The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018[i] identifies domestic abuse as a pattern of behaviour that instils fear and is used by abusers to maintain control. It includes any pattern of controlling, bullying, threatening or violent behaviour towards a partner or ex-partner including psychological and emotional abuse; this includes what is commonly known as ‘coercive control’.
Domestic abuse is disproportionately perpetrated by men and experienced by women[ii]. The UN identifies that domestic abuse, along with other forms of gender-based violence, is a form of gender discrimination and “one of the fundamental social, political and economic means by which the subordinate position of women with respect to men and their stereotyped roles are perpetuated.”[iii]
Behaviours constituting domestic abuse can include: physical abuse, sexual abuse, psychological and emotional abuse, isolating the survivor from family and friends, monitoring and regulating the survivor’s activities, controlling their money and/or activities, depriving them from their freedom of action, frightening, humiliating or degrading them, among other things.[iv]
[i] https://www.gov.scot/news/domestic-abuse-act-in-force/
[ii] https://www.gov.scot/publications/domestic-abuse-scotland-2018-2019-statistics/pages/11/
[iii]Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against women (2017) General recommendation No. 35 on gender-based violence against women, updating general recommendation No. 19
[iv]https://www.scottishwomensrightscentre.org.uk/news/news/7-things-to-know-about-scotlands-new-domestic-abuse-law/
