Sexism and Rape Culture

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (15:37): In the last couple of weeks we saw an old video released of the US presidential candidate Donald Trump making derogatory comments about women with a friend. I certainly will not repeat the exact words he used as they are hardly parliamentary but the thrust of it was that you can force yourself on women, you can kiss them, grab at their bodies and they usually will not fight back, they will let you, especially if you are a celebrity. Trump then tried to brush off these remarks as 'locker room talk' and not about sexual assault. To borrow from his rival Hillary Clinton, 'If this is the locker room talk, you need to change the locker room.'

Remarks like this are rarely uttered to women but rather in the conclave of male friendships. This highlights a need for men in feminism. Too often feminism is misinterpreted as an 'us and them' between men and women and it is not. Feminism seeks to bring equality for all people not just women. Feminist ideals have been integral to bringing greater equality for men who do not meet traditional patriarchal definitions of masculinity. It is no coincidence that the feminist and LGBTIQ rights movements grew up together.

Men play a key role in feminism. Remarks like Mr Trump's may be 'just talk' although the women he reportedly made the remarks about dispute this, but 'just talk' has real-world consequences. Cases like that of Brock Turner, the former Stanford student who raped an unconscious woman, are enabled by talk like this. Turner blamed alcohol for his actions, his father described his crimes as '20 minutes of action'. When descriptions of the brutal rape that left a woman with injuries to her head, buttocks, back and genitals can be described as '20 minutes of action', I have to say it indicates that we have a very serious culture problem.

Although it is notoriously difficult to measure, due to the underreporting of rape in the first instance, and other issues, best estimates show that only 3 per cent of rapists will ever spend a day in gaol. This problem is, of course, nuanced, but the culture around sexual assault is still a large element of the underreporting and shaming of victims of sexual assault. Men find themselves in a uniquely privileged situation with regard to sexism and rape culture. They are rarely the victims of sexism, but they do have powerful voices against it.

We have seen the impact of male feminism, with notable voices like Sir Patrick Stewart, a man who has dedicated much of his life to assisting women escaping violence, through his work with the UK domestic violence charity Refuge, and tackling the issue of men's roles in domestic violence. He has noted that the discourse around domestic violence is that it is a women's issue, but growing up around domestic violence, as he did, has a profound effect on children of all genders. It is, to borrow his words, humanity's issue. Stewart's memories are steeped in the culture of sexism and victim blaming. He recalls, and I quote:

I heard police or ambulance men, standing in our house, say, 'She must have provoked him,' or 'Mrs Stewart, it takes two to make a fight.' They had no idea the truth is my mother did nothing to deserve the violence she endured. She did not provoke my father, and even if she had, violence is an unacceptable way of dealing with conflict. Violence is a choice a man makes and he alone is responsible for it.

This is just one example of men who have spoken out against domestic violence and rape culture. Closer to home, we have fantastic examples, such as Arman Abrahimzadeh, who has worked tirelessly to prevent other families experiencing the same domestic violence tragedies as his. Of course, another good example is Ivan Phillips, a Port Lincoln man riding his motorcycle around Australia in an effort to raise awareness of domestic violence and address issues surrounding relationships and domestic violence, in memory of his stepdaughter, Tash, who died in a domestic violence murder.

Mr Trump made those comments to another man, Billy Bush, in what was, ostensibly a private setting. What a missed opportunity it would have been for Mr Bush to actually have called Mr Trump to task on such behaviour and language. Instead Billy Bush laughed. It was not really a laugh: it was really a snigger. When we, as a society, laugh at sexual assault we condone it, and, therefore, create an environment in which sexual assault can flourish. Men have a powerful role to play in this space, and many men do fantastic work in fighting sexism, rape culture and domestic violence. We can, and must, do more to fight this.