In recent scenes from Emmerdale, Belle Dingle called it quits on her marriage to Tom King after months of torture.
Belle Dingle, a beloved character on Emmerdale, is expected to have more intense moments as she endures Tom King’s unrelenting violence even after terminating their marriage.
The wedding planner, played by Eden-Taylor Draper, has been subjected to intricate and multifaceted abuse by her evil husband for a number of months. However, after the evil vet, played by James Chase, attempted to further distance Belle from her loved ones, she called it quits and left for Scotland before coming back to the village of the same name. Tom went above and beyond to rescue her.
The fact that he appeared to have killed his first victim in the Dales by mowing down Belle’s cherished dog Piper (which turned out to be just another of his mind tricks) incensed fans of the Yorkshire-based show, but what really enraged some ITV regulars was the lack of support for Belle.
Fans of Emmerdale have seen Belle struggle in recent months to deal with Tom’s persistent bullying, which has caused her to strike out at him back in May.
After breaking free from his control, and to the collective delight of all those watching the soap opera amid rumors that she was in grave danger, Belle announced her intention to file for divorce during yet another heated exchange in Dale Head. However, the drama hasn’t ended there.
Long-term repercussions
Even though her family is aware of their separation, Belle has kept the abuse she endured a secret, allowing Tom to have total control over the story. He has called her “crazy” in the eyes of an old friend and has used her mental health problems as an excuse for her aggressive behavior against him.
Fans have labeled Belle’s most recent moments as “difficult to watch” on social media, but a bigger issue was highlighted when those closest to her appeared to support Tom, oblivious to the warning indications that he is beating her repeatedly.
Long-term pair Lydia and Sam Dingle (played by Karen Blick and James Hooton, respectively) have drawn the wrath of incensed fans on Twitter (X), where they are criticized for appearing to support Tom while Belle is deprived of the solace and assistance she so desperately needs.
The phrases “Oh Lydia why are you believing Tom!” and “I cannot stand Tom but now Lydia is becoming as bad by supporting him!” have been all over social media lately.Belle wouldn’t be treated this way by Sam. Definitely not. By now, the old Sam would have discovered Tom. Lydia has made him more pliable.”
As this is going on, survivors and victims of domestic violence watch the soap opera feeling heard, seen, and acknowledged since, behind the scenes, many of them have unintentionally been chastised for finally standing up against their abuser and finding a voice. Evidence showing the effects of an abusive relationship on a person’s wellbeing can be equally as detrimental as the relationship itself.
In order to ensure that Belle’s plot is as true as possible, Emmerdale has collaborated closely with Refuge, the leading domestic violence group for women in the UK. The Head of Technology-Facilitated Abuse and Economic Empowerment at Refuge and National Domestic Abuse Helpline, Emma Pickering, informed us during a conversation with The Mirror that “domestic abuse is sadly all too common, with 1 in 4 women experiencing some form of abuse in their lifetime.”
“Domestic abuse can have a severe impact on the long-term wellbeing of survivors, and its harmful impacts can extend to many areas of their lives, including mental health, physical wellbeing, and family safety,” Emma said, referring to the long-term effects domestic abuse can have on a person, even after a partnership.
“Many women who have experienced domestic violence report to Refuge that their poor mental health is a result of this assault. Thirteen percent of survivors in 2022–2023 felt suicidal when they came to us. About three women commit themselves as a result of domestic violence each week. But 97% of those who left our service reported that they were no longer afraid.”
A controversial topic
Belle is unfortunate in that her attempts to defend herself from Tom have also given him greater leverage as he effectively pulls the wool over everyone’s eyes. After Coronation Street first addressed the phenomenon through Yasmeen Nazir’s own coercive control torture with Geoff Metcalfe in 2020, Emmerdale has become one of the few shows to tackle the contentious debate around “reactive abuse” (or, by its official name, “reactive defence”). This is thanks to its brutally accurate portrayal of the subject.
To put things in perspective, Yasmeen (Shelley King) also took revenge on abusive Geoff (Ian Bartholomew) for his pranks, but her reaction was far more violent than Belle’s: she stabbed her partner in the neck with a shattered bottle out of fear that he would murder her. This is another classic case of reactive abuse. As a result, Yasmeen was put through a difficult trial for attempted murder, but she was ultimately found not guilty because of Geoff’s violent actions.
The term “reactive abuse” refers to an intense emotional reaction that causes the victim to follow in the footsteps of the aggressor by lashing out against them through verbal or physical behaviour – pushing, punching, kicking, hair pulling, raging, or angry verbal attacks. However, the mental health community fiercely rejects the idea it could ever be considered as full-blown abuse (Refuge themselves have stated they do not even use the term in their work for domestic abuse victims).
Even though the term’s origins are unknown, survivors reject it because they think it perpetuates the abuser’s cycle, which they refer to in their online community as “DARVO,” which stands for “Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender.”
Because abuse can take many different forms, Emma Pickering also brought up the fact that victims may experience even more confusion: “We know that survivors are often isolated from their families and communities over time in a deliberate act by their perpetrator to remove them from support systems, which makes it very difficult for them to leave their abusers.”
“A lot of women endure domestic violence without ever suffering any physical injury. Abuse that is not physical can nonetheless be just as damaging and corrosive as abuse that is physical. Determining if events you or a loved one have constitute abuse can be difficult at times.
Although Yasmeen finally received the help she required in Weatherfield, real-life instances of reactive abuse can cause a victim to feel even more alone and set off emotions of guilt that they may find extremely difficult to get over. Unfortunately, this affects their ability to get past the abuse as well.
No “perfect victim”
More significantly, Belle’s narrative emphasises the imperative need to finally dispel the myth of the “perfect victim,” which holds that a victim of abuse of any kind must be entirely innocent. This harmful belief can be used to subtly gaslight a survivor, which in turn causes the abuse to continue longer by making the victim doubt their own emotions and identity.
The image of a “perfect victim” perpetuates victim-blaming without holding the accused perpetrator accountable, which in turn feeds into the abuser’s cycle. To put it succinctly, this may lead to a survivor’s story being entirely disassembled and destroyed, which isolates them even more.
After their shocking courtroom confrontation in 2022, some fans of Pirates of the Caribbean might not be prepared to give it much thought. However, back in the spotlight, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s turbulent and violent marriage is another genuine example of reactive abuse, resulting in “mutual abuse” between the two parties, as noted by their former marriage counsellor Dr. Lauren Anderson.
Finally, a victim may never come forward to seek justice for the abuse they have experienced because they fear that their acts during a period of emotional turmoil would discredit them as victims. Furthermore, some survivors might think it’s not worth the risk given that some sexual assault victims have criticised the legal system for failing to offer them adequate assistance when they choose to end their own quiet.
In an interview with ELLE Australia, sexual assault therapist Neeraja Sanmuhanathan succinctly summed up the situation by emphasising that victim-survivors frequently face what she refers to as the “Goldilocks dilemma.”
In other words, they might feel compelled to be “someone who has a clear recall of what happened, who came forward merely hours after an assault to report a crime, was not intoxicated, is ‘trustworthy’ in the eyes of the community, and hopefully someone who can ‘prove’ their sexual assault with evidence.” This simply serves to silence victims and perpetuate negative perceptions.
“Refugees get calls for assistance every two minutes, and in 2022 and 2023, we assisted survivors in getting 145 guilty verdicts returned for their offenders. Emma informed us that, regrettably, the majority of victims of domestic violence do not receive the justice they are entitled to in court.
“The truth is that survivors may encounter numerous obstacles when reporting to the police, including mistrust of the police, fears of not being believed, and fears of reprisals from their abuser,” she continued. Only one in five survivors complain to the police on average, and of those who do, prosecutions and jail terms are regrettably uncommon. This has to change urgently.”
The number of women requesting assistance to leave their abusers was seen to be increasing in January 2024, despite the obvious need for greater awareness campaigns to support victims of domestic abuse.
A startling 100,318 victims of domestic abuse were sent to the National Centre for Domestic Abuse and Violence in 2023. The organisation offers abuse survivors free emergency injunctions. The number of people obtaining protection orders against their abuser increased noticeably from 23,841 in 2013 to 95,905 in 2022—a more than four-fold increase in only ten years. Although men can sometimes be victims of domestic violence, 897.7% of these referrals involved female victims.
Emma concluded by addressing the concerns raised by viewers regarding Belle’s challenging scenes: “We know some viewers have found the Belle and Tom storyline hard to watch at times, especially the scenes involving Piper, but it is so important when we are talking about domestic abuse and covering it; even in a fictional sense, that it is true to life.”
“We are so grateful to Emmerdale for allowing us to feed in with our expert knowledge and the vital awareness this storyline is raising about this issue.”
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