ABSTRACT
Psychological abuse – which can include financial abuse, technology-enabled abuse, threats and harassment – is often perpetrated alongside physical and sexual forms of violence. All of these operate to restrict women's lives and narrow what Nordic researcher Eva Lundgren (2004) calls ‘life space’ and Liz Kelly calls ‘space for action’. This chapter starts with a description of how the day-to-day lives of women are restricted and regulated through the forms of abuse listed above. The offence of harassment is then described, followed by some examples of how stalking/harassment operates within a partner violence context. Following this, some responses are discussed that are relevant to all forms of partner violence – specialist domestic violence courts, independent domestic violence advisors/advocates (IDVAs) and restraining orders.
