Political talk of women's safety reeks of hypocrisy

Political figures claiming to stand against domestic violence are failing to implement legislation to protect women and children, writes Dr Jennifer Wilson.

*CONTENT WARNING: This article discusses domestic violence

IT’S A FACT that women and children are most at risk from violence in their homes rather than from trans persons in public toilets.

During the last week, this fact has been pointed out many times to counter the rhetoric of activists led by the UK anti-trans campaigner known as Posie Parker. Parker’s visit to Australia was funded by the Conservative Political Action Conference Group (CPAC). CPAC espouses the views of John Howard, Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, and currently hosts a petition on its website in support of the “No” vote on the Voice to Parliament.

Curiously, neither Howard, Reagan nor Thatcher was renowned for their concern about women’s rights, so it is interesting that CPAC funded a tour titled ‘Let Women Speak’.

Parker and her supporters claim they are concerned that, among other things, trans persons will undermine hard-won rights to single-sex spaces such as domestic violence refuges and public bathrooms.

Several politicians have sought to distance themselves from Parker’s views.

Hate should never be given a powerful platform

When anti-trans activist Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull visited Australia recently, most media outlets refused to give her hate speech a platform.

Liberal politician Bridget Archer, for example, said this about the concerns expressed by Parker’s supporters:

If they want to talk about women’s safety. I don’t think that the issue of... same-sex bathrooms is where the issue of women’s safety is at.

If you want to talk about women’s safety, the most unsafe place for women to be is in their own homes.

There’s a whiff of hypocrisy around these comments. Here’s why.

Politicians have willfully and with full knowledge of the consequences, failed for decades to adequately address the problem of domestic violence and its emotional, psychological and economic cost to the community, estimated to be some $15.6 billion in the period of 2021-2022.

There is a chilling irony in any politician acknowledging that women and children are safer in public toilets than they are at home, apparently thinking they are making a good point. The only people in a position to do anything about this monstrous situation are politicians themselves, yet here we are.

Legislators had no difficulty passing “one punch” legislation when a small number of men were attacked by other men. Legislators state and federal effortlessly pass all manner of laws to prevent protests, observe citizens, indefinitely imprison those seeking asylum, and protect their own privilege. However, passing laws that actually protect women and children from male violence and adequately punish the perpetrators seems to be beyond them — and it’s a bipartisan failure.

Women's efforts to stop men's violence are failing

More needs to be done in stopping men from acting out violence against women, rather than focusing on victims.

Some politicians were more exercised by the appearance of a contingent of neo-Nazis at Parker’s event in Melbourne. Nazis supporting a ‘Let Women Speak’ rally is an indicator of how far into Bizarro World we have as a society now ventured and how meaningless language becomes in this world, but that’s another story.

The point here is that politicians who loudly decry the presence of neo-Nazis are the politicians who do nothing legislatively useful about the slaughter of one woman every week and the brutal assaults on women and children every single day in their own homes by violent men.

Trans persons are also frequently subjected to appalling violence by, yes, you’ve guessed it, violent men. Indeed, violent men cause a disproportionate amount of distress, destruction and death in the world, yet politicians globally seem determined to ignore that fact. Look over there, it’s Nazis!

Feelings against Parker and her views ran very high as trans persons and allies gathered in counter-protests, challenging her views as dangerous hate speech. Parker left Australia deeply aggrieved at the hostility levelled against her. Her visit has not made anybody vulnerable to violence any safer.

At its core, this fraught situation is in effect a battle about competing rights. That is, parties claim that the enjoyment of one group’s human rights and freedoms interferes with another group’s human rights and freedoms. One party perceives a threat to women’s sex-based rights, the other party perceives a threat to trans persons' human rights.

At some time, people are going to have to decide if there is the will to begin a process of resolution and peace, or if an ongoing fight is the point.

JENNIFER WILSON: The Government needs to do more to end domestic violence

Our government is being far too reactive when it comes to violence against women and children and needs to be more proactive.

As always, when turmoil and distress prevail, one has to ask, who benefits? There are undoubtedly powerful forces in play, whose interests are served by furthering upheaval, chaos and division.

Tensions are not eased by political and public figures denying the concerns of one party in favour of the concerns of the other, or deciding that in their opinion, certain concerns are ludicrous. In the case of politicians, not necessarily because they give much of a damn but because it is politically expedient and a welcome distraction from their own craven failings.

Indeed, that is playing into the hands of those who would see discord escalate.

There is a choice to be made and those with influence ought to be considering it. Either take a side and fuel the turmoil or understand that your personal opinions aren’t useful here.

Everybody involved in this is a human being entitled to live in safety and with dignity, regardless of whether or not you approve of them.