Angus Campbell isn’t a bad man. The vast majority of Australian men aren’t ‘bad’ men. But they still seem to think it is a woman’s fault if she gets raped.
Don’t be out after midnight. Don’t drink. Don’t be alone. Don’t look attractive. Or you risk becoming ‘prey’?
Do men feel that way? If a man goes out with his mates and gets pissed, does that make him a likely target for anal rape?
When Fraser Anning introduced a bill for governments to legalise and promote the carrying of pepper spray, mace and tasers by women for “political protection”, Sarah Hanson-Young made the point that the onus should not be on women to protect themselves but rather on men to change their behaviour. David Leyjonhelm, bless his cotton socks, told her if that was the way she felt, she should stop shagging men because we all know the rumours about her promiscuity. The High Court threw out his appeal against the ruling that said he had defamed SHY.
Australian of the Year, Grace Tame, addressed the National Press Club asking for us all to listen, learn, and change.
In a lesson to Scott Morrison on getting it real, she said you don’t need to be a father to have a conscience and being a father doesn’t mean you have one.
When asked if Morrison’s rhetoric about listening to sexual assault survivors matched his actions, she replied “Clearly not”.
And then Christian Porter gave his press conference.
It could have gone like this…
‘It is not fair that my Cabinet colleagues are subject to speculation. It is me that has been named in an allegation of a serious crime.
I can confirm that I knew the complainant when we were teenagers, and I can understand the anguish felt by her family and friends at her premature death, but I know what I have been accused of didn’t happen.
I do not want to add to their pain and I will co-operate fully with any investigation that others feel appropriate.’
But it didn’t.
Christian spent 45 minutes speaking about himself being the victim and the mental toll it was taking on him.
When Linda Reynolds cancelled her planned National Press Club address as she had booked herself into hospital due to the stress of reporting of how she handled a rape that happened in her office, well wishes poured in. Get well, Linda. It’s been tough for you.
The alleged rapist has also booked himself into hospital.
Will we listen to our Australian of the Year, and the many other women who are crying out trying to help men to understand how things are and how they must change?
It was 1975 when I won a public speaking award where the headline in the local paper said “Schoolgirl pours scorn on sex bias.”
We make haste slowly.
But we cannot give up.
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