Why the production of sex videos through coercive and controlling behaviour gets so little attention
The Criminal Offence of Controlling and Coercive Behaviour is another form of Harassment. A fair amount of cases relating to the removal of adult videos from the internet, include actors who had been forced or induced into performing in films through coercive control by an ex partner.
What does it mean to be subjected to coercive control by someone
Can the police help deal with a coercive controlling ex partner
Why only very few victims of coercive control by an ex partner seek legal advice
How do you move on from coercive controlling relationships
What does it mean to be subjected to coercive control by someone
Being subjected to coercive control by someone, means that the other person has effectively taken control over your free will. They might have done so by giving you a false sense of warmth and security whilst creating in you a sense of gratefulness and obligation towards them.
Any love, warmth, and sense of security they have given you, is dependent upon your willingness to prove to them your unquestionable loyalty.
They will give you challenges that you must meet in order to prove to them that you still deserve their attention. Often, coercive control will involve a pattern of humiliation and intimidation acts that aim to keep you in a loop of dependency on you partner. In the sex industry, controlling and coercive behaviour is rife.
The very existence and then the wide publication of videos that had been created or influenced by a controlling partner, is a sufficient perpetual threat of humiliation that tends to keep victims under the control of their ex partner forevermore.
We do not know how many individuals currently suffer harassment from having performed in an adult video, where the producer has inflicted psychological, physical, sexual, financial and emotional abuse on them on them and who have been further harassed when the sex video went online.
Considering that you only have to fear violence and feel alarm and distress on two occasions for the conduct to amount to the criminal offence of controlling and coercive behaviour or to harassment, it might be surprising that only a handful of cases of this nature are prosecuted each year in the UK.
Can the police help deal with a coercive controlling ex partner
It is very rare for people who had been filmed performing sexual acts through coercive control by an ex partner to seek advice from the police.
Harassment and the criminal offence of controlling and coercive behaviour is very underused by police and the CPS, particularly in the adult video industry. There is a maximum prison sentence of five years for coercive and controlling behaviour, which is hardly ever been imposed on anyone in the UK.
The two main issues for those who managed to leave their coercive and controlling ex partner are how to stop publications of videos and how to avoid retaliation by the controlling ex partner, should they decide to go to the police.
It is a combination of the fear of reprisal by the controlling ex partner and the incapacity of the police to assist in stopping publication of sex videos which were produced under coercion that results in nearly zero reporting of cases to the police.
Why only very few victims of coercive control by ex partner seek legal advice
Many oppressed victims of coercive behaviour and harassment do nothing about their situation because of the ongoing threat of being either physically assaulted or further humiliated by the person who controls them.
Just because you have left your coercively controlling ex partner, does not mean that they stopped controlling you. Coercive control is similar to brain washing, which means its effects often lasts a lifetime. Many victims therefore, do not seek legal help because of fear from their controlling partner. Others are not yet mentally ready to progress to a position of self-control, let alone initiating an offensive attack against the person who had previously controlled them.
How to move on from coercive controlling relationships
Moving on from a situation of being subjected to controlling and coercive behaviour means that you must first regain your independence. This is more of a mental struggle than a physical one.
Being released mentally from a situation similar to slavery means that you need to do some work on yourself first. It would be nearly impossible to do this without external help and support.
From many years of experience of working with individuals who had seen it through to the other end, it seems having regular counselling is essential to the beginning of the process of regaining your mental freedom. The next stage is often finding a new goal in life, such as learning a new skill, attending college or university, whilst creating for yourself a new social environment.
The existence of videos on the internet or at the hand of your ex partner, is something that you will need to deal with but only when you are ready to do so. It will require mental strength as well as at least some financial ability to at least meet with a lawyer initially. Seeing a lawyer and taking steps to remove the remaining threats to your ability to move on with your life are both positive steps. Taking positive steps will always give you a sense of control of the situation, as opposed to reactive or defensive steps. To be able to take those important positive steps, you will need to be strong enough and ready to be empowered.
We want you to know that we will help you with the legal aspects of any harassment issue. We are of course discreet, we never judge and we have a lot of experience in this area of law so we will immediately understand your life experiences that you will describe to us.
Our lawyers are passionate about helping people achieve freedom from harassment. The criminal offence of controlling and coercive behaviour is another form of harassment, which is also a civil wrongdoing. We want to help people with this injurious issue, so feel free to give us a call now on 0800-612-7211.
Read more information about legal help for sex workers here.