Dr Rebecca Watterson

Psychological Punishment in Childhood: The Day My Mother’s Partner Hid My Red Coat No bruises, but lasting scars — how a strange 'lesson' shaped my trust, fear, and sense of safety.

When I was 7, my mum’s partner hid my red bomber coat in the cupboard to “teach me a lesson.”

It wasn’t discipline.
It wasn’t harmless.
It wasn’t okay.

✍️ New essay in my Abuse: Loosely Based on True Events series: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/psychologi...

Five Shillings and a Promise: Catherine Doran and the Ordinary Brutality of 1833 Dublin

In 1833, Catherine Doran told a Dublin court her husband had assaulted her.

Instead of punishment, the Recorder ordered him to pay her five shillings a week.

Violence became a bargain, not a crime.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4xzV...

#IrishHistory #WomensHistory

Abuse Support Directory A resource list for readers in Northern Ireland, the UK, Ireland, and beyond.

I’ve made a permanent Abuse Support Directory on my Substack — NI, UK, Ireland resources.

Sometimes it’s hard to know where to look. I wanted to make that easier. 💜

beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/abuse-supp...

The Queen Who Said No: Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII

Catherine of Aragon has been remembered as a meek and submissive figure. But in truth, she resisted Henry VIII’s annulment, endured loss and humiliation, and still signed her letters: Katherine the Queen.

New podcast episode here 🎙 open.spotify.com/episode/2Kza...

The Forgotten Wife: Harriet Shelley, Suicide, and the Erasure of Women’s Pain On World Suicide Prevention Day, we remember a young woman written out of history — and the patterns of silence that still echo.

In 1816, Harriet Shelley drowned in the Serpentine. Abandoned, pregnant, erased as 'Harriet Smith'.

On #WorldSuicidePreventionDay I remember her — because history belongs to survivors, not just to poets. 💜

💌 Read: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/the-forgot...

Catherine of Aragon: 'No Way' Survivor of Patriarchy, Gaslighting, and a King with a God Complex

Catherine of Aragon wasn’t just divorced.

She was the queen who said no.

New Substack essay live today:
👉 beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/catherine-...

#History #SurvivorHistory #CatherineOfAragon #SIX

September 2025 Goals: Debt, Dreams, and Dough (Literally)

September Goals 🌟

Big goals, small joys, daily habits.

👉 Full essay: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/september-...

Debt Update #1: Surviving Economic Abuse and Coerced Debt How I am tackling nearly £40,000 of coerced debt during the cost of living crisis, one payment at a time.

Debt Update: £40,527 to £39,953.

This is coerced debt from surviving economic abuse. For too long, I carried the shame alone. Now I’m facing it.

📖 Full story: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/debt-updat...

#DebtJourney #EconomicAbuse #CoercedDebt #SurvivorVoices #BreakingSilence #CostOfLiving

Five Shillings for Safety: Catherine Doran and Domestic Violence in 1830s Dublin What one woman’s testimony reveals about survival, silence, and the price of justice in nineteenth-century Ireland

Catherine Doran, 1833.

I first encountered her case through historians O’Dowd and Luddy. Newspapers reported her husband’s violence and Catherine’s plea that she would forgive him if he promised not to do it again.

Full essay: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/five-shill...

The Forgotten: A Living Memorial Honouring the lives and stories of those silenced by hidden abuse, and remembering the truths society tried to erase.

Just updated The Forgotten, my living memorial to lives marked by hidden abuse.

Added: the six queens of Henry VIII. Behind the rhyme we all know are six stories of coercive control, survival, and erasure.

Link: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/the-forgot...

Ordinary Things, Extraordinary Truths How cupboards, mugs, salt, and even nursery rhymes reveal the hidden patterns of abuse - and how reclaiming them helps us tell the story ourselves.

Abuse doesn’t just show up in bruises. It hides in mugs, in salt bans, even in nursery rhymes.

This week’s recap essay: Ordinary Things, Extraordinary Truths → Link below

A mix of history, absurd rules, and survival.

beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/ordinary-t...

bluesky truly the heir to twitter in that my mentions are full of men who like to explain things to female historians

Blue plaque for Barnsley gay couple who 'defied convention' Maurice Dobson and Fred Halliday met during World War Two and opened a store in Darfield, Barnsley.

Blue plaque for gay couple who 'defied convention' in Barnsley. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

🚂 The Historical Hot Mess Express has left the station.

Episode 1 of The Forgotten is live: Dublin, 1808.
A man split his wife’s ear open with a hammer. Newspapers called her a 'poor forgiving wretch'.

Every name, every story, matters.

🎧 Listen here: spotifycreators-web.app.link/e/ktxPjpEjfWb

Aside from all the other objections, the emotion/rationality binary is a crock.

Absurd Rules: The Great Seasoning Ban He outlawed salt… but called my Christmas dinners the best food he’d ever eaten.

No salt in pasta water. Spices only in glass jars. Absurd rules weren’t quirks, they were control.

New essay on Substack: The Great Seasoning Ban → beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/absurd-rul...

I can't believe this idea that's been in my head for ten years is finally a thing in the world. @uchicagopress.bsky.social #histmed #EAHMH25 #sts #histsci

press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...

Henry VIII: The OG Coercive Controller How England’s most infamous king weaponised marriage, law and power in patterns we now call coercive control

We all know the rhyme: Divorced, Beheaded, Died; Divorced, Beheaded, Survived. But it’s not just history. It’s a record of coercive control.

Henry VIII weaponised marriage and politics in ways that look chillingly familiar today.

👉 Essay on Substack: beccadoesthings.substack.com/p/henry-viii...

Journal table of contents of EHMH, see https://brill.com/view/journals/ehmh/82/1/ehmh.82.issue-1.xml

Check out our brand new special issue “Socialist Health: of Shortages and Solidarity” at the Brill book stand of #eahmh25 ! also fully OA at brill.com/view/journal... #histmed

The Cupboard Story: Abuse, Loosely Based on True Events

🚨 Podcast launch 🚨

Ep. 1 of Abuse, Loosely Based on True Events is out now: The Cupboard Story.

It’s about my first memory of abuse, and why it doesn’t get to define me.

🎧 Listen: open.spotify.com/episode/7GYw...

✍️ Read: open.substack.com/pub/beccadoe...

My Ex Tried to Ban Mugs I left him, kept the mugs, and now I own thirty-seven.

My ex banned mugs. Yes, mugs. 'One in, one out'.
I left, I kept the mugs, and now I own 37. ☕✨

#mugban #survivorhumour #healing #controltactics #everydayjoy

I wrote about it here:

‘She Now Forgave Him’: Forgiveness, Coercive Control, and the Case of Patrick Curran, 1808 When a woman forgave her abuser in court - and the press amplified her words - it revealed how coercive control shaped the lives of ordinary Irish women.

In 1808, Dublin newspapers reported Patrick Curran, who split his wife’s ear with a hammer.

They called him a 'ruffian'. But they repeated her words: 'he had often done so before but she forgave him'.

Forgiveness wasn’t freedom. It was coercive control.

📰 Full story on Substack →

Becca Does Things Becca Does Things is where history meets survival. I tell stories of abuse in the past, reflect on my own experiences, and celebrate joy as resistance.

🚀 Launch week is here! Becca Does Things is live.

History of domestic abuse 📜
My survivor story 💜
Joy as resistance ✨

🎙️ Podcast trailer → open.spotify.com/show/14d7lS8...

📰 Substack launch post → substack.com/@beccadoesth...

🌐 All links → beccadoesthings.carrd.co

#History #Podcast #Survivor

Please share this call for participants NI folks :)

What a joy!

Would you like support and advice to connect you with community? Are you over the age of 18? Do you have a long-term mental health problem?

CHOICE could be for you! It is a project that connects you with places and spaces that help you stay well.

Please share so it reaches others!

hiiiii :)

Hey y'all. Made a professional account so I can spam my other account with tales of my new rescue pup - Waldo the 3-legged pug. :)

👋 hiiiiii