When I launched the Global Coercive Control Legislation Index in 2020, I did it because a resource like it did not exist. Survivors, advocates, legal professionals, and researchers were asking the same question every day: is there existing legislation where I live? I built the index so that anyone, anywhere, could log on and find a clear, sourced, regularly updated answer.
Six years later, that index has been cited in peer-reviewed legal publications, used by advocates and attorneys across multiple countries, and updated to reflect a landscape that — slowly, and not nearly fast enough — is changing.
Today I want to share something I have been working toward for a long time.
My First Substack Post is Live
It is called Why I Built The Global Coercive Control Legislation Index, and it covers:
- The origin story of the index, including my October 2020 conversation with Professor Emeritus Barbara Gerbert of UCSF, whose AVDR model helped Scotland dramatically reduce violence rates over a decade and whose generosity helped shape the direction of this work.
- The methodology behind the index — what qualifies as coercive control legislation, how entries are categorized, and why the distinctions between criminal, civil, and family law frameworks matter enormously for survivors.
- What a decade of implementation in England and Wales tells us about the gap between legislation and justice, and why law without training is insufficient.
- Why coercive control is not a private matter — and the research, the cases, and the human cost that make that argument impossible to ignore.
- The documented risk of coercive control laws being weaponized against survivors, what institutional DARVO looks like in practice, and what needs to change.
It is free to read. No subscription required. I ask only that you read it, and if it is useful to you, that you share it with someone who needs it.
Read: Why I Built The Global Coercive Control Legislation Index →
A Note About Substack — and Why Your Support Matters
Substack is where I will be publishing original long-form research and analysis going forward — pieces written to a standard that advocates can cite, that survivors can bring to a legal professional, and that legislators can read without finding an easy objection. It is the natural home for the kind of work this subject demands.
Maintaining the index, tracking legislative developments across multiple jurisdictions, verifying primary sources, and writing the long-form pieces this community deserves takes considerable time and resources. If this work has ever been useful to you — if the index has answered a question you needed answered, if something on this site has given you language for an experience you were struggling to name — I would be deeply grateful for your support.
You can support this work in three ways:
- Become a free subscriber — stay informed as legislation moves and new research is published. Free subscribers are the foundation of everything.
- Become a paid subscriber — at $9/month or $90/year, paid subscribers make it possible to maintain the index, fund the research, and keep this publication independent.
- Become a founding member — at $250/year, founding members make a deeper commitment to independent research on coercive control at a moment when the public conversation around this issue is finally widening in ways that matter.
Support this work on Substack →
If paid support is not possible for you right now, sharing the post costs nothing and reaches people who need it. Every survivor who finds the index through a shared link is a reason this work exists.
Thank you for seven years of reading, sharing, and trusting this work. I look forward to building what comes next with you.
With gratitude,
Manya Wakefield
Founder,
Narcissistic Abuse Rehab
Creator,
Global Coercive Control Legislation Index + Global Femicide Legislation Index
