Members of the community are calling on decision makers to take action in a rally against gendered violence in Ballarat on Friday, April 26.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The rallies will be happening in fourteen locations across Australia over the weekend, and are the project of What Were You Wearing (WWYW), a non-for-profit organisation fighting to end sexual violence.
WWYW was founded in 2021 by Sarah Willliams, who is a three-time survivor of sexual abuse.
The name, 'What Were You Wearing', stems from one of the most common questions put to victims of sexual abuse - Ms Williams said she wanted to turn the question around.
"I was just pretty fed up with victim blaming, particularly, around the whole of Australia, and online as well," she said.
The organisation quickly took off, and WWYW now has an Instagram following of nearly 22,000 people.
"It grew so quickly that we've been able to create so much amazing content for social media to educate people, as well and advocate for them, and destigmatize the issues of sexual violence," she said.
Williams said the organisation is holding the rallies in response to the Bondi Junction attack, and the fact that 30 women have allegedly been murdered by male perpetrators this year.
Three of these deaths were women from Ballarat; Rebecca Young, Samantha Murphy and Hannah McGuire.
"We just want to be able to say enough's enough, and we want no more," Ms Williams said.
WWYW worked closely with local survivors and volunteers who are passionate about the fight for change to organise the rally in Ballarat.
Ms Williams encourages all people to attend the rally, but she particularly hopes to see decision makers in the crowd.
"The Ballarat community needs our support right now," she said.
"We need to make it clear to the politicians in Ballarat that more needs to be done because having these numbers come out Ballarat so early in the year creates quite a lot of concerns around the whole community."
Survivor calls on businesses to make a change
Sexual abuse and family violence survivor, Cathy Oddie, will be one of the speakers at the rally.
"It's because of my lived experience that I've become so committed to doing everything I can to speak out about these issues, but also working within the sector."
Ms Oddie now works as a specialist family violence practitioner, and does consulting work across various government and corporate organisations.
The rally is an important way to continue discussions around gendered violence while people are listening, according to Ms Oddie.
"Given that this is my local community, it's important for me to be able to take a stand where I live to say, I don't want to feel unsafe in the place where I live," she said.
"And these recent murders have made me feel quite unsafe.".
Ms Oddie's speech will be about her own personal experiences, as well as a call to action to decision makers.
"They can't become complacent, every single one of us has a role to play in violence prevention," she said.
Accommodation providers are one of the business sectors with great power to make change, according to Ms Oddie.
"We have some incredible accommodation providers, but on the other hand, there's places that refuse to take clients from our services," she said.
"Part of what I'll be calling out is we need to challenge these sorts of attitudes"
From her experience working in the sector, Ms Oddie said one of their issues was finding safe locations to house women and children, due to the limited number of dedicated refuge accommodation.
"The local community is very dependent on motel accommodation and when large events are happening, often that will be all booked out," she said.
"So if there's someone who's needing to leave in the middle of the night, who is at risk of being murdered, it can be a very difficult situation when there might not be any available accommodation."
In Australia, one woman is killed every week by a partner, making intimate partner violence the top risk for young and adult women.
Event organisers hope to see men in the crowd
Ballarat local, Levi Storm, decided to get involved in the rally after speaking with a friend who is also involved in the event's organisation.
He was particularly drawn to the inclusivity of the conversations being held WWYW.
"I also really appreciate that What Were You Wearing is trying to put emphasis on queer people, Indigenous people and disabled people who are often disproportionately affected by these things," he said.
"Trying to have these conversations in an inclusive way is really important, you just don't get the whole picture if you don't acknowledge those things."
He hopes that men will be in the crowd today at the rally, and that events such as these will work to change the stigma about calling out the behaviour of friends.
"I have a lot of conversations with men one on one, and usually when I bring up things such as domestic violence and even just gender and feminist issues, men are usually pretty on board with what I'm saying," he said.
"But in groups, men really don't want to be the one to call out their friends, they're very concerned about social repercussions."
After they attend these rallies, Mr Storm hopes that people will come away with the message to keep the discussion going.
"It's important that we continue to be aware and keep talking and keep putting pressure on decision makers and politicians," he said.
"We just have to keep making noise, keep showing up for things, keep having these conversations."
Education must change
Izzy Fay, who is also local to the city, said she wants to see a change in the way that young people are taught about gendered and sexual violence in school.
Ms Fay has been a victim of verbal abuse, and decided to help with the rally after she saw the event on TikTok.
She hopes that as education about these issues increases, so will people's awareness.
"I find that I've had to do a lot of explaining as to why I would even want to help out with something like this," she said.
"I don't want people to have to go away with statistics to prove to people around them that it's an issue."
At high school, Ms Fay said the education she received about sexual abuse and gendered violence focused on the responsibility of women.
"We got taught a lot that we would have to make sure that we were safe in a situation," she said.
"It was very heavily based on what women need to do."
Ms Oddie agreed with Ms Fay, and said education generally focuses on women moderating their behaviour, rather than men changing theirs.
An important point to note is that these rallies are not about demonising men, but rather about highlighting the role that everyone can play in making a difference, according to Ms Oddie.
"It's not just about coming to an event like this," she said.
"There's things people can do every single day to show those in their lives and in their community that they don't tolerate these issues and that they will call out inappropriate and disrespectful behaviours when they see them."
The rally will begin on the green area at Bakery Hill, near the Bridge Mall, at 5pm tonight.
If you or someone you know is in need of crisis support, phone Lifeline 13 11 14. Help is also available, but not limited, via the following organisations. The key message is you are not alone.
- You can phone the Ballarat Centre Against Sexual Assault, in Sebastopol, on 5320 3933, or free-call the crisis care line 24 hours on 1800 806 292.
- Family violence: 1800 RESPECT.
- Relationships Australia: 1800 050 321.