From Isolation to Violence: Changes of the Domestic Environment in the Iranian Family under COVID-19

Abstract

Domestic violence became a worldwide social problem during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the period of lockdown. It has been also experienced in some Iranian families examined in our research. The article presents the data obtained by semi-structured interviews and draws some (so-far tentative) conclusions about the nature of the changes in the regime of relations of the traditional Iranian family, including the intensification of domestic violence, and the prevailing mental/emotional violence. Among the variety of nuances in the types of violence, some of them are already well classified, such as symbolic, physical, and economic. Other manifestations of domestic violence are humiliation and verbal violence, the intensification of restrictions on (or even the interrupting of) a woman’s relationship with her friends and acquaintances by her husband; the husband’s violence against their children; dis-putes over the observance of health tips during the quarantine period, and the intensification of religious conflicts during the period of home quarantine need further study and interpretation. As theory-oriented research, it involves the study of the relationship of various types of violence, starting with the newest ones of self-violence and self-isolation, and getting through the modifications of already-known types of violence which are caused by the first type.