Rape, sexual assault and violence are never funny.
To have to write these words makes me sick.
On average in Australia, a woman is killed every four days, most by a man known to them.
The rate of intimate partner homicide is up 28%.
One in three women has experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
The family home is statistically the most dangerous place for a woman to be – and family and domestic violence doesn’t discriminate by postcode, it is everywhere.
On average, police attend a family violence incident every six minutes in Victoria – think about that for a moment.
Violence against women and children is a national emergency.
This is the country we live in.
Too many women are frightened in their own home.
Too many women are dreading their partner coming home from the pub.
Too many women are scared when his football team loses a big game.
Too many women are trapped in a cycle of abuse and control with nowhere to go.
Every Australian has a choice. You can either turn a blind eye or do your little bit to make our society safer. And by “do your little bit”, I simply mean call out and educate your mates for using sexist and demeaning behaviour – the kind of behaviour that excuses and validates gendered violence.
It’s not too much to ask.
And sport is well-positioned to lead the way here.
Sport has the power and the reach to challenge prejudices, it has the power to promote equality, it has the power to shift attitudes.
And, whether they like it or not, AFL players are public figures, worshipped by many, and with this privilege comes responsibility.
The decision by some Greater Western Sydney players to perform offensive skits and dress-ups, including one reportedly dressed as former NRL player Jarryd Hayne who was jailed for rape before the conviction was overturned on appeal and the case dropped, shows just how little they understand or care about the reality of many women’s lives in Australia.
Apologists who brought out the “it was a private party, and boys will be boys” defence also fail to recognise that these attitudes don’t exist in a vacuum.
When you stack “harmless joke” on top of “throwaway line” on top of sexist “joke”, you’ve soon got a pile the size of Everest and a systemic pattern of behaviour. Children see and hear this behaviour and think that it’s the norm; they repeat what they see and hear – and the cycle continues.
When attitudes like this go unchecked, sexism breeds like bacteria in a Petri dish.
And most dangerously, these offensive attitudes provide cover, a protective layer, for men who use violence against women.
Like clockwork, the Giants players’ behaviour unleashed a torrent of online abuse directed at women who work in sport. Women who should be safe and respected where they live, work and play.
In 2019 Michael Wilson took an incredible photo of AFLW player Tayla Harris’ excellent kicking style.
That one, now iconic, photo led to a torrent of online abuse - a barrage of vile, filthy, sexist commentary.
Instead of ignoring it - which would be an easy thing to do, Harris, at great personal expense, stood up to her abusers.
And that moment, her moment of defiance, felt like a turning point for women everywhere, not just sport.
It led to a national conversation about misogyny in sport.
But this latest episode shows us that nothing’s changed. Statistics also back this up.
A recent study by researchers from Deakin University found that nine in 10 elite sportswomen have experienced some form of gendered online harm, including 87% in the past year.
They surveyed 138 professional and semi-professional athletes in Australia from 32 sports.
As many as 85% said their wellbeing had been affected by online harm, and two in three felt unsafe.
There’s something savage about the online abuse women in sport receive – both athletes and women in the sports media. It’s vile, toxic and visceral – and it emanates from a belief that women don’t belong in sport.
Women have a right to be safe at home, work, in the community and online.
It’s time our national response reflected the scale of the violence against women crisis.
To drive down rates of violence urgently our response must come from all angles – prevention, early intervention, response and recovery. There is no quick fix.
Part of that response must include investing in healthy relationships and consent education to drive a change in attitudes towards women.
My 11-year-old son gets this. It’s a shame some men don’t.
Angela Pippos is a journalist, documentary-maker and author of Breaking The Mould – Taking a Hammer to Sexism in Sport
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). In the UK, Rape Crisis offers support on 0808 500 2222. In the US, Rainn offers support on 800-656-4673. Other international helplines can be found at ibiblio.org/rcip/internl.html
