The Covid-19 abuse curve and how to to flatten it
Although there are many things that we, as New Zealanders, can be very proud of, our track record when it comes to assaulting, abusing and harming our partners, children and others, certainly isn’t one of them. Even in ‘‘normal’’ pre-Covid-19 times, we consistently rank among the top countries globally for our reported rates of sexual abuse and assault, and we have one of the worst child abuse rates in the developed world.
Every year, many women, men and children die at the hands of a family member, and thousands of us experience sexual, physical, emotional and psychological harm.
Living in a lockdown bubble is, for most of us, a long way from normal, and tragically the stresses and strains that sit alongside this necessary restriction to our freedom mean that the risk of experiencing violence or abuse is even higher than ever, and is likely to remain that way for some time.
Although as yet, we aren’t seeing a lot of hard data to demonstrate what has been happening in our homes and ‘‘bubbles’’ over the past few weeks, we only need to look overseas, at countries that started the Covid battle a month or two ahead of us, to draw sad and inevitable conclusions about what is almost certainly taking place behind our closed doors.
In the week leading up to April 15, calls to Refuge in the United Kingdom were up by 49 per cent compared with usual, and its website received three times the usual traffic. A men’s advice line had nearly 20 per cent more calls than normal.
And a recent prediction released by the United Nations Population Fund referring to the impact of Covid-19 makes for staggering and horrific reading: for every three months the lockdown continues, an additional 15 million extra cases of gender-based violence around the world can be expected.
Anecdotally, it sounds as though we are following a similar trajectory. Shine, a national domestic abuse charity, and What’s Up, a national counselling helpline for children and young people, have noticed significant leaps in their call figures over the past week or two, and refuges around the country are fielding a big jump in requests for safe housing for women and children since we moved from level 4 to level 3 restrictions.
So why is violence and abuse likely to be more prevalent during lockdown? The answer to this isn’t simple, but I suspect one of the biggest factors is that people feel they can’t escape their bubble.
If you are unlucky enough to be living in your bubble with a potential or actual perpetrator (someone who has or will inflict harm on you or one of your wha¯ nau), then being trapped with them will increase the likelihood of harm happening.
And, if you are someone who has inflicted harm before, not being able to ‘‘escape’’ the situation, walk away and access your usual supports, will increase the potential for you to harm again.
Add to this physical confinement, the general stresses and strains of the pandemic in terms of job insecurity, lack of income, sharing a space for work/home-schooling/general everyday life, reduced social and work contact, increased alcohol and drug use, limited access to health and other supports, and it’s easy to see how this situation is akin to a tinderbox.
Inevitably, the usual avenues for seeking help are more restricted as well, with limitations placed on things like school attendance, doctor’s
appointments, Oranga Tamariki assessments, Plunket visits and, perhaps most importantly of all, the reduction in time spent with friends, wha¯ nau and colleagues, who are often the first to be told that abuse is happening.
When it comes specifically to sexual harm or violence, you might think that being in a bubble would be somewhat protective, and this could be true but I am fearful that for many this may not be the case, including those who are sharing a bubble with someone who has sexually harmed them before.
The online world we are increasingly engaged with is a very real and far-reaching platform for potential abusers, making it easy to find and ‘‘groom’’ victims, engage people in unwanted porn or other sexual acts remotely and share explicit photos without consent. All of this constitutes sexual assault and, although it may not fit the traditional view of ‘‘rape’’, it is nonetheless potentially just as harmful and impacting.
So what is already being done to try to support those most at risk and what can we all do to help those in need?
Firstly, and possibly most importantly, we can all spread the word that it is safe – and very important – to leave your bubble if your bubble is harmful in any way, or if you are worried you may harm someone else in it.
If you do leave your bubble because you feel unsafe, there are multiple options for support, depending where you live and what access you have to a phone, or computer. All the agencies that usually work in this space, are continuing to do so during lockdown, albeit a bit more remotely than normal. The main helpline numbers can be found by visiting the website safebubble.org.nz
The police are available on 111, as always, in an emergency , and have set up a ‘‘silent solution’’ for those who need it – that means if you call 111 and can’t speak because you are in a dangerous situation, you can press 55 and they will talk you through how to get appropriate help.
Campaigns like ‘‘It’s Still Not OK’’ that highlight the issues and available supports have been launched recently and will continue to roll out in the coming weeks, on social media, TV, online news channels and other platforms.
Another project about to start as a pilot in Tauranga, along the lines of the wonderful ‘‘Mask 19’’ campaign in Europe, involves pharmacies providing on-site access to a helpline (such as Safe to Talk, or Women’s Refuge) if they are given a ‘‘safe word’’. These pharmacies are also trialling handing out information about local sexual violence services in packs of the emergency contraceptive pill.
If this trial is successful, the plan is to roll it out across the country. Although we may well be out of the most restricted levels of lockdown in a few weeks, it is likely that the risk of harm and abuse will remain elevated for many months, so the more reach these projects and campaigns can get, and the longer they roll for, the better.
Lastly, I believe it’s important that we all keep talking about this issue. No-one is immune from harm, whether it’s at the hands of someone we love, or a relative stranger, and the more we keep this conversation going, the easier it becomes for people to speak up and access help.
Check in with the people you know and love, ask if they are OK, and if they are safe, and if you’re worried, connect them with one of the support services on Safe Bubble.
Harm of any sort, whether we are in lockdown or not, is never OK.
Spread the word that it is safe – and very important – to leave your bubble if your bubble is harmful in any way.