Is it coercive control? / HAR

Category 13

Harassment

Relentless pursuit and interruption: flooding, public smear, image-based abuse, unwanted presence, proxy harassment, and other disturbance of peace. Function and density relative to need, not the tone of any one message.

Dragiewicz et al. 2018; Harris & Woodlock 2019; Stark 2007; Toews & Bermea 2017; Woodlock 2017; Henry et al. 2023.

• HAR-1

  Communication flooding

  High-volume contact, or contact that functions to occupy the target's attention, make allegations, punish unavailability, and/or compel response, judged by function and cumulative pattern rather than the tone or stated purpose of any single message.

• HAR-2

  Social media attack campaigns and public online humiliation

  Use of social media platforms or other public digital spaces to post, share, or amplify content that denigrates, exposes, or isolates the target, including smear campaigns, doxxing of private information, or coordinated public shaming that functions to damage reputation, sever support networks, and maintain presence in the target's social world.

• HAR-3

  Non-consensual distribution or threat of private or intimate images

  Creating, sharing, threatening to share, or otherwise weaponizing private, intimate, or sexual images or recordings of the target without consent. This form of image-based abuse functions to destroy privacy, induce fear of exposure, and compel compliance by converting the target's body and history into instruments of control.

• HAR-4

  Unwanted physical presence and location-based intrusion

  Appearing uninvited or remaining at the target's home, workplace, children's school, or other known locations in a manner that communicates surveillance, entitlement, or menace, functioning to reassert physical proximity, induce fear, and disrupt the target's sense of safety in ordinary spaces.

• HAR-5

  Third-party and proxy harassment

  Contacting, following, questioning, or recruiting friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, or other third parties to obtain information about the target, deliver messages, monitor activities, or apply pressure, thereby extending the control regime through the target's support network.

• HAR-6

  Other intentional disturbance of peace

  Any other form of persistent, unwanted interference that functions to disrupt the target's ordinary peace, routines, or sense of safety when the behavior does not fully meet the criteria of HAR-1 through HAR-5 but still operates as harassment within the control regime. This residual category captures multimodal or emerging tactics whose primary effect is the intentional occupation of the target's attention and environment.