Jess Hill
$36.99
Black Inc

As unions embark on a campaign to reduce the level of domestic violence in Australia, publisher Black Inc has released an updated version of Jess Hill’s 2020 book, See What You Made Me Do.

Blending investigative journalism with survivor testimony, legal analysis and scientific analysis, Ms Hill (pictured) takes on the myths about domestic abuse and replaces them with a far more complex truth.  She contends that domestic violence more than a series of isolated violent incidents, but a pattern of coercive control.

She shows how intimidation, surveillance, financial restriction and psychological manipulation often do far more damage than physical assault alone. By reframing abuse as an ongoing system of domination, Ms Hill exposes why so many legal and policing responses fail.

The author talks to people in courtrooms, police stations, refuges and homes, interviewing victim-survivors, perpetrators, frontline workers and researchers.

She finds how the justice system, child protection, and even well-meaning social services can sometimes put victims at greater risk. Ms Hill takes aim at family law processes that prioritise “parental rights” over women’s and children’s safety.

Ms Hill also looks at what creates perpetrators. She examines the role trauma, gender norms and social conditioning shape abusive behaviour. This nuanced approach broadens the conversation while keeping accountability firmly in view.

See What You Made Me Do is not a comfortable book, nor is it meant to be. The amount of information and the often harrowing content can be emotionally exhausting for readers.

It challenges readers to rethink deeply held assumptions and to recognise how profoundly systems, not just individuals, enable abuse.