How do we combat the crisis of male violence in Australia? | 3D89PX3 | 2024-05-06 14:08:01
How do we combat the crisis of male violence in Australia? | 3D89PX3 | 2024-05-06 14:08:01
How many TIMES must we say ENOUGH is ENOUGH?
Last weekend, rallies were held across Australia, organised by What Were You Wearing, a grassroots non-profit fighting sexual violence founded by survivor-advocate Sarah Williams. Tens of thousands of people came together to protest the crisis of domestic and intimate partner violence against women in Australia; as well as the misreporting of this violence by mainstream media. "In this country, we don't have murdered women in our media landscape, we have 'dating app death'. We have 'star footy player charged,'" Hannah Ferguson, founder and CEO of Cheek Media and author of Bite Back, said at the Sydney/Eora rally. "We do not have the reality of men killing women, we have 'women who died'. We have 'troubled men'. We have 'former loving husbands,' and it is fucking enough."
But how many times must we say enough is enough?
This isn't the first time women have begged for something to be done to combat the epidemic that is male violence. It's a cry called out every few years (or more recently, months) — we heard it in 2018, when Australian comedian Eurydice Dixon was raped and murdered by a man while walking home from a gig, having just texted her boyfriend: "I'm nearly home. HBU?" We heard it in 2014, when Rosie Batty's 11-year-old son Luke was murdered by his father. We heard it in 2012, when Irish expat Jill Meagher was raped and murdered by a man while walking home from a pub in Brunswick. The list goes on and on and on, a vile and bloody stain on our national identity.
As a result of last Wednesday's national cabinet meeting, the government proposed a series of new measures to combat the crisis, as outlined by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a press conference. Foremost in their plan is a national "Leaving Violence" program to financially assist victim-survivors in leaving violent relationships, with payments of up to $5000 for eligible individuals ($1500 in cash and $3500 as a pre-paid card for goods and services), powered by a government investment of $925 million over five years. Additionally, to "combat toxic male extremist views about women online," Mr Albanese said new measures will be introduced to ban deepfake pornography; "serious penalties" will be introduced for sharing sexually explicit materials without consent; and funding to pilot age verification measures to protect children from pornography will be boosted. He also noted that research will be conducted across each state and territory regarding options to improve police responses to "high risk and serial perpetrators", including information sharing across legal jurisdictions.
The question remains: Will it be enough?
For Dr Ann O'Neill, a survivor whose two young children were killed by her ex-husband in 1994, and who has since become a trauma counsellor and advocate, it's "a great step forward" — though she has questions about the practical applications of the plan. She hopes that the Leaving Violence payment will have a multi-agency approach across housing, health, and related sectors to ensure that it doesn't become yet another "administrative barrier".
"I'd be wanting to know that there's going to be an increase in crisis point support workers to help access that payment rather than victims having to do it themselves," she tells BAZAAR Australia. "When in crisis, our brains are unable to process complex data as easily because of the trauma. So to help combat the trauma of family violence at that point of crisis and acute stress, those supports are vital."
Cheek's Hannah Ferguson agrees, noting that the program builds upon an existing trial that's been in place since 2021. "Part of the reason [that] policy has been such a failure is because of all of the red tape that surrounds it," she tells BAZAAR Australia. She's right: a government review of the trial found that more than half of applicants to the payment were unsuccessful, with an ongoing issue regarding the establishing of eligibility, which was often found to be an arduous, distressing and overly lengthy process.
Some clients reported difficulties in providing "supporting documentation," with their abusive partners restricting access to such documents or bank statements to prove financial eligibility; others weren't able to provide evidence of a recent change of address, especially if they were sleeping rough, or concerned that the information could be leaked to their assailer. Cultural and social barriers stopped some people from engaging, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals in particular wary of "furthering intergenerational abuse and trauma". In the report, one client noted the "re-traumatising and humiliating" nature of the eligibility process. "I would like them to think long and hard about the rigours it puts us women through. All it does is make us feel small. The burden of proof shouldn't lie with the person being abused," the client wrote.
Jennifer Robinson, an Australian human rights lawyer and co-author of the books How Many More Women? and Silenced Women, says it's "encouraging that the government is responding to the outcry from the community," but "it's not enough". More funding needs to be poured into frontline services, she says, from women's shelters to legal services guiding survivors through the court system.
"My grandmother worked in women's refuges in Australia, and I grew up as a kid visiting her in her work. They provide such essential support to women and need to be properly funded," she tells BAZAAR Australia.
Robinson doubts that the Leaving Violence payment will be enough to help women leave violent partners, especially if they have children in tow — and especially amid the current cost of living crisis. "If you're a mum with two or three little kids, how is $1500 in Australia going to help you leave the house? In real terms, how on earth is that amount of money going to help you move two or three kids out of a violent home? How is that going to keep you going? It's just not," she says.
"It's not enough to give a woman $1500 and some credits … There are very real financial pressures that keep women from leaving violent relationships. We have to remove them and provide them with the support they need to get to a safe place. And that's not just for the woman, it's for the children, because we know that cycles of violence are created by the trauma imposed upon children who have lived through violent homes," she continues.
That's something that Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, a Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman, lawyer, and writer, firmly believes as well. As the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner for the Australian Capital Territory, and a survivor of out-of-home care — having been forcibly removed from her family aged 10 — Turnbull-Roberts has witnessed the effects of intergenerational trauma caused by a lack of consideration towards children in family violence scenarios. She says it's vital to consider the vulnerability of children without resorting to separating them from their parents, as is often the case for First Nations children — and which results in further ongoing harm.
"When it comes to child and digital sexual exploitation and violence … we need to actually see things put in place that protect the rights of children and young people," she explains. "Particularly in statutory out of home care or family policing, there is a higher risk of coercion and vulnerabilities and being subject to sexual exploitation."
Cycles of VIOLENCE are created by the TRAUMA imposed upon children who have LIVED THROUGH violent homes
AHEAD OF WEDNESDAY'S meeting, advocates and experts alike had hoped for an announcement on nationwide implementation of stricter bail laws and electronic monitoring of serial offenders and abusers on bail — especially in the wake of the alleged murder of 28-year-old Molly Ticehurst on April 22 by her ex-boyfriend Daniel Billings, who was granted bail after being charged with raping and stalking her. Ticehurst sought help, but the system failed her in the most appalling way: police asked the court to "carefully scrutinise" bail conditions, noting that bail being granted had a chance of "endangering" her safety; and an apprehended violence order (AVO) was issued. Nonetheless, the registrar granted bail on the conditions that Billings report to police daily, stayed away from Ticehurst, and out of Forbes, where she lived. Four days later, Ticehurst was found dead in her home. In addition to being charged with Ticehurst's murder and the previous charges, Billings was charged with breaching the AVO against him as well as his bail conditions. It feels like a cruel mockery.
Last Wednesday, Mr Albanese noted that electronic monitoring was discussed, but no nationwide policy changes were announced, and will instead be investigated in each state and territory. For Robinson, that's a major misstep. "Electronic monitoring must be part of the solution," she argues. "Even if we wanted to lock up every person accused of domestic violence, we wouldn't have enough space in our prisons. So we have to find other viable alternatives that keep women safe. And electronic monitoring is a good one that strikes the right balance between individual liberty and the protection of women."
"We can't look simply to the criminal justice system as the solution," Robinson advises. Turnbull-Roberts agrees, noting the importance of a holistic response that acknowledges the many intersecting factors at play in the crisis of male violence and its repercussions — without worsening the related ongoing crisis of over-policing of First Nations communities.
"We need to be really careful that we're not using the idea of criminalisation as the full closed response to fixing this issue," she explains. "Australia has to accept that it's played a role in the high margins of violence committed against my people. That started in 1788, and it continues in 2024. And that violence exists in the prison systems, that violence exists outside, just by existing as a First Nations person, and that violence continues every time we choose to ignore the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
"And in this conversation, in providing the solutions, one thing that I know for sure is that if you sit down with our community knowledge holders, our healers, our experts in the field of domestic and family violence, you're not only going to heal First Nations children and young people, women and families, but actually you're going to see a massive, significant impact on the whole of this country," she continues. "My people have a lot of solutions that are not just effective for our people, but actually are effective for the whole nation as a whole."
For Turnbull-Roberts, a fundamental part of the solution is empowering organisations that are led by and for communities, which have the trust of the people they support. The historic mistreatment of Indigenous people by our government has created a deep mistrust in the system — as was evidenced in the report on the Leaving Violence payment trial — which adds further barriers to First Nations women seeking support, especially when it could result in their children being removed by the state, or the abuse and even killing of their partners in custody. There needs to be solutions that ensure parent-survivors and children are supported together without being separated, and that empower community and frontline organisations with the resources they need.
Violence CONTINUES every time we choose to IGNORE the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children.
"I've seen the way direct community organisations and providing the resource support — from accommodation, to primary needs, to therapeutic support, to really backing that child or young person — from a community's perspective actually sees better outcomes than going through big organisations that have demonstrated that they cannot caretake or look after our children or young people," she explains.
Beyond that, there needs to be a reckoning of the way the system itself upholds and encourages cycles of abuse. Turnbull-Roberts points out the irony of a government condemning domestic violence, while inside its own prisons, there have been repeat cases of abuse by corrective services.
"They do it in the same of the same narrative as perpetrators on the [outside]," she says. "They do it in the name of protection, and I care about you, and it's in your best interest for me to do this, right? And that's what a perpetrator will say: I'm gonna strangle you right now, but I love you. I'm gonna take you away from your mother and put you into a foster home, but we care about you … You know, it's no different. And I've grown up in a community where I've seen high rates of gender-based violence. I grew up next door to a jail, and I grew up next to a church, and a community centre, and I see all the different intersections — and then I come into this professional role, and then I see the same thing, and I don't know — I can't mark the clear difference."
Highlighting Turnbull-Roberts' words, Robinson agrees it's vital to recognise that First Nations women and children are disproportionately affected, and face "immense obstacle[s]" to seeking support in escaping violence. Their mistrust of the system is understandable, she says, and that mistrust is spreading throughout all Australian women.
"This is the broader problem, right? It's a problem across society. Women have lost faith in the criminal justice system. First Nations women have little faith in the system for very, very good reasons. Women from all backgrounds are losing faith or have lost faith in the system — when we see what happened to Molly Ticehurst, when we see the sheer number of women who are being killed," Robinson explains. "How can we have faith in the system when we see what's happening to women, and the failure of the government to respond?"
How can we have FAITH in the SYSTEM when we see what's happening to WOMEN, and the FAILURE of the GOVERNMENT to respond?
BEYOND FINANCIAL STRAINS and emergency responses, there is an intricate and far-reaching web of industries that upholds and encourages male violence. Ferguson refers to research by Australian investigative journalist Jess Hill and Dr Michael Salter, the Professor of Criminology at the School of Social Sciences at UNSW and an expert in child sexual exploitation and gendered violence. Both have pointed to alcohol, gambling and pornography as proponents of male violence — the former two of which were not mentioned in the government's post-cabinet address.
"We all have a role to play in ending gendered violence, but those roles and responsibilities are not equal. For example, 14-year-old boys do not have the same responsibility for ending gendered violence as, say, the owners of TikTok or PornHub," Hill wrote in The Guardian. "We need to get serious about the impact of certain industries – particularly gambling and alcohol – on the severity and impact of perpetration."
Turnbull-Roberts maintains that the roles of those industries — the alcohol industry, in particular — must be discussed as part of the solution. "I think there needs to be a level of accountability to these industries that aren't necessarily putting in the best measures, or protections, or policies to play a role in the prevention conversation," she says.
Robinson also believes that a multi-pronged response across multiple sectors and governmental departments is essential. "This is a cultural problem. It needs to be instilled in our education system; boys need to be educated," she says. "It terrifies me that so many boys are asking their teachers about Andrew Tate. We need to fight against this disinformation and misogynistic culture online that's capturing boys at a very young age … It's an all of government response. It's culture, it's education, it's poverty, it's trauma. And so looking at it through one lens is not enough."
IN RECENT WEEKS, much has also been said — by the Prime Minister, by advocates, and experts alike — about the need for men to take this moment to "stand up". At the end of the day, as Ferguson says, "it is a men's issue … to stop men from committing violence against women".
In her rally speech last weekend, Ferguson thanked the men who showed up to "stand by women and to hear us". "I think it's important to acknowledge that in a culture that doesn't celebrate or popularise men standing with women and listening to us, that that actually is a big deal," she tells BAZAAR Australia. "But I think that the ultimate thing I come back to always is: Men, I care less about whether you hold a sign at a protest. I care more about what you do when women aren't around."
"I care more about what a man does in the presence of other men," she continues. "I care about how they hear their friends talk about their partners. I care about if they cheat on their partners. I care about what they do when they have messed up in their relationship. I care about the conduct in a locker room. I care about the conduct on the sporting field. I care more about what men are doing for themselves to stop this behaviour … I care about what they do for their own mental health and emotional wellbeing and their own personal growth outside of a Jordan Peterson 'diary of a CEO' context."
Turnbull-Roberts says that for boys and young men, we need better education around consent and safe intimacy, mental health, and the insidious dangers of misogyny — as well as early intervention of "red flag" behaviours.
"The reality is, if we're not addressing the two sides to this, there is going to be more generational trauma, more harm, more violence," she explains. "And I am by no means endorsing perpetration, but I do believe that there needs to be a conversation that creates that space for [potential perpetrators] to work out what what's going on, but also a space that allows victim survivors to be nurtured and nourished in every step of the process. And that includes children and young people."
Men, I care LESS about whether you HOLD A SIGN at a protest. I CARE MORE about what you DO when women AREN'T around.
Dr O'Neill encourages that within our own "circles of influence," we "gently challenge" foundational instances of misogyny — the gender stereotypes, microaggressions, sexist language and "boys will be boys" culture that experts agree forms a pipeline leading to the extreme ends of violence, sexual assault and murder.
"It's a bit like the starfish story, you know?" she says, citing the fable in which a girl walking along a beach sees hundreds of starfish washed ashore, and in distress, begins throwing them back into the ocean. A friend asks what the point is, noting it's impossible to save them all, and she replies, "yes, but it'll make a difference to this one".
"I think we all have to pick up a starfish," Dr O'Neill says. "We all have to make whatever difference we can, and know that we have the capacity to influence and make a difference within our own circles of influence."
"We need bigger cultural conversations about misogyny, about violence against women begins with disrespect towards women," Robinson agrees. "And we need a conversation in Australia about respect and equality, and for men to lead conversations in our society to end misogyny, because that's where violence begins."
We need a conversation in Australia about RESPECT and EQUALITY, and for MEN to LEAD conversations in our society to end MISOGYNY, because that's where violence begins
The truth is that too much of the pressure of supporting and protecting women from this crisis still falls on those people affected most by it: women. We are the ones continuously calling on men to change their behaviour, and on governments — primarily composed of men — to change their policies. "I think about my grandmother, she spent her adult life working in domestic violence refuges, running them," Robinson recalls. "And she had to leave in the end, because she had a breakdown — because she saw one too many women killed."
More needs to be done, and quickly, to stem the alarming rate at which we're losing women to male violence. "The commitment the government's made on Wednesday is important," Robinson says. "But let's all look to the budget. We spend billions — billions and billions and billions — of dollars in our defence budget to keep the nation safe. What about keeping women safe at home?"
And amid the fear, anger, outrage and horror we're all seemingly feeling, Dr O'Neill urges us to remember those people in our country feeling those emotions most acutely right now: survivors who have experienced and escaped violence, and the families and friends of those who could not.
Depending on where they live, Dr O'Neill says, those "headline families" have little to no ongoing support in the wake of the tragedies they've endured. "There are no consistent post-homicide supports … within Australia. So even when the worst thing happens, these families are often left to navigate all of it predominately on their own," she says.
She hopes that the government in particular will spare a thought for these families beyond mere words of solidarity, and that they might consider ongoing post-homicide supports "that don't have to be victim-led, or survivor-led". It's a poignant statement from a woman who has channelled her own grief and pain into vital support that shouldn't have to be her burden to carry.
"Oh, well, it's a responsibility, isn't it? It's not something you set out to attain," she says. "You belong to a club that no-one wants to belong to, and then you find your own sort of map, a mud map, to help other people learn to navigate it."
If this article has raised difficult feelings for you or concern for loved ones, please contact 1800RESPECT, Beyond Blue, 13YARN or Lifeline for support.
</div> </div> The post How do we combat the crisis of male violence in Australia? appeared first on Harper's Bazaar Australia.
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