YSL Beauty’s Global ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ Programme Is Working To Prevent Technology-Facilitated Intimate Partner Violence. PUSS PUSS Hears More About The Latest Findings

Beanie Stolper: YSL Beauty has run the ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ global programme since 2020 to fight against and prevent intimate partner violence (IPV). The most common form of violence against women, with 1 in 3 women will experience violence by a partner in their lifetime. Why focus on technology-facilitated intimate partner violence now?

Delmari Van Zyl: Since launching ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ in 2020, we’ve remained committed to continually adapting the program to reflect evolving social realities around relationships. We work closely with our global NGO partners, relying on their expertise to keep our initiatives in lockstep with the shifting realities of relationships and how intimate partner violence (IPV) might present itself. This ongoing collaboration is precisely where our focus on technology-facilitated intimate partner violence (TFIPV) originated. As connectivity has evolved, so too have the avenues for control and abuse, particularly for younger audiences navigating digital spaces. It is essential that our efforts adapt to address these new and often invisible forms of digital control.

BS: What role can a beauty brand, like YSL Beauty, play in educating beyond beauty?

DVZ: Beauty brands have a unique influence, one that goes far beyond aesthetics. We believe in the power of beauty to drive positive change because the industry plays such a vital role in how people see themselves and others.

A brand with the reach and cultural visibility that YSL Beauty has means we are not just a participant in culture; we help shape it. That comes with a responsibility we don’t take lightly.

Crucially, our role as a brand is not to act as frontline experts or direct service providers. Instead, we see our responsibility as twofold: firstly, to use our platform, resources, and visibility to raise awareness and drive critical conversations. Secondly, to support the experts on the ground, our global NGO partners, by helping to fund their vital initiatives and amplifying their voices so they can continue doing their life-saving work.

BS: Beyond awareness and reach, how does YSL Beauty measure the long-term impact and efficacy of the ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ global programme?

DVZ: ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ is built around four pillars. First, we work internally by training our employees and beauty advisors, equipping them with relevant resources. Second, we support local non-profit partners, helping to fund critical initiatives such as education and training, hotlines, chat support, psychological support services and shelters. Third, we invest in thought leadership and research to deepen understanding of intimate partner violence. Finally, we develop large-scale awareness campaigns to help people recognise the early warning signs of abuse.

While each pillar is evaluated through its own distinct metrics, looking at them together ensures our approach is comprehensive. This enables us to drive meaningful, sustained impact across multiple facets of prevention

When we launched ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ in 2020, we set a goal of reaching 2 million people by 2030 through the partnerships with our NGOs. To date, we have trained or educated 1.7 million people. Training includes education surrounding awareness and initiatives focused on the early warning signs of abuse and through access to our NGO partner’s services including hotlines, chat support, psychological support and shelters.

Beanie Stolper: When does care become control? How do we stop behaviours like tracking locations, checking messages and sharing passwords becoming normalised? Or is there not a way and education is the key to stopping these behaviours?

Dr. Nina Jane Patel: This generation has been socialised in a highly connected digital environment where constant sharing and tracking are normalised daily practices. For them, sharing locations, giving passwords, and constant digital check-ins are ordinary peer behaviours. In many cases, they can be healthy expressions of care and trust when done completely freely and with mutual consent.

The critical difference lies in consent and autonomy. Digital habits cross the line into abuse when you can no longer freely retract consent, when saying “no” leads to anger or interrogation, or when a healthy boundary turns into a rigid wall of surveillance.

We cannot, and do not need to, ban technology or eliminate these behaviours entirely. Instead, education is indeed the key. Addressing this normalisation requires shifting social and familial norms and equipping young people with the vocabulary to negotiate consent and boundaries.

BS: The report identifies a “language gap” around abuse. How important is having the language to recognise it? Can language itself be a form of prevention and practically how do you equip them with the correct language? 

DNJP: Having the language is critical. Young people feel the weight of this control. For example, the exhaustion of having to answer immediately or prove their location via video call, but they don’t have the words to describe it. They reframe these behaviours as “protectiveness,” “jealousy,” or “intensity.” They view it as a sign of passionate love rather than the early warning signs of coercive control.

Can language itself be a form of prevention? Yes, absolutely. When young people can accurately name a behaviour as abuse rather than dismissing it as “romance gone wrong,” it can stop the normalisation process in its tracks. Having the right vocabulary empowers them to recognise early warning signs early, set firm boundaries, and seek help before abusive behaviour escalates.

To equip young people practically, frameworks like YSL Beauty’s ‘9 Warning Signs of Abuse’ provide an accessible, behavioural vocabulary that helps young people clearly label and decode what they are experiencing.

While it might seem ironic to use technology to combat tech-facilitated abuse, one of the most vital insights from our conversations with NGO experts is that we must meet young people where they are.

This is precisely what YSL Beauty’s ‘Abuse Is Not Love’ programme aims to do: deploying targeted educational campaigns, digital tools, and support resources directly into the online spaces and platforms where young people already spend their time.

BS: The research found strikingly similar patterns across ten countries. What surprised you most about that consistency contrary to the geographical differences. 

DNJP: The most striking finding was the consistent normalisation of digital surveillance across all ten countries examined (from Sweden and the US to South Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil). Despite vast cultural and geographical differences, the core dynamic remained identical: digital tracking, password demands, and constant messaging are consistently masked as “proof of love” or safety. This consistency proves that modern digital socialisation and the “surveillance state” culture among youth transcend traditional cultural boundaries.

BS: Young people are increasingly turning to AI for relationship advice. How concerned are you about AI becoming an “accelerant of harm” when it comes to recognising healthy versus harmful behaviours?

DNJP: Generative AI lowers technical and financial barriers to abuse, leading to harms like deepfake extortion and AI-generated deception. Crucially, AI is acting as an accelerant through chatbot validation. Controlling partners are consulting AI chatbots and receiving validation that demanding passwords or restricting a partner’s social circles is a “reasonable” boundary, actively reinforcing abusive behaviours.

BS: As a movement psychotherapist and mother of four, what do adults need to understand about digital culture before they can help young people navigate healthy boundaries?