the media is part of the problem

Almost six years after the #MeToo motion arrived in Australia, and greater than a decade after the launch of the primary nationwide plan to cut back violence towards girls, those that witnessed the scenes in Parliament final week — and browse the media protection that spurred it — could possibly be forgiven for questioning what, if something, will ever actually change. 

I think these despairing, like me, additionally mirrored on the latest launch of the second nationwide neighborhood attitudes survey, which demonstrated that myths about sexual assault and home violence are nonetheless rife — and the backlash towards justice for girls is in full swing.

The survey discovered {that a} vital variety of Australians maintain views that distrust girls, objectify them, disregard consent, minimise violence and victim-blame. For instance, one in 5 imagine that girls who say they have been raped had “led the person on after which had regrets”. And when it was launched in March, the researchers warned extra wanted to be executed to handle myths and the so-called “backlash” they engendered. 

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But right here we’re, simply 4 months later, and people dangerous myths have been on full show. 

I might write volumes about what that survey tells us about our efforts to stop violence towards girls, however for now I’ll deal with the media and the function it has performed in enabling violence towards girls and fuelling that backlash.

What we noticed final week was shameful. There was The Australian’s resolution to attract upon (I might argue selectively) Brittany Higgins’ leaked textual content messages. Higgins alleged in 2021 that she was raped in Parliament Home. The alleged perpetrator, Bruce Lehrmann — who has all the time maintained his innocence — was not convicted. The primary trial collapsed as a result of juror misconduct and the second was deserted as a result of issues for Higgins’ psychological well being. These texts have been by no means tendered as proof — and will by no means have seen the sunshine of day. 

There have been studies over the weekend in The Australian, in certainly one of which a victim-survivor claimed to characterize all victim-survivors’ experiences of the prison justice system. The writer claimed, categorically, that the prison justice system works for girls and a sufferer’s willingness to cooperate with police is the “foremost predictor of conviction”. That’s merely not true. A second article questioned victim-survivors’ credibility in sexual assault trials by drawing on stereotypes about psychological sickness.

And as readers of Crikey can be properly conscious, The Australian was not the one offender. To recommend in any other case — and that solely these working at Information Corp have to replicate — would serve to minimise the size of the issue. 

In a sub-genre I wish to name “Males Clarify Issues to Me” (thanks, Rebecca Solnit), there was no scarcity of males pontificating about sexual violence. We had Ray Hadley on 2GB saying the quiet half out loud, the very definition of the trope of “the right sufferer”, when he urged that Senator Lidia Thorpe’s  allegation that Senator David Van had sexually harassed and assaulted her (allegations he denies) ought to be taken critically as a result of they have been backed by former Liberal Senator Amanda Stoker. She was, stated Hadley, “a high quality girl”. 

And there was Crikey’s very personal Man Rundle, who made a very distinctive contribution to the “what was she sporting” style when he puzzled what Higgins had spent her settlement cash on, together with designer footwear. No, Rundle, you aren’t “entitled” to know the small print of Higgins’ confidential settlement simply because you’re a taxpayer; nor are you entitled to muse about what she spent the cash on.  “Entitled”, certainly. 

My frustration with media representations of violence towards girls, and the extent to which the media can both be a part of the answer by tackling the attitudes and beliefs that give rise to violence or a part of the issue by reinforcing these beliefs through dangerous myths and stereotypes, shouldn’t be theoretical. I’ve pores and skin on this recreation. 

For my sins, after I first arrived in Australia a decade in the past I took a job with Our Watch, the nationwide basis to stop violence towards girls, because the inaugural nationwide media engagement supervisor. 

On the time, within the days after the launch of the primary nationwide plan, and within the yr the homicide of Rosie Batty’s son Luke shocked the nation out of a way of complacency, media representations of violence have been very a lot on the nationwide agenda. Based on the primary nationwide plan, the media had been recognized in state and nationwide coverage paperwork as “a precedence space for motion on stopping violence towards girls”.

Because of this, Our Watch was funded to do a number of issues, together with set up the nationwide Our Watch awards for exemplary reporting of violence towards girls, fee world-leading analysis into media representations of violence towards girls, and develop reporting tips.

A decade later, traces of that work are onerous to seek out — and momentum appears to have been misplaced. It was deeply ironic that final week the considerably scaled-back Our Watch award for reporting on violence towards girls (it was a standalone occasion, now it’s a single award on the Walkley Awards’ midyear celebration) was handed out at the identical time the Australian media was plumbing new depths in its reporting of the problems. 

It has been disappointing that Our Watch has had nothing to say about latest occasions. In the meantime, the Canberra Rape Disaster Centre issued a strong open letter to the media excoriating them for being a part of the issue, and Full Cease Australia “urged warning” after latest media studies “misrepresented the truth of victim-survivors of sexual violence”.

The place is the management from Australia’s main prevention physique as soon as tasked with the job of tackling media representations of violence towards girls as a part of its broader “prevention” work?

“When the media program began [at Our Watch] I had lots of hope,” journalist and advocate Jane Gilmore says. Gilmore was on the vanguard of that motion to deal with media representations of violence towards girls a decade in the past. She established the “Fastened It” marketing campaign in 2014 and — 5 years later — revealed a e-book of the identical title about all the pieces she had learnt about males’s violence, girls’s (mis)illustration and the media. 

“However I haven’t given up hope,” she says. “And a complete lot of individuals haven’t given up but. That’s what makes me get off the bed within the morning and preserve going.” 

Our Watch has been contacted for a response.

For those who or somebody you recognize is affected by sexual assault or violence, name 1800RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or go to 1800RESPECT.org.au. In an emergency, name 000.