Can Coercive Control on TV Interrupt Real Cycles of Intimate Partner Violence?
Television transformed how I think about abuse in romantic relationships.
For 30 years, my father called my mother cruel names, isolated her from her family, and controlled her life until she no longer knew who she was or what she wanted. My mom and I didn't talk about this until I was in adulthood and we watched Baby Reindeer (2024)—an autobiographical TV series where the main character, Donny (Richard Gadd), is groomed, coerced into taking drugs, and assaulted by a powerful figure in his life.
At the end of episode four, which depicts this abuse, my mom turned to me and said, “Your father did that to me.”
“What part?” I asked, afraid of the answer.
She shook her head. “All of it.”
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