BOB Dylan once wrote: how many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man? It is one of the most recognizable rhetorical questions, at least in a popcultural sense.
What does it take to be a man? These column inches could be dedicated towards the obvious, outlining why domestic violence is a pandemic unto itself in Australia and why we need to act.
In a way this feels performative, almost hollow. We know the statistics; we know women are disproportionately affected by DV compared to men.
So why is it that, on average, one woman a week is killed by a current or former partner in this country?
As a male, this writer can never pretend to understand what its like to be a woman in this world.
To know what its like to walk home alone with keys in your knuckles. To text a friend an address when meeting a man for date.
Instead, I’ll direct this to those of the same sex. It’s one thing to condemn sexist behaviour and domestic violence, its another thing to stand up and walk the walk.
Later this month, Gawler will once again take part in the global 16 Days of Activism campaign against DV and the ‘Gawler says no to family violence’ banners will go up around town.
Today you will read about Martin Kennedy, an ex-police officer and member of the Gawler Domestic Violence Network.
He says we need to do better, to call out the comments and the jokes.
Whether its your brother, your father, your best friend or you boss, we cannot let it fall to the wayside anymore.
We can’t sweep it under the carpet, and we can’t make excuses.
It all adds up to a culture, a culture that has seen 2.2 million women in this country fall victim to emotional abuse in their adult life.
Last year there were 105 victims of family and domestic violence related homicide, more than a quarter of all homicides nationally.
Bob Dylan also wrote: and how many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn’t see?
