We are going backwards
Last week, a woman was allegedly murdered by her ex-partner south of Brisbane. She was the 45th Australian woman killed this year.
That same day, three students of Scots College were charged after being accused of assaulting a 14-year-old girl.
On Monday, allegations of sexual assault by Sydney Swans players after the team’s victory over Essendon were made public.
The ever increasing number of women killed and the high profile of Scots and the Swans help make headlines. But they’re hardly unique. Strip away the names and numbers that drive clicks, and you could report similar news every day. They are the definition of the tip of the iceberg.
What’s below the surface is just as shocking.
New research from the University of Melbourne found close to 25% of boys aged 13-17 believe feminism is damaging to society and should be resisted with violence if necessary. Even more believe attempts to give equal opportunities to women in Australia have gone too far and that men had more of a right to a job than women when jobs are scarce.
The manosphere was foremost among the reasons cited for such attitudes but (in theory), the majority of those boys should have been off social media for the past 9 months.
The manosphere is undoubtedly a problem, but it’s not the only one, and can sometimes feel like an easy one to point to. Others are far more entrenched, and far less comfortable to discuss.
In the wake of the Swans allegations, the reaction of both the media and the club itself fell so far short of the mark, it often felt like a sick joke.
Meanwhile, a former Scots student, who sent horrendous messages to fellow school alumni on what we can only imagine is the worst WhatsApp group in the world, resigned as the boss of freight giant ACFS Port Logistics following backlash. He was replaced by his own father.
And five years after the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the regime, despite widespread reporting that women are being erased from public life.
The Swans players and the Scots students and the perpetrators of gender-based violence and the manosphere all more than deserve the scrutiny, condemnation, and (hopefully) legal ramifications that are coming their way.
But until that same widespread outrage is also applied to the institutions and cultural norms which underpin our society, we are doomed to read many more stories such as these. We are going backwards.