Individual Autonomy refers to the capacity to be one’s own person, to live one’s life according to reasons and motives that are taken as one’s own and not the product of manipulative or distorting external forces.

(per the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)

All peoples have the right to self‑determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.

In other words, to make decisions without outside influence.

(per Article 1 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights)

Economic Abuse is a set of tactics (non-isolated and relational) that denies, controls or undermines a person’s access to financial resources and economic autonomy.

It functions in the broader pattern of coercive control (i.e. manipulations) and restricts a person’s ability to make independent financial choices or to leave (or survive leaving) an abusive relationship.

(per Evan Starks: Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (Interpersonal Violence), 2007 ed)

The UN has declared that violence against women means any act of GBV that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty*, whether occurring in public or in private life.

*Financial abuse is recognised as an arbitrary deprivation of liberty and is a form of coercion as it removes a woman’s ability to act, choose, move, or live independently.

(per Article 1 of the United Nations Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women)

Coercive behaviour is an act or a pattern of acts of assault, threats, humiliation and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or frighten the victim.

Controlling behaviour is a range of acts designed to make a person subordinate and/or dependent by isolating them; exploiting their resources and capacities for personal gain; depriving them of the means needed for independence, resistance and escape; and regulating their everyday behaviour.

(per UK Home Office, Controlling or Coercive Behaviour in an Intimate or Family Relationship Statutory Guidance Framework, s 76 Serious Crime Act 2015 (UK))

Coercive control is a strategic course of oppressive conduct* designed to secure and expand gender‑based privilege by depriving women of their rights and liberties.

*the use of manipulation tactics.

Evan Stark defines coercive control as the deprivation of liberties and the loss of freedom.

• Freedom = the core harm removed by coercive control.

• Liberties = the specific freedoms that are taken away (i.e. movement, association, privacy, decision‑making, economic participation, bodily autonomy)

(per Evan Starks: Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (Interpersonal Violence), 2007 ed)

These categories reflect the liberties Evan Stark identifies as being deprived through the act of coercive control:

A. Liberty of movement

Freedom to leave the home, travel, access public space, or move without surveillance or restriction.

B. Liberty of association

Freedom to maintain relationships, friendships, family connections, and social networks without interference.

C. Liberty of decision‑making

Freedom to make choices about daily life, finances, work, education, parenting, and personal matters.

D. Liberty of privacy

Freedom from monitoring, surveillance, interrogation, or intrusion into communications, personal space, or bodily autonomy.

E. Liberty of economic participation

Freedom to earn, spend, save, or control money and resources.

F. Liberty of bodily autonomy

Freedom to make decisions about sexual activity, reproduction, health care, and personal safety.

G. Liberty of expression

Freedom to speak, express opinions, communicate, and engage without fear of retaliation.

(derived from Evan Starks framework detailed in: Coercive Control: How Men Entrap Women in Personal Life (Interpersonal Violence), 2023 ed)

Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person, including the right to live free from domination.

“Larger freedom” refers to a comprehensive condition of human flourishing that goes beyond basic liberty. It is a holistic state in which individuals enjoy:

• freedom from fear;

• freedom from want;

• freedom of speech and belief;

• freedom of association and movement;

• freedom from oppression, domination, and arbitrary interference; and

• freedom to participate fully in social, economic, cultural, and political life.

(per the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights)