Portfolio

2021 SHORT FILM

In the spring of 2021, representatives of the main domestic abuse support organisations along with other support organisations in Kerry came together with a view to rolling out a Munster-wide media campaign on the theme of ‘Partner Abuse and Coercive Control’.

These were the organisations represented in the working group:

Kerry Rape and Sexual Abuse Centre
Kerry Women’s Refuge and Support Service
Phoenix Women’s Centre Tralee
Kerry Peer Support Network (KPSN)
Garda Siochana Domestic Abuse Support Services
North East and West Kerry Development (NEWKD)

Records showed that the Covid-19 pandemic made the crisis level of domestic violence in Ireland more visible, and that thousands of women were being subjected to higher levels of emotional, physical, sexual and economic abuse than ever before.

Intimate abuse – which can start off emotional or financial – can often lead to physical and sexual abuse, putting the health and even the life of the victim in danger. One in five young women in Ireland is estimated to experience intimate relationship abuse.

Members of the working group noticed that grocery shopping was often one of the flashpoints of a coercive and controlling relationship.

Sometimes men accompany their partners to the shop, sometimes they don’t. But either way, women often hear their partner’s voice in their heads when they’re choosing what to buy.

This coercive control can affect the daily lives of women (and some men) from all different socio-economic backgrounds and ethnic groupings. To other people who meet them, they may seem to have the perfect life. But the hidden abuse they’re experiencing completely distorts the normality of going to the shop to buy food.

We made a short film showing the experience of one woman (Claire, played by actor Tara McCarthy) going to a supermarket with her partner (Karl, played by actor Gearoid Kavanagh).

The film was launched on the social media accounts of all the organisations represented in the working group. This took place in November 2023 to coincide with the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. In the weeks that followed, it was the focus of a social media paid advertising campaign aimed at women in the Munster area.