By Lisa Wheildon and Asher Flynn “If anything comes out of this, I want it to be a lesson to everybody that family violence happens to everybody no matter how nice your house is, no matter how intelligent you are. It happens to anyone and everyone.” These simple, grief-stricken words and the accompanying images of [...]
Suku Sukunesan, Swinburne University of Technology There’s no shortage of people online looking to exploit and manipulate the vulnerable among us. One such group is anorexia coaches, or “anacoaches”. They are typically middle-aged, male sexual predators who go online to find impressionable young people to exploit under the guise of providing weight-loss “coaching”. I have [...]
Mary Iliadis, Deakin University; Bianca Fileborn, The University of Melbourne, and Rachel Loney-Howes, University of Wollongong The continuing media coverage of rape and sexual assault allegations faced by current and former political figures has put many sexual abuse survivors at risk of being traumatised all over again. Widespread media attention features near-constant social media updates [...]
Emma Tseris, University of Sydney and Nicole Moulding, University of South Australia This article discusses sexual assault, gendered violence and mental distress. Over the past week, some media commentary on the rape allegations against federal Attorney-General Christian Porter have used the alleged victim’s history of mental health difficulties to undermine and raise questions about the [...]
Georgina Heydon, RMIT University; Nicola Henry, RMIT University; Rachel Loney-Howes, University of Wollongong, and Tully O'Neill, The University of Melbourne The alleged rape of former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins has raised many questions about how sexual assault gets reported. Members of the Morrison government have repeatedly stressed the appropriate response to allegations of sexual [...]
TV producers are thankfully removing or omitting content such as depictions of smoking and suicide from their programs. The same cannot be said for sexual violence. While pornography has rightly been the main focus of concerning, graphic depictions of sexual assault available to young people, there are also a troubling number of sexual assault scenes [...]
Recent events, including the conviction and sentencing of George Pell for sexually abusing two children in the 1990s and the documentary airing allegations about Michael Jackson’s abuse of two young boys, have made prominent the topic of child sexual abuse. Many parents may be concerned about the safety of their child, and whether they are [...]
We have never been more aware of the prevalence of child sexual abuse, but unfortunately this has yet to translate into a reduction of new cases. How can parents keep their children safe without being overwhelmed by paranoia? According to child safety experts, it comes down to awareness of 'grooming'. Predators will take various, but [...]
Grace Tame has finally won the right to speak publicly about being groomed and sexually assaulted by her high school teacher Nicolaas Bester in 2010. After being outraged by Bester's comments about the abuse and media allegations that she had been complicit, the Tasmanian 24-year-old embarked on a two-year legal battle to be exempted from [...]
Tayla Harris marked the ball early in the first quarter at Whitten Oval against the Western Bulldogs. She went back and coolly slotted the goal from 45 metres out. When I watched the ball fly through the posts I said what I normally say after a classy goal: "Good finish." Set shot, 40 plus metres [...]
