Image-based sexual abuse as a means of coercive control : victim-survivor experiences Nicola Henry, Nicola Gavey and Kelly Johnson
By: Henry, Nicola
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Contributor(s): Gavey, Nicola
| Johnson, Kelly
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Material type: 








Violence Against Women, 2023, 29(6–7): 1206–1226
Scholars and practitioners increasingly acknowledge the ways that abusive partners create, distribute, or threaten to distribute intimate images without consent, yet little empirical research has comprehensively explored image-based sexual abuse within intimate partner contexts. This article responds to this gap and reports on the findings of a study involving interviews with 29 women and one gender-diverse person who experienced image-based sexual abuse as part of a pattern of “coercive control.” The authors argue that abusive partners use intimate imagery as a means of exerting power and control, and as a tactic of intimidation, entrapment, and degradation. They note that law, policy, and practice responses should recognize the gendered nature of image-based sexual abuse and its growing use as a means of coercive control. (Authors' abstract). Record #8087