In accusing all creeps of gaslighting, we dishonour the real victims of it | Barbara Ellen
If the word is spread too thinly, it will cease to be such a powerful tool to educate and empower women
All women need the term “gaslighting”. Well, all people really. Rebecca Humphries didn’t even realise that she needed it until she was cheated on by comedian, Seann Walsh, in the 2018 Strictly Come Dancing scandal.
She’d had suspicions but, as she wrote at the time, Walsh “aggressively and repeatedly called me psycho/nuts/mental, as he had done countless times… when I’ve questioned his inappropriate and hurtful behaviour”. When her friend mentioned gaslighting, it was a relief to know that there was a term to describe her experience. Humphries, who has just spoken at the House of Commons about coercive control, says that single word gave her the vindication and courage she needed.