, who understands that researchers, especially young researchers, have every incentive to build on the dominant approaches in the field and have every disincentive to set out on new paths, surely understands what he is up against when he calls for new definitions of domestic violence to be used in research. These discussions have already occurred in various venues, and positions seem entrenched. Those who hypothesize about different categories of violence often have been rebuffed or simply ignored. Nor would it be easy to develop a simple series of questions to measure coercive control and differentiate it from mere fights, in part because, as Stark so eloquently notes in his book, batterers learn effective coercive control tactics by trial and error, revising them to see which work best in the given situation with a given partner. If we can assume that physical violence is a proxy for coercive control, life is much easier for researchers, advocates, and criminal justice personnel. However, Stark argues that, in fact, we cannot use physical abuse as a proxy for battering. Abuse can and does occur with no or very minimal physical violence, but the results are similarly devastating to those living with battering. We have seen this problem arise in the controversy

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surrounding mutual violence, which many criticize because context or motivation are not usually considered in these studies. However, the other side of the coin is, how can we competently measure coercive control? The answer to that question remains a challenge to researchers, one that hopefully will be met very soon. Stark also calls for a new crime of coercive control so that patterns of practice can be entered into evidence in criminal proceedings. Enshrining the elements of coercive control into a new crime serves the purpose, he explains, of educating the public and the criminal justice system about the true nature of domestic violence and enabling new responses to be crafted. Although this sounds good at first blush, there are considerable problems. Can we envision a police officer called to the scene being able to separate out a simple violent fight from a situation involving coercive control? Police officers lack the extensive amount of time it might take to obtain a good history of the relationship and its behavioral patterns. Furthermore, although Stark does not directly confront the issue, he talks of removing the men who practice coercive control. This would require the new crime to carry some extremely stiff penalties, which brings us to the next issue. There are crimes that now carry severe penalties, including sexual assault, domestic battery, and stalking. Yet advocates see time after time that the criminal justice system in one way or another avoids invoking these penalties. For example, stalking laws are most often ignored, and sexual assault charges within the context of domestic violence are frequently not even considered. There may be many reasons for the lack of attention to these very devastating occurrences. It may be because the criminal justice system views these crimes as he said, she said, with resources lacking for investigation to develop additional evidence. And often prosecutors do not feel that these cases can be won, so lesser charges and sentences are applied instead. Now we can assume that many of these cases already in domestic violence courtrooms are cases involving coercive control (Logan & Walker, 2007). Were the system to handle these serious cases as they should already be treated, we would need not worry too much about a new crime of coercive control. Take, for example, the protective order process, something barely mentioned by Stark. All states have enacted laws essentially allowing women to petition for protective orders to prevent future violence from a violent partner or ex-partner. To receive a protective order, usually granted by a judge, a hearing is held where a woman is required to show a pattern of abuse, something similar to coercive control. This system of protection is a potentially useful tool in combating violence, and many women have taken advantage of this option. Recent research also suggests that 2 in 5 women report no violations of the protective order approximately 1 year after obtaining it (Logan & Walker, 2007). However, that means that 3 out of 5 women do experience a violation of the order, which then requires enforcement from the criminal justice system, which has been problematic in some jurisdictions. And it is important to note that even though protective orders are available in all states, obtaining an order requires women to overcome many barriers. For example,

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a recent student observation of a domestic violence court proceeding found a judge giving a defendant yet even more time to sign up for domestic violence classes that had been ordered 2 years ago. The prosecutor wanted the defendant placed on bond for violating the supervision order, but the judge gave the man one more chance, ordering him to come to court next week with proof that he had registered. After the court went into recess, the sheriff deputies in the courtroom began talking to each other. They said that when they walk the defendants back into the lockup before they are released, they are laughing about what a pushover the judge is. In another case in another jurisdiction, a woman asking for a protective order reported during the hearing that the respondent had beaten her with a hanger. The judge asked her what type of hangerplastic, wooden, or metal? After she answered, the judge asked her to demonstrate how she was hit. As she went to the floor on her hands and knees and tried to show the judge how she was hit, the courtroom, which was filled with other victims, perpetrators, advocates, and lawyers, watched as she was being revictimized by the court system. And the protective order request was dismissed because the judge did not think the abuse was likely to happen again. In another courtroom in another jurisdiction, a woman brought pictures of her bruises, the respondent admitted to hitting her, and yet the judge dismissed the order, in front of a courtroom filled with people including victims and perpetrators. Repeatedly, there are cases such as these indicating that the system is not quite ready to provide the needed protection. Thus, even with a variety of civil and criminal legal tools to combat violence, something prevents the system from adequately responding in many cases already labeled as severe. This also helps explain some of the stalling of the domestic violence movement. These examples bring us back to the point that not enough attention is given in the book to the current inability to use laws and remedies that currently exist and that, if they were appropriately utilized, many instances of coercive control would be addressed. Advocates, who well understand the concept of coercive control, fight every day to have their clients stories treated seriously. The problem may not be lack of a proper definition but an inability of individuals in the system to understand the terror women feel from coercive control tactics. If we ourselves have not experienced conditions of coercive control, can we identify with the harm or injury involved? Can we even believe that such things happen? And, as Stark explains, the tyrannies he describes seem similar to the gender stereotypes still widely held. How can we draw the line between what women are expected to do (e.g., cooking dinner) and being required to have it on the table at a set time? On the other hand, it can do no harm, and only good, to educate players in the system about coercive control. As Stark understands, perhaps an incremental approach would be more effective, including breathing life into stalking statutes, enforcement of court-ordered protections, and reimagining new remedies for abusers. Would a new crime automatically solve this problem? Stark is undoubtedly on to something big when he says that confusing coercive control with minor fights, and

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mixing the two into the same criminal justice system, serves overall to trivialize the serious cases. Advocates have long recognizeda fact not mentioned enough by Starkthat serious cases of abuse are not being taken seriously. If domestic violence is finally understood to be much more than physical fighting between intimate or formerly intimate partners, then perhaps the response would be more fully commensurate with the crime. But, as advocates well know, this is not easily achieved. Even now, the system resists looking serious violence directly in the face and dealing with it. There is just something about domestic violence and sexual assault that hits too close to home. When we finally figure out how to confront that fact, we will be on the way to eliminating domestic violence. Stark may not have the solution, but he has eloquently and persuasively described the problem that needs fixing, generating a new excitement about the domestic violence movement and a debate that needs to take place to reenergize the efforts to end violence against women. We strongly recommend this book for every student, advocate, counselor, therapist, criminal justice professional, family violence researcher, and anyone else who works or has an interest in this area. TK Logan University of Kentucky, Lexington Jody Raphael DePaul University College of Law, Chicago

References
Bancroft, L. (2002). Why does he do that? Inside the minds of angry and controlling men. New York: Berkeley. Cochrane, K. (2007). For your entertainment. Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved May 1, 2007, from http:// filmguardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,2069286,00.html Logan, TK, & Walker, R. (2007). Protective order outcomes: What predicts violations and perceptions of effectiveness. Unpublished manuscript.

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