Thinking before we speak

Local sporting clubs are urged to get on board in tackling the domestic violence culture issue.

By ANEEKA SIMONIS

FOR too long, derogatory remarks about women have gone under the radar, normalising a standard of inequality harmfully echoed across the community.
Shocking rates of reported domestic violence in the outer south-east are among the highest in the state, with one victim abused every 50 minutes across the Cardinia, Casey and Dandenong region.
It’s a blight that must end – starting on footy fields, pubs and male-heavy areas.
It’s no secret calls like, “you catch like a girl” or “stop being a sissy”, have been used to denigrate players on sporting grounds across the region or professionally.
How often are these people called out?
Community leaders working to end the shire’s escalating rate of domestic abuse in the Together we Can (TWC) movement believe it’s a rarity.
But it’s sexist language like this which sets the tone, affirming unequal attitudes and behaviours leading to a culture of normalised gender abuse, according to campaign co-ordinator Fiona Cost.
She said men had a critical role to play in influencing their male peers.
“Men need to hold other men to account. They need to be role models,” she said.
Cultural acceptance of sexism within the community was highlighted at the TWC forum on Friday 29 April.
TWC facilitator David Stewart recalled a conversation he had with a local Rotarian a day earlier.
As he cooked up the sausages for forum-goers, it struck him just how frequently sexist connotations were flung around in social conversations.
“He told me he never realised that sexist language sets a tone … that it is accepted behaviour,” Mr Stewart told dozens of community leaders on board to fight the harmful epidemic.
TWC organisers urge members of the community, particularly men, to speak up when they encounter language entrenched with sexism.
It’s a bottom-up approach which hopes to denormalise inequality perceptions between men and women in the community.
The plea comes as Cardinia Shire records the second highest rate of reported family violence in the state’s southern metropolitan region, with close to a quarter of incidents in 2014 committed by repeat offenders.
Recent figures show that there are about six intervention orders and safety notices issued within the shire each week, with about 40 per cent of these incidents involving children being present.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic or family violence, call 1800RESPECT.