What sort of message do we send when we make excuses for Chris Brown?

No, Chris Brown. You’re not welcome in Australia.

‘Speaking out against Chris Brown has nothing to do with pop music, and everything to do with men’s violence against women. If we stand by and do nothing while he performs around the country … we are implicitly sending the message that if you brutally beat a woman, in a short amount of time you will be forgiven, or even celebrated’.

This is why GetUp.org wants Chris Brown denied a visa to Australia. It is why the Minister for Women Senator Michaelia Cash wants Brown denied entry. It is why GetUp’s petition has gathered more than 13,000 signatures.

In 2009 the pop star pleaded guilty to assaulting his then-girlfriend Rihanna. He was sentenced to 5 years probation for the crime.

Yesterday Senator Cash was unequivocal about why the immigration minister may deny Brown a visa.

“People need to understand if you are going to commit domestic violence and then you want to travel around the world, there are going to be countries that say to you ‘You cannot come in because you are not of the character we expect in Australia,’ and certainly, without pre-empting the decision of the minister, I can assure you it is something that the minister is looking at.”

This is consistent with the stance the federal government took earlier this year in relation to the boxer Floyd Mayweather. He was denied a visa to Australia on account of his violent, criminal record.

This is the leadership that violence against women demands. As GetUp explains, the symbolic significance in celebrating Chris Brown is too powerful to ignore.  “By turning a blind eye to his tour, we send a message to survivors of family violence that it’s not that important and that you should just get over it.”

We spoke about this on the Outloud Podcast this week.

It goes to the heart of a paradox that domestic violence presents: we are very eager to condemn violence against women but we are equally willing to offer disclaimers.

Generally it is accepted that violence against women is abhorrent. But. If the perpetrator is a supremely gifted athlete, like Floyd Mayweather, or a supremely wealthy man, like Charles Saatchi, well, it’s just a tiny bit less abhorrent. We are a tiny bit more inclined to forgive their transgressions.

How else to explain how Floyd Mayweather, a man convicted of brutally assaulting several women, can lure almost every celebrity in America to Las Vegas to a fight that generates a $400million prize? The ugly uncomfortable truth is that double standards persist.

Earlier this year Thandi Mokone-Chase wrote an essay for the New York Times called ‘Father, Apartheid Trailblazer and Domestic Abuser’. It was about her late father, a famous soccer player who spent 12 years in jail for attacking her mother with sulphuric acid, leaving her blind, disfigured and lucky to be alive.  A man who terrorised his children – physically and sexually.

Despite this, Stephen Mokone, was celebrated.

‘Like many professional athletes in the news today, my father was celebrated for his athletic achievement. There was a national commemoration of his life in South Africa’s FNB Stadium, where the 2010 World Cup final was held, after he died. He was lauded as “a national asset” and “a hidden hero.”

…How can it be that we excuse abusive behavior with statements such as: “With the pressure of divorce and child custody battle…he simply lost his head,” or “Good men sometimes do bad things?”

What message does our society send when the NFL gives Tom Brady a harsher measure of discipline for scheming to deflate footballs than initially brought against Ray Rice for physically and brutally attacking his fiancée?’

She said how disturbing it is to watch professional athletes glorified by society in life and in death, leaving behind an agonizing legacy for their victims.

What sort of message do we send young men and women when we celebrate an artist like Chris Brown or laud an athlete like Floyd Mayweather? It sends the message that violence isn’t too bad, that there are circumstances in which it will be tolerated.

Yesterday, the same day the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the Minister for Women Michaelia Cash offered an unequivocal position condemning violence against women in every form, this was clear.

Not just because of the 64 women who have lost their lives in the first 9 months of 2015 and not just because of the 657 domestic violence incidents that police attend every day in Australia.

Because of the fact that 1923 young Australians, aged between 16 and 24, are more likely to tolerate violence against women than their parents’ generation were.

Because a quarter of these young people are willing to excuse violence if the man regrets his behaviour, or if he becomes so angry he loses control.

Because some are willing to excuse violence if the victim or offender is affected by alcohol.

Because 20 per cent of these young adults believe women often say “no” when they mean “yes”, compared with 13 per cent in their parents’ generation.

Because 22% of these men and women agree that men should take control in relationships.

Because one in five of these young adults believe there are times when women can be blamed for sexual assault.

We know this because yesterday VicHealth released its annual Young Australians’ Attitudes to Violence against Women and the findings should sound an alarm.

“These attitudes matter because they contribute to a culture of support for violence. As long as there are community attitudes that tolerate or justify violent behaviour, our society will continue to be plagued by violence against women,” the CEO of VicHealth, Jerril Richter, wrote. “If the community accepts violence against women, men who use violence are more likely to feel it’s OK to behave disrespectfully or even violently, and as a community we’re less likely to take action when we see violence and disrespect.”

The attitudes revealed by this study makes clear the need for cultural change. They make clear the imperative for holding men like Chris Brown and Floyd Mayweather accountable.

“Violence against women is the leading contributor to ill health, disability and death for women aged 15 to 44, and has a profound and devastating effect on the health and wellbeing of children, families and communities,” Richter says. “We know that victims of violence against women are most commonly young women and that a large number of men who commit sexual violence against women do so for the first time before the age of 20.”

As Malcolm Turnbull said yesterday, “Disrespecting women does not always lead to violence against women, but violence against women always begins with disrespecting women.”

It is clear that in this realm we have so much work to do. If we have any hope of arresting these attitudes before they translate into action we need to be explicit. We can’t just say there is no excuse for violence, we need to live that.

And that is why Chris Brown isn’t welcome.