Dr. Yael Machtinger, a post-doctoral fellow at The Rackman Center writes about the abuse that Jewish women, anchored to unwanted marriages, are subjected to:
Understanding the phenomenon is a prerequisite to preventing it. We must define domestic abuse in the broadest, most inclusive manner. In fact, some jurisdictions are very slowly expanding the definition of domestic abuse to include “coercive and controlling behaviours” which includes the non-physical and which even includes get refusal according to some early precedent-setting decisions out of the UK and California. This change in the legal definition creates a trauma-informed shift in the way we understand abuse, as non-physical but no less coercive and controlling.
