Queens Park memorial

Seeing memorials like this evoke such a wide range of emotions, but mainly a deep sense of sadness and shame. Even more upsetting were the notes tied to the fence, some telling women's personal stories of sexual abuse or harassment, others remembering victims of violence towards women - one just listed all the names of women that had been killed in the last year. It's so shocking to see all of this especially when it takes such a high-profile incident for many of these cases to be recognised by the public. 

Men need to do better. My dad showed me a video where a instructor on positive masculinity talked about how sexual abuse, harassment and violence isn't and shouldn't be a woman's problem - it's up to men to change our behaviours and mentalities that cause these crimes to occur in the first place. It makes me so ashamed to be associated with other men who feel they have the "right" to do these horrible things, or that when they do it means absolutely nothing for them and they receive no punishment.

We need to create a society where women feel safe at all times - it's no good to just tell women to not go out alone at night and just leave it at that. The idea that certain times and places are unsafe for women has become so ingrained in people, yet no-one bats an eyelid when a man goes out for a solo walk after dark. It's terrible that many women feel they are living in an environment that is unsafe for them. Men need to do better to reverse this. 

- o