I snapped a photo of a couple of red bikes leaning near a spray-painted message about femicide on a quiet side street in Paris in 2019. I was in the midst of writing the proposal for Every 90 Seconds and came across messages like this across the city, which had seen thousands of people march against domestic violence a few weeks earlier.
This particular scene stuck with me because there was something haunting and honest about it. A couple of bikes — objects we encounter everyday — leaning without riders next to a message that soundlessly screamed about another everyday occurrence: the murder of women by their intimate partners.
This image came to mind when I read news that the head coach of the Texas Longhorns was arrested and suspended for allegedly strangling his fiancé. Strangulation is an extreme form of coercion and control that is sometimes lethal — either in that instance or in predicting subsequent femicide.
I dug out the photo and took to the virtual pages of Psychology Today to share more about strangulation. I invite you to check out the piece here.
#NousToutes
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Every 90 Seconds is available now from Oxford University Press or:
Trauma Research Notes 