Isabel Nuñez Ruiz is a psychologist, an expert in gender-based violence, and starting from November a member of the Equality Unit team of the Universitat de València. She coordinates the counselling services for the female victims of gender violence who form a part of the university community. In addition, she started a volunteering network connected to the Violet Space, which is one of the activities to prevent gender violence established in the 3rd Equality Plan of our institution.

The psychologist Isabel Nuñez specifies two key concepts related to the current situation of isolation and the female victims of gender violence: privacy and anxiety management. Regarding the protection of privacy, Isabel Nuñez reminds that “it was never an excuse to tackle the issue of gender violence and stay without acting.” The psychologist says that such a breach of human rights as gender violence should not be hidden even though it is produced in a private setting. She reminds that just like in feminism, we should continue questioning the issue, given that “it is still difficult to act when we see that there is something wrong in a private setting.”

Isabel Nuñez adds another issue that cannot serve as an excuse for gender-based violence that takes place during a period of isolation. She refers to anxiety management: “Anxiety is never the cause of male violence,” points out Nuñez. 

“We all can get nervous in these times of confinement, but male aggression is made of many more elements that cannot be explained only by anxiety provoked by the distress of staying isolated,” adds the psychologist Isabel Nuñez.