Experts are calling for more talk and even more action to change the way the Riverina perceives sexual violence.
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This comes after a Riverina woman was allegedly raped on Saturday night by two random attackers in Junee.
Julie Mecham of the Wagga Women’s Health Centre said there was a real misconception that sexual assault was just a city problem.
“One of the advantages of regional and rural communities is a general sense of safety, however, we know that regional women and rural women are more vulnerable to attack,” Ms Mecham said.
“I would hate for the conversation to somehow find an excuse for this behaviour, that it might be something else, that there is a city influence or drugs or alcohol or any other excuse – it's not, there is no excuse.”
Statistics show sexual assault is in now way a city issue alone, with Junee’s rate of sexual assault sitting just above the state average.
In fact, around the Riverina, the rate of sexual assault is consistently higher than the state average; almost 40 per cent higher in Wagga, 45 per cent higher in Narrendera, and 24 per cent higher in Lockhart.
CSU women’s issues lecturer Dr Andreia Schineanu said Wagga’s residents felt more comfortable discussing random attacks, even though some 80 per cent of sexual assaults are not perpetrated by strangers.
“We talk about it because it's less challenging than looking at ourselves – you can put it down to those ‘scary monsters’ out there, so we don't actually need to change ourselves,” Dr Schineanu said.
“We need to change that perception – they’re not monsters, they are living among us – they’re the kind of men who will make sexist jokes, put women down, and call them sluts.”
Having worked closely with victims of sexual violence, Shannon McMahon of the Wagga Sexual Assault Service said she believed the key to changing attitudes was not pretending sexual assault is any less common in the country than the city.
“Wagga and the Riverina is not unlike anywhere else, so we need to provide education around what services are available and stress that this is happening within our homes and our communities,” Ms McMahon said.
“Sexual assault is a shaming crime, so the more we talk about it, the more we send that message that it’s just the perpetrator’s responsibility rather than the victim’s.”
For help, call the Rape Crisis hotline on 1800 424 017.
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