Coercive Control Field Check / DEG / DEG-4
DEG-4
Body and Sexual Shaming
Definition
Denigration of the target's body, appearance, attractiveness, or sexual adequacy.
How it operates
Weight or appearance attacks, comparisons to others, sexual insults, and shaming related to sexual history or performance.
Function
Attack a core site of selfhood and produce shame that restricts social participation and intimate autonomy.
Harm
Body-related shame, reduced willingness to be seen, and further isolation.
Why this is coercive control
Neutral references to appearance that carry no denigrating intent. The conduct here attacks a core site of selfhood and produce shame that restricts social participation and intimate autonomy.
Constructed example
“No one else would ever want you. Look at yourself.”
Fictitious. Written to illustrate the behavior. Not a case.
Kurbatfinski et al. 2025; Gampe, Jeffries & Rathus 2025; Pence & Paymar 1993; Stark 2007.
Literature this family is drawn from
- Stark, E. (2007). Coercive control: How men entrap women in personal life. Oxford University Press.
- Pence, E., & Paymar, M. (1993). Education groups for men who batter: The Duluth model. Springer.
Forums that enumerate this family
A statute that lists a tactic is not a finding that the tactic is present.
© 2026 Carisa Carlton.
Carlton, C. (2026). Coercive Control Field Check: DEG-4. Coercive Control Observatory. Last reviewed August 31, 2026.