This situation reminds many of us of every time we were given a dirty look for breastfeeding or having newborn baby vomit on our shirts,  every time we were excluded from a venue or event because we had a baby or child,  of being tut tutted for 'leaving work early' even though we'd been up caring for others since 5 am, of having our job re-assigned while on parental leave or pregnant, of being shamed for  having 'unruly kids' who might (heaven forbid) cry on a plane or drop food on the ground in a restaurant. 

@laura__palmer  I have seen quite a lot of sympathy for the mum. 

@Cait I couldn't agree more.  For the first year, a mum and baby are still a unit, its just an extension of pregnancy,. A bf mum can't 'just get a babysitter'. She needs to be available basically 24/7. 

Yes, I agree. 

This attacker was a young man with poorly managed schizophrenia having psychotic delusions. In 2015, a close friend of mine was randomly stabbed to death in the street by a young man with poorly managed psychotic episodes.

This is all well and good. BUT.  A woman who "On the balance of probabilities' was raped just had her life upended for 5 years. She was humiliated and impugned to be a liar in (parts of) the media, had her diaries and txts in court and the media, was dragged through the courts by her alleged rapist and former boss. 

It was an attack by someone with both serious schizophrenia (that much is known) and most likely other factors, such as a tendency to violence and/or current addiction. 

I couldn't agree more. I have no understanding of how or why the media seems to be interested in analysing every last aspect of this case except the most glaring - that this case shows an extreme level of victimisation through police and court processes and the media. It has probably set back the likelihood of sexual assault victims even attempting to let alone actually procuring justice by decades. 

I think this was clearly written by someone without kids :)

North and South. Even better than Pride and Prejudice.

Australia is now increasingly isolated as one of only a few developed nations where smacking kids is still legal. The evidence is clear of how this normalises physically violent reactions towards those we love. Then we wonder why we have such high rates of domestic violence…..

Does Anna have a gofundme or is there another way we can help? Living in a tent with 5 kids is ?!&##!!!

So true. The worst part of the sexist and abusive public commentary about women who accuse men of assault is that the victim blaming silences other women. It sends the message to abusers that they are justified and will not be punished. And the cycle continues… 

So much of the media sowed confusion, didn’t report or explain the Uluṟu statement. 9 years of Coalition govt meant that many people had forgotten or never known about the Stolen generation, the massacres, deaths in custody, indigenous kids in adult jails. Australia’s shameful secrets. The Voice was a very modest step towards change, ie try asking before you impose, but we couldn’t even do that.

@gu3st Yes, I understand about 'letting it run'

@laurenella 

@pippa 

@gu3st 

Wow, how tragic. What caught my eye is that her mum was a successful software engineer on the board of a feminist organisation. 

So true. Sexual harassment was so common in the 90s that we didn't even recognise it . We used to chat about it, as though it was a joke - what that old fart said, did, etc. But the truth was that we were trying to pretend it didn't effect us, because we had no recourse. No one cared.