Shifting the focus

As the national discussion about how to reduce violence and sexual violence against women finally starts to shift from questions such as “why didn’t she leave” or “what was she doing in that situation” and towards discussing how to change attitudes among men that foster a climate in which violence seems acceptable, parents are being enlisted into the anti-violence struggle.
We’re being asked to address the issue in a very meaningful — and age-appropriate — way.
As groups such as the new national anti-violence and advocacy group, Our Watch, have shown through 2015 research, attitudes towards girls and women among men and boys are a key factor in reducing tolerance of abuse and violence — and the younger healthy ones are formed, the better.
Earlier this year, research done for Our Watch’s youth arm, The Line, revealed some disturbing views about what young people think is justifiable violence or sexual violence: one in three 12 to 24 year-olds thought “exerting control over someone is not a form of violence”, and one in four young people did not think it was serious if a man who is normally gentle, slaps his girlfriend while he is drunk.
One in six of the young 3000 young respondents thought women should “know their place” and one in four thought it was normal for men to pressure women into sex.