Category: Domestic Violence

‘Devastating’ outcomes for woman abused by police officer husband after Ibac failures, report finds | Victoria | The Guardian

Victoria’s anti-corruption commission fundamentally failed a woman who was abused by her police officer spouse, with delays in the handling of her case meaning a second officer who leaked her escape plan could not be prosecuted, a report has found.

Emma had serious concerns about Victoria police’s handling of her case, including that confidential information she had provided to a family violence officer about a plan for her and her children to escape her husband interstate had been given to her abuser.

She made a complaint to Ibac, the body tasked with police oversight in Victoria, in November 2018. A second complaint was also made to Ibac about Victoria police about two years later.

Rather than investigate, Ibac referred both of these complaints back to Victoria police’s professional standards command, which handles the force’s internal investigations.

The inspectorate found Ibac’s referrals had serious consequences, including negative impacts on Emma and her children’s welfare, and meant she did not receive a better police response in the context of serious and ongoing family violence.

It also found that the referrals meant that the possibility of corruption was not pursued; that serious conflicts of interest at Victoria police were allowed to affect the independent investigation process; and that the alleged unwillingness of police to act against their own was effectively overlooked.

Emma, who has previously used other pseudonyms including Michelle and Jay when detailing her experiences in the media, told Guardian Australia that she was dismayed by Ibac’s response to her complaint, and the fact it had still failed to apologise.

The lawyer with more than two decades’ experience has started a support group for the partners of abusive police officers.

“We’ve got prima facie evidence of an integrity body with an integrity problem. This is absolutely not about resourcing – this is about mismanagement and culture.”

Source: ‘Devastating’ outcomes for woman abused by police officer husband after Ibac failures, report finds | Victoria | The Guardian

Nottingham council apologises to Julie Bindel for unlawfully cancelling talk | Violence against women and girls | The Guardian

A city council has apologised to veteran feminist and lesbian activist Julie Bindel after cancelling a talk because of “the speaker’s views on transgender rights”.

Bindel has been accused of transphobia because she says she does not believe trans women can legitimately say they are a woman. At the time, she said she had no plan to talk about transgender issues.

“I was going up to speak about feminism, about violence against women,” she said. “I was invited by a group of community activists who are trying to keep the library open.”

In a post on her Substack blog discussing the recent development by the council, Bindel said: “I consider it to be deeply offensive and problematic for public bodies to decide that I am too controversial and even dangerous for women to listen to when I am talking about campaigning to end rape and domestic abuse.

A spokesperson for the council said: “Nottingham city council has agreed that, if Nottingham Women for Change seeks to make a booking at any Nottingham city council venue by way of a fully completed booking form, the council will make a fresh decision in response to such request upon a lawful basis.”

Source: Nottingham council apologises to Julie Bindel for unlawfully cancelling talk | Violence against women and girls | The Guardian

Australia’s Woke misogyny problem | The Spectator Australia

It is almost ten years since Julia Gillard delivered her famous misogyny speech in Parliament in response to a motion moved by the then leader of the Opposition, Tony Abbott.

Yet, our woman-hating culture persists.

In fact, Australia’s misogyny problem is getting bigger. Domestic violence rates are increasing, female homelessness is at epidemic levels, and girls subjected to sex trade violence – amplified via the mega-industries of pornography and prostitution – are reporting these harms younger and younger.

In case this wasn’t enough, women are now caught in a race to restore their most basic protections – those specifically intended to counter the discrimination and vulnerabilities women and girls face on the basis of their sex.

With sad irony, we are here partly because of amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 made by the Gillard government in 2013. These changes removed, without broad consultation, biological definitions of the terms ‘woman’ and ‘man’ altogether, and added a person’s self-declared ‘gender identity’– irrespective of biological sex – as a prohibited reason for unfair treatment.

It is in part why today, women who object to males in their bathrooms and changing facilities, refuges, sports, prisons, and crisis services, can be so readily accused of bigotry, rather than more accurately described as reasonably self-protective.

This has fed and fortified a culture that enables abusive men and silences their victims. It has also inspired a climate in which male perpetrators appear to not only be let off the hook for their crimes, but to be venerated as symbols of progressive politics simply because they have decided to ‘identify’ as a woman.

Most recently, this hypocrisy has been on vivid display on the platforms of Australian mainstream media outlets, which have been busy exalting former AFL player, coach, and domestic violence accused. Dani Laidley (formerly Dean Laidley), who now identifies as a woman, pleaded guilty to stalking his ex-partner in 2020.

But it is not just the media afflicted by these misogynistic double standards. At an AFL grand final event last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese posted a celebratory photo of himself standing beside Laidley on Twitter.

Given the reactions to his Twitter post from hundreds of women aghast at such a shocking display of misogyny, his advisers must surely know by now.

Source: Australia’s Woke misogyny problem | The Spectator Australia

Silence over football’s links with sexual and domestic violence is deafening | Soccer | The Guardian

There are lots of problems in football. And there are lots of conversations about the problems in football. Yet there’s a chasmic silence when it comes to the game’s disturbing links with sexual and domestic violence.

This column has no mention of any specific case. It is very difficult to talk about the subject for a variety of legal reasons. Of course a column without specifics, without a story, without names is less interesting. As a result no one writes it, and the conversation never happens.

So what should happen to players accused of these crimes? They are, of course, innocent until proven guilty. But since the conviction rate is so low, this kind of all-or-nothing solution feels inadequate. Should football’s authorities become some kind of civil court – on the balance of probability rather than reasonable doubt? Clearly this isn’t what the Premier League or any other governing body was set up to do. “Where there have been allegations there needs to be a serious investigation. And I do think it has to come from an independent ombudsman because the clubs will protect their own, and not every woman wants to go to the police. It is about the clubs taking allegations seriously. And then when there are ongoing investigations, the players shouldn’t be on the pitch.”

Football isn’t the only place where people hide behind money and lawyers to avoid justice – there will always be questions about whether football is just a mirror to society.

Source: Silence over football’s links with sexual and domestic violence is deafening | Soccer | The Guardian

#183 Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives with Emma Katz

Dr Emma Katz, a leading expert in coercive control and its impact on children is interviewed by FiLiA Trustee Sally Jackson.A must for anyone working in the field or who cares about someone it has affected, Emma describes what coercive control is like for Mothers and their children and importantly how the Mother/child relationship affects its impact and their recovery. Dr Emma Katz is Senior Lecturer in Childhood & Youth at Liverpool Hope University and is the author of the much-anticipated monograph Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives (Oxford University Press, June 2022). She was a member of the Expert Advisory Panel for the HARM Network/Research England’s Domestic Abuse Policy Guidance for UK Universities (2021 Her publications are internationally acclaimed, winning awards including the Wiley Prize for best paper published in Child Abuse Review 2015–18, and the Corinna Seith Prize judged by Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE). Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives is available to purchase from the FiLiA Book Shop.

Source: #183 Coercive Control in Children’s and Mothers’ Lives with Emma Katz

Consultation Draft – National Principles to Address Coercive Control – Attorney-General’s Department – Citizen Space

\You can contribute to a shared national understanding of coercive control by providing your feedback on the Consultation Draft of the National Principles to Address Coercive Control using the survey link below.

Source: Consultation Draft – National Principles to Address Coercive Control – Attorney-General’s Department – Citizen Space

When it comes to family violence, young women are too often ignored

Recent evidence shows the scale of sexual violence against women and children in Australia has been severely underestimated. Family violence is a key driver.

Research from Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) found 51% of women in their 20s have experienced sexual violence.

Further, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates 2.2 million Australians (12% of the population) have had experiences of sexual violence, threats and/or assault since the age of 15.

While physical assault rates for men have almost halved since 2008-09, the largest reported increase in physical assault is that experienced by young women aged 18 to 29. There are also increasing rates of sexual assault in Australia. Recent data show this rising for the tenth year in a row, from 83 to 121 victim-survivors per 100,000 since 2011.

Australian and global data show most violence against women is perpetrated by a family member or intimate partner (49%).

Despite experiencing unique and serious safety risks, young women are almost invisible in public debate on the issue.

Source: When it comes to family violence, young women are too often ignored

Leader in prevention of male violence releases guide that promotes “gender identity”

Our Watch, the “national leader in the primary prevention of violence against women and their children in Australia,” recently released the Men in Focus guide which is aimed at “addressing masculinities and working with men in the prevention of men’s violence against women.”

Anna Kerr, Principal Solicitor for the Feminist Legal Clinic in Sydney, NSW said, “While I think its useful to challenge masculine stereotypes, it is quite clear that adopting stereotypical feminine attire and mannerisms does not automatically cure males of their violent and sexually predatory urges.”

“Propagating the idea that it is possible to change sex operates to remove the few protections women and girls have in place to keep them safe from male criminality and encourages them to let down their guard in relation to males identifying as trans or non-binary.”

Kerr added, “Rather than promoting gender ideology which exposes women and children to increased risk, Our Watch should put some energy into working with government and media outlets to limit content that celebrates the use of violence and controlling behaviour by heroic characters and which depicts it as contributing to their sexual appeal.”

The guide further contradicts itself by repeatedly referencing how “rigid gender roles” for men are harmful to both men and women while endorsing a belief system that revolves around the idea that feminine men are actually women.

Source: Leader in prevention of male violence releases guide that promotes “gender identity”

Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem | Everytown Research & Policy

Laws keeping guns out of the hands of abusers are associated with lower rates of violence against women and intimate partner homicides.

Intimate partner violence and gun violence in the US are inextricably linked, impacting millions of women, families, and communities across the country. Abusers with firearms are five times more likely to kill their victims, and guns further exacerbate the power and control dynamic used by abusers to inflict emotional abuse and exert coercive control over their victims.

Every month, an average of 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. Nearly 1 million women alive today have reported being shot or shot at by intimate partners, and 4.5 million women have reported being threatened with a gun by an intimate partner. In more than half of mass shootings over the past decade, the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member as part of the rampage. The ripple effects of firearms in the hands of an abuser extend far beyond the intimate relationship—affecting children who witness or live with it and the family members, coworkers, and law enforcement officers who respond to it.

Source: Guns and Violence Against Women: America’s Uniquely Lethal Intimate Partner Violence Problem | Everytown Research & Policy

New exhibition explores what mops, vacuums and snakes and ladders have to do with the value we place on motherhood – ABC News

Vee Malnar’s Canberra exhibition The Mother Expectation features overlooked household items, drawing parallels between the similarly unsung duties and expectations of motherhood.

Artist Vee Malnar jokes that she has created the world’s first portrait of a vacuum and a mop.

“I saw a mop, and I thought ‘Isn’t that beautiful?’,” Malnar said.

“Because I realised that domestic objects haven’t been given the same status as a grand piano or crystal glass — and that’s often the way that people have status.”

She added that household items, which had traditionally been associated with so-called ‘women’s work’, were overlooked and undervalued.

One of Malnar’s paintings, titled Women in a Wash Basket, seeks to tackle that complex decision.

“She is a young woman, and she was contemplating whether or not to become a mother,” Malnar said.

Maternal scholar Dr Joan Garvan said Malnar’s exhibition had helped to lift private and gendered experiences in the home into a public space, encouraging discussion.

Source: New exhibition explores what mops, vacuums and snakes and ladders have to do with the value we place on motherhood – ABC News