Any kind of physical aggression—hitting, pushing, shoving, threatening someone with a gun or knife, or nonconsensual sex—is considered domestic violence. “Domestic violence always revolves around power and control,” says Cindy Scott, executive director of the Safe Center of Long Island, a nonprofit that helps victims of intimate partner abuse. “In a quarantine, abusers have the ultimate control. They’re more able to isolate victims and have control over them than at any other time.”
If you experience this kind of aggression at the hands of your partner and particularly if you feel that your life or your children’s lives are threatened, call 911 immediately.
Emotional abuse can be nearly as devastating, even without the visible bruises. This kind of abuse ranges from someone yelling at you, berating or degrading you, isolating you from family and friends, or not allowing you access to money or food. In the case of the coronavirus, it could also include denying you access to essentials such as hand sanitizer or facemasks. Gaslighting, in which an abuser distorts information to make their victim second-guess themselves or question their sanity, is a particularly powerful form of emotional abuse.
According to Fornari, emotional abuse can also cause serious health issues. “It can lead to high levels of depression and physical complaints such as headaches, backaches, and stomach aches,” he says. And though women suffer domestic abuse most frequently, men can be victims of abuse, too. “The other issue is child abuse,” says Scott. “Children are locked at home now with their abusers with nowhere to go.”
