White Ribbon Day 2016

This week's show is the first of a two-parter. The Hornsby “Walk the Talk” Community Walk hosted by Soroptomists International was full of people wanting to take part in White Ribbon Day as well as supporting the start of 16 days of activism against Gender Violence Campaign. The call is to raise awareness - we are asked to ‘Orange the World!’ 

Guest speakers were Superintendent Jenny Schultz from Ku-ring-gai Area Command, Matt Kean MP, Steven Woodhill a White Ribbon Ambassador as well as representatives from local schools, churches, Julie Griffin from Soroptimist International, representatives from Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Womens Shelter, the Chinese community and many of the local refugee settlement services.

The call from many, as we found last week for International Mens Day is for violence in general to stop – but we cannot look beyond the statistics that men are all too often the perpetrators of gender based violence and it seems, from many of the interviews I did, that it comes down to control and that loss of control. I put forward that perhaps this need for control comes from a lack of self-worth, a lack of self-esteem that then gets thrown into trying to control things around us in our lives, and when people don’t subscribe to that control there is a reaction that far outstrips the situation.
 
There is NEVER a call for violence to be the answer to any discussion or situation. Violence is not what babies do when they are born, they are loving beings and we should perhaps be reminded of that if there is ever an attempt to justify violence or aggression. They are reactions as all my interviews with psychologists and counsellors have shown over the many previous shows.
 
The statistics this morning are short and to the point -
 

• 2 women killed every week on average this year
• 1 woman hospitalized every 3 hours
• The impact of this on children is enormous and life changing
• Family violence is everyone’s business

If you need support please consider the following:

1800RESPECT - 1800 737 732
MensLine Australia - 1300 789 978
Lifeline - 13 11 14
Hornsby Police Station 9476 9799
If you are in immediate danger 000

​To report anonymously on behalf of another person please call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000

Further Resources

White Ribbon - https://www.whiteribbon.org.au/stop-violence-against-women/about-white-ribbon/
Rosie Batty – Never Alone - http://www.neveralone.com.au
Orange the World - http://www.neveralone.com.au/orangetheworld
Soroptomists International - http://www.soroptimistinternational.org
​1800 RESPECT - 1800 737 732 www.1800respect.org.au
​Mensline.org.au - 1300 789 978 mensline.org.au