Lisa Wilkinson was brought to tears on The Project last night when she delivered a powerful monologue in response to the tragic death of Eurydice Dixon.
22-year-old Eurydice Dixon was found dead in a Melbourne soccer field on Wednesday. The aspiring comedian was allegedly raped and murdered by a 19-year-old man while walking home from a stand-up gig.
In the emotional segment, Wilkinson called for a change of attitude towards women’s safety and victim-blaming.
“Every day, women are told how to behave, what to wear, where to go and where to avoid for their safety and I’m not sure whether we should be listening to every word of advice,” she said.
Wilkinson also slammed the police’s response to the tragic death.
In a series of official statements this week, police urged women to stay alert at night and carry a mobile phone at all times.
“Just make sure you have situational awareness, that you’re aware of your surroundings,” Local Superintendent David Clayton said in a statement.
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“If you’re a woman in 2018, you’ll be familiar with this advice,” Wilkinson said.
“There’s so much advice and so many rules about what we should do and what we shouldn’t, it’s hard to keep track of just how we should keep ourselves safe.”
“If one woman doesn’t walk at night, that one woman won’t be attacked. But the problem with giving this advice is that it keeps that one woman safe at the expense of all women’s right to move freely,” she said.
Wilkinson suggested that instead of telling women to take responsibility for their safety, we should be talking to men and boys instead.
“The best way to prevent this crime and keep all women safe isn’t by changing the behaviour of women but by changing the behaviour of men,” she said.
“Instead of telling girls not to walk through parks, maybe we should tell our boys not to rape them.”
Comedian Meshel Laurie also weighed in on victim-blaming in the segment, pointing out that when a man is murdered, the blame is always put on the attacker – but things are different when the victim is a woman.
“When women are attacked, it’s all about the victim – why was she there? Who does that? Who walks alone in a park?” Laurie said.
Wilkinson also opened up about her fears for her 20-year-old university student daughter.
“Every time she has to walk across campus, if it’s later at night, she calls me, and I’ve always said to her, ‘Call me at any time so that you can feel safe’ because we’ve had the discussion,” Wilkinson said.
Twitter users commended Wilkinson for her powerful message.
As Wilkinson’s powerful monologue came to an end, she was brought to tears by a famous Margaret Atwood quote: “Men are afraid that women will laugh at them, women are afraid that men will kill them.”
Top Comments
When I first moved from my country town to the city my mother told me not to walk around at night, to stay out of parks, Not to walk down empty alleyways. I already knew this, and I already knew not to make eye contact with certain types of men, Not to draw attention to myself, To carry my keys between my fingers like claws.
In the last year I have been assaulted by random men for no reason at all. There are places I wont go at night because I am guaranteed to be attacked.
There are numerous other times I've almost been attacked but have managed to diffuse the situation with a friendly smile.
....AND I'M A F***ING MAN
We are murdered at TWICE THE RATE.
WE KNOW FULL WELL WHAT IT IS LIKE.
And anytime I've bought this up I've been told "Yea well, You men are all killed by other men" As if that somehow makes it ok?!
Talk about victim blaming.
Now go ahead and delete my comment because it doesn't fit your theories about the world.
I feel that both statements are true. We need to tell our boys, and men, that rape is not acceptable, in any way, shape or form, but we should also tell both our girls and boys to be aware of their surroundings. In this digital age, the number of people that constantly have earphones in, and their face in their phones, people are really less aware of what is going on around them more than ever. I see a lot of people taking the risk of injury and death, when crossing the road, or just walking down the street, because they have not taken their eyes off their phone. I admit, I was guilty of doing that, but after nearly being attacked one night, I now take my earphones out, and put my phone in my bag once I get off the bus. We all need to be conscious of all that goes on around us.
"We need to tell our boys, and men, that rape is not acceptable"
Do you honestly believe he didn't know that?
If you think that 99.999% of men and boys are not aware that rape is crime then you hold some seriously bigoted views about men.
I don't think my views on men are bigoted. It has been shown in news reports that some guys, when questioned, did not realise that what they did was a crime, that they thought it was okay just because the girl did not say no. I do believe most men know rape is a crime, but sometimes what constitutes rape can get a bit murky.
So maybe a better way of putting this would have been, that if the girl does not say yes, or if she says no at any point, it is unacceptable, and can be considered rape. And in fact the same could be said of men too.