When will men stop blaming the ME TOO Movement for women's present outrage? EVERY SINGLE FEMALE in Australia was born into a world where all women are always vulnerable & unsafe and we absorbed this fact with the air we breathe

 

The  Me Too Movement began in the United States around 2006 and in 2017 the #meetoo hashtag went viral when actress Alyssa Milano tweeted ‘me too’ in the United States and in Australia journalist Tracy Spicer invited women to tell their story after the Weinstein scandal broke. 

However, the female experience in Australia had always been hiding in plain sight from those in authority and ever keenly felt by women & girls who had experienced physical violence and/or sexual assault in the home, in the workplace or in public spaces.

By way of example.

First the murders......

This my friends sums it all up, women’s lives today, tomorrow and everyday 👇🏻#MakeItStop#March4Justice @march4justiceau

pic.twitter.com/hUP5HKASkl

— Janine Hendry @_Janine_Hendry on Threads | Insta (@janine_hendry) April 15, 2024

 

Now the sexual assaults/rapes......

2022

Sexual Assault Reported To Police

According to ABS Recorded Crime – Victims data, in Australia in 2022: 

32,100 sexual assaults were recorded, with 5 in 6 (84% or 27,000) perpetrated against females the rate of sexual assault was higher for females (206 per 100,000), than males (39 per 100,000) there was significant variation in sexual assault rates between states and territories. ACT had the lowest rate of sexual assaults (71 per 100,000 persons) while NSW had the highest rate (152 per 100,000) (ABS 2023a)..... There was a 43% increase in the rates of police-recorded sexual assault for women between 2010 and 2022.[Australian Government, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 12 April 2024]  

2019

Sexual Assault

In 2019 there were 26,892 victims of sexual assault in Australia, an increase of 2% from the previous year. This was the eighth consecutive annual increase and the highest number for this offence recorded in a single year. After accounting for population growth, the victimisation rate has also increased annually over this eight-year period from 83 to 106 victims per 100,000 persons.

For victims of sexual assault in 2019:

• The majority (83%) were female (22,337 victims)
• Around two-thirds (67%) occurred in a residential location (17,395 victims)
• A third were FDV-related (8,985 victims)
• Almost all (95%) did not involve a weapon (25,583 victims)

[ABS, Victims of Crime Australia 2019, 9 July 2020] 

2000

Summary of Findings 

There were 2,804 male and 12,396 female victims of sexual assault. The highest victimisation rates were recorded for males aged 0–14 years and for females aged 15–19 years, with 61% of all victims aged 19 years or younger. Similar proportions of male and female victims knew the offender (64% of male victims and 61% of female victims), and for both sexes approximately one-quarter of all offenders were family members. Almost two-thirds (64%) of all sexual assaults occurred in a residential location and almost all sexual assaults did not involve weapon use (98%). Less than half (41%) of all sexual assault investigations were finalised within 30 days of the offence becoming known to police, and of these 58% resulted in an offender being proceeded against. [ABS, Recorded Crime Australia 2000, 30 May 2001]

1998

Most victims of sexual assault were female (80%). Almost half (47%) were females aged under 20 years. The total number of sexual assaults recorded was 14,568 at a rate of 78 for every 100,000 people. The highest victimisation rates were recorded in the Northern Territory (124 per 100,000 people) and Western Australia (100 per 100,000 people)....The number of victims of sexual assault increased slightly (1.5%), rising from 14,353 victims in 1997 to 14,568 victims in 1998. [ABS, Recorded Crime Australia 1998, 16 June 1999]

Saturday November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

 

IMAGE: U.N. banner 2023

According to SIGI 2023 Global Report: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis, violence against women refers to a wide range of harmful acts that are rooted in unequal power relations between men and women and that result in – or are likely to result in – physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women.

Gender-based violence can also target female children between 0 & 18 years.

Violence against women remains a global pandemic underpinned by the level of misogyny and chauvinism hardwired into our institutions and laws. Such violence endures due to a general unspoken social acceptance that is difficult to overcome within communities, families and among individuals who believe that men have a right to be physically aggressive in domestic or other close relationships.

In 2023, nearly one in three women has experienced intimate-partner violence at least once in her lifetime; and one in ten has survived it over the last year. While fundamentally underpinned by harmful social norms “normalising” men’s use of violence, addressing violence against women requires establishing strong and comprehensive legal frameworks, as part of robust systems, that cover all its forms. [SIGI 2023 Global Report: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis, online]

The United Nations estimates that world-wide 736 million women have experienced domestic violence at least once in their lifetime.

It invites us to: Join our 16 days of activism

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women will mark the launch of the UNiTE campaign (Nov 25- Dec 10) — an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on the day that commemorates the International Human Rights Day (10 December).

This 2023 campaign Invest to Prevent Violence against Women & Girls will call on citizens to show how much they care about ending violence against women and girls and call on governments worldwide to share how they are investing in gender-based violence prevention. Join the global movement with the #NoExcuse slogan calling for urgent investments to prevent violence against women and girls. Digdeeper into the campaign’s proposals – data, prevention, investments– and join the global movement with the #NoExcuse slogan to eliminate violence against women and girls. 

For more information go to:

https://www.un.org/en/observances/ending-violence-against-women-day

Somewhere in Australia today there are women and girls experiencing violence at the hands of a partner, a family member or another person they know.

The NSW Police Force in April 2023 published a report stating that it responds to over 140,000 domestic and family violence calls for assistance every year. This equates to one call every four minutes and, that according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research statistics the number and volume of domestic and family violence crime types have increased from October 2016 to September 2021. [my yellow highlighting]

AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY: Counting Dead Women in 2023

@DeadWomenAus
26 October 2023

Based on media reports collected from 1 January to 26 October 2023 the Counting Dead Women project has recorded 41 violent deaths of females across Australia this year, at the hands of persons known to them. 

In the year to June 2023, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR), 15 of these violent deaths were recorded as murders occurring in New South Wales - one in the Northern Rivers region. 

In 2022 the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) recorded 56 women and 11 girls under the age of 18 years murdered - a total of 67 violent deaths - and the attempted murder of another 43 women & girls.

The majority of these deaths appear to have occurred in residential properties.

In 2022 ABS recorded 19 women and girls in NSW as victims of homicide or related offences (murder, attempted murder, manslaughter).  Again, the majority appeared to have occurred in residential properties.  At least 10 of these deaths appear to have been classified as murder.  

SOURCES:

• Destroy the Joint, Counting Dead Women project; 

https://twitter.com/DeadWomenAus

• ABS, Victims of crime, Australia 2022, Tables 1-8 & 9-16. National statistics about victims of a range of personal, household and family and domestic violence offences as recorded by police.

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/recorded-crime-victims/latest-release#australia

•  NSW BOSCAR, Female Victims of Homicide (Murder) from July 2021 to June 2023. 

http://crimetool.bocsar.nsw.gov.au/bocsar/

Cartoons of the Week

Matt Golding

 

Cathy Wilcox

Cartoons of the Week

Mike Luckovich

 

Fiona Katsaukas

Destroy The Joint: Counting Dead Women In 2023

 

@DeadWomenAus

Fourteen weeks into 2023 and the count of women who died violently at the hands of partners, family members, friends or acquaintances now stands at ten.

On average one woman's violent death has been reported in the Australian media every two weeks so far this year.

Destroy The Joint counted three such deaths in January, three in 

February, two in March and two deaths so far in April 2023.

Sadly the first violent death of a woman in 2023 recorded by the Counting Dead Women project occurred in Ballina, Northern NSW

 

Counting Dead Women

@DeadWomenAus

A research project of Destroy The Joint

NSW Police, Latest News:

Man arrested after body of woman located - Ballina

Wednesday, 04 January 2023 11:39:36 AM

A man has been arrested after the body of a woman was located in the state’s north overnight.

About 12.30am (Wednesday 4 January 2022), a man attended Ballina Police Station and reported a welfare concern for a woman known to him.

Officers from Richmond Police District attended Holden Lane, near Cherry Street, Ballina, and located the body of a woman.

She is yet to be formally identified but is believed to be aged 64.

The man – aged 66 – was arrested at the police station, where he remains in custody.

Local detectives, with assistance from the State Crime Command’s Homicide Squad, have commenced an investigation into the woman’s death under Strike Force Blaikie.

Anyone with information about this incident is urged to contact Crime Stoppers: 1800 333 000 or https://nsw.crimestoppers.com.au. Information is treated in strict confidence. The public is reminded not to report information via NSW Police social media pages.

ABC News, 5 January 2022:

A man accused of murdering his partner in northern New South Wales was already on bail for assault, a court has heard.

Robert Karl Huber, 66, did not apply for bail when he appeared in Tweed Heads Local Court this morning charged with murder and breaching an apprehended domestic violence order.

It is alleged Mr Huber killed his partner, Lindy Lucena, 64, on Tuesday evening before attending the Ballina Police Station at about 12.30am to speak to police.

He then allegedly led officers to a laneway next to the Salvation Army where her body was found.

Today, the court heard Mr Huber had been granted bail just days before the alleged murder after being charged with several violent offences, including common assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Richmond Police District Commander Superintendent Scott Tanner yesterday said police were treating her death as a case of domestic violence.

"It's a matter where these people were in a relationship, and that's how we will be alleging," he said…..

'First Nations women are being murdered at up to 12 times the national average. In some regions, their deaths make up some of the highest homicide rates in the world.’

 

ABC News, 24 October 2022:

‘First Nations women are being murdered at up to 12 times the national average. In some regions, their deaths make up some of the highest homicide rates in the world.

Four Corners can reveal at least 315 First Nations women have either gone missing or been murdered or killed in suspicious circumstances since 2000.

But this is an incomplete picture. We will likely never know the true scale of how many First Nations women have been lost over the decades.

This is because there is no agency in Australia keeping count, and there is no standard way of collecting this important data in each state and territory.

Canada calls it a genocide. The United States considers it an epidemic. But here in Australia, we’re only just waking up to the scale of the crisis…..

Read the full article here.