Charities involved with domestic abuse have reported a sharp increase in cases over the weeks of the lockdown.
Government has provided extra funding to the charities so that they can address this growing demand.
The subject received a welcome public airing recently on the soap Coronation Street at the height of the lockdown period.
Both Coronation Street and Eastenders have been running plot lines looking at domestic abuse and coercive control.
The Eastenders case has seen lawyer Gray periodically beating up his wife Chantelle behind closed doors at home. Outwardly, they are the model, couple the envy of everyone else on the fictional Albert Square. Behind the scenes the Gray character loses control on a regular basis, causing injuries that are hidden and then disguised.
However, the Coronation Street plot line, involving characters Yasmeen Nazir (Shelley King) and Geoff Metcalfe (Ian Bartholomew), reached its climax in the middle of the lockdown period.
Both plot lines have been well written and researched and brilliantly acted. The attack on the Geoff character comes after months of demeaning and undermining of Yasmeen – publically and at home. He has installed a secret CCTV system, so he can see everything she does. He turns her against her grandaugher, when she tries to help.
The story reaches a climax after it is revealed that Yazmeen has contracted a sexually transmitted disease from Geoff. He even manages to turn this against her, accusing her of being unclean, when he knows he is the source, having been using prostitutes.
Both soaps have made for harrowing watching at times. The final scenes of the Geoff/Yasmeen story came at the height of the Corona virus lockdown. ITV deserve credit for running such an important story at such a sensitive time.
No doubt the helpline put up at the end of each episode has received many contacts from people caught in a similar situation.
Whilst they are fictional drama, the soaps do seem to have a unique power to convey important topics like domestic abuse in a way that really resonates with victims. There have been many stories down the years, starting with aids, running through a whole myriad of abuse plot lines, including rape and child abuse. Some are better done than others but what is not in doubt is the way in which such stories can help bring forward victims in the real world.
Domestic abuse is an appalling feature of life today. Women (in the main) caught in abusive relationships and often unable to break out. The malicious ways used by the abusers to play to insecurities, undermine and prey on victims is horrendous to behold.
Refuges have provided an important place where the victims can escape from abusive partners. There, they get space and the support needed.
However, despite the growing demand, refuges have been hit hard by austerity cuts over recent years - with a number forced to close. These cuts need to be reversed.
It must also be hoped that the present Domestic abuse legislation on its way through Parliament helps provide the means to really tackle the problem.
The alarming levels of domestic abuse seen during the lockdown prove only that this is not something that is going to go away. Refuges need full funding, whilst the police must prosecute cases where coercive control has occurred. No doubt also the inequality in so many relationships also contribute to the cocktail of problems that fuel such abuse.
If anything positive can come from the present crisis then it must be a greater awareness of the scourge of domestic abuse in our society and the need to tackle the problem at its very root.
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