Jennifer Robinson and Keina Yoshida. 

Allen & Unwin Rrp $36.99

This interesting book seeks to shine a spotlight on sexual and gender-based violence. The authors, both practicing barristers in England and Wales, refer to women and girls, but they point out they are acutely aware that misconduct, harassment, abuse and rape affect people of all genders including trans, non-binary and gender non-conforming groups. 

To Jen, as she likes to call herself, and Keina, this feminist thinking and activism is not just about men, it is also about the system and, particularly, the tyranny of patriarchy and toxic masculinity, sexism, gender stereotyping and patriarchal laws set up by men, often centuries old, that tend to oppress and discriminate against young girls and women.

It is not often that a reviewer is confronted with pages of blacked out lines censoring information in chapters concerning court cases provided as examples.  This unusual course has been taken because some of the outstanding cases discussed are about stories that have not yet been resolved at the time of publication. They are often about well-known people and they are allegations only serving to illustrate how gender-based violence, rape, coercive control and violent physical assaults are handled by the courts.

The majority of women who have been raped or subjected to domestic abuse often do not report their allegations through shame, victim blaming and the fear of reprisals and even disbelief. Those that do report, ultimately find that few receive justice as they face numerous hurdles negotiating their way through the criminal justice system.

You just have to look at the way Britany Higgins was mercilessly questioned during her recent trial; questions about her alcohol consumption, the way she dressed and her previous sexual activities in contrast to the male she alleged raped her, who chose to remain silent.

For Jen and Keina, this is an example of the law as it stands shaming and silencing the voices of victims and survivors. “Some of the laws are designed to protect women, but in practice they end up protecting perpetrators, silencing the few brave victims who are prepared to speak out,” writes Jen.

The authors point out this global picture of silencing must be fully understood, especially how it undermines women’s rights and the right to be free from violence.  

“The silencing also underlines why it is so important to defend free speech as a women’s right and as an equality issue. We must ensure,” they emphasise, “that journalists can do their work and not be silenced by draconian defamation laws. That women who are willing to speak out can do so safely inspiring other women to come forward and advocate for changes in the legal system and not by laws that impede their speech and keep in place gender censorship”.

Grace Tame is someone who fought for and advocated  breaking this silence and who ran the risk of being sued by her perpetrator, legally sanctioned by her state laws, humiliated, tormented. After her abuser had served his prison sentence he continued to harass and try to control her through intimidation and online hate mail.  

By Grace breaking her silence with her Let Her Speak campaign which changed her state law and journalist Tracey Spicer’s call during MeToo, for women to reach out with their stories, many women were encouraged to come forward. For Tracey this resulted in her being overwhelmed by 2,500 stories of sexual abuse and harassment.

Tracey co-founded NOW, an organisation which was meant to be the Australian answer to the UK’s Times Up. It promised a triage service to help women who wanted to speak out, directing survivors to journalists and the legal support and counselling they needed. Spicer ended up stepping back from NOW to allow more diverse voices into the space and protect her mental health. 

Chanel Contos was motivated to tell her own story leading her to set up an initiative for young girls in schools to share their stories and show up rape culture in Australia. In the process she was horrified to learn that most of her friends had been sexually assaulted and pretty much all of them had had a “close call”. In early 2021, Chanel decided to start an anonymous Instagram survey whereby survivors would simply say the name of the school the perpetrator had attended. She too was overwhelmed by the response and started a web site to show how big the problem was and how the onus was on our private schools to better educate their boys.
She went on to start a petition calling for better consent education in schools and within three weeks had 30,000 signatures. 

Chanel founded an organisation Teach Us Consent which calls for earlier and ongoing holistic consent and sexual education for children.  In February last year the organisation achieved its goal: the Federal and state governments agreed to provide sexual consent education for schoolchildren from age five.

Jen and Keina argue for a better criminal justice system that works for everyone; to build a society in which women and girls can live free from violence. This begins with talking about it, which is why they are so concerned about how the law is being used as a weapon to silence women and why we should be aware that there is a clear personal and public interest in speaking out.

They point out that their book is not about the criminal justice system and how it is failing women because there are already many excellent books that have been written about systemic racial and gender bias and sexist reasoning from police, lawyers and judges. 

They are asking:  “How many women will be raped and killed before we fix the system? How many women are scared to walk home alone? How many women receive justice in our courts? How many women need to speak out before things change? How many women will be sued for defamation for speaking? How many women will be silenced by non-disclosure agreements? How many women do we need in parliament before laws are change? How many women need to protest before society changes the way women are treated?”

These are the issues which have haunted these two authors since 2012, long before the Me-Too movement began. They both worked with news organisations to publish stories such as the one about the powerful Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. For decades he escaped countless serious allegations of sexual misconduct until the MeToo movement bought together the collective power of women speaking out and finally saw him given a series of prison sentences.

This book is a must read if you want to understand where you stand when protesting against domestic violence, whether to take your rape story to the press, the ramifications to you and your family of speaking out, fighting for justice and fairness through the courts, how to cope if you are sued and what online violence to expect. 

Jen talks about how to deal with online silencing of women’s speech, undermining women’s public participation along with their ability to speak out, share information about gender-based violence and how it can lead to mental health consequences. 

She sites as an example, the vitriol and abuse that Amber Heard faced online after making allegations of domestic abuse against Johnny Depp and during the two defamation trials that followed, both of which were unique and unprecedented.  

“The trolling of Amber, her friends and lawyers and the witnesses who gave evidence for her in court was relentless,” says Jen. “But it has also sparked an important global conversation about misogyny, online harm, the responsibility of platforms like Twitter and Tik Tok and the need to better protect women who make accusations of domestic and sexual violence.” 

In fact, in 2021 the Australian media union recognised that women journalists were suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the online violence they faced and which is now being described as an occupational health and safety issue.  

Feminists around the world have been thinking about how we can ‘take back tech’ and ensure women’s rights to free speech are protected and respected. 

Dr Michelle Ferrier, an American journalist who founded TrollBusters which provides first-responder assistance to women facing online abuse, offers free lessons on digital hygiene, conducts training on digital security and publishes a monthly magazine online called Toxic Avenger.  The organisation, Vita Activas similarly provides support and strategic solutions for women and LGBTQI journalists, activists and defenders of gender, freedom of expression; it offers resources which focus on self-care and cyber-security against digital violence. 

Jen and Keina conclude with the hope that the strategies they describe and the inspiring stories of women who have broken their silence and faced brutal backlash, of women who are organising, campaigning, litigating and fighting back, will serve to inspire more women to know that they are not alone and that many options are available to them. 

Legal change is possible they insist. “Fight back collectively, we all must. If we don’t, how many more of us will be silenced?”

Sherry Stumm