Dear friends
Knowing that you have previously spoken out against damaging words, I hope you might feel the same way about language depicting violence against women.
Alan Jones describes himself as Australia’s most influential and respected radio broadcaster. Yet with that level of responsibility, he then uses that position to repeatedly suggest violence against women.
Today he made the following comment regarding NZ Prime Minister, Jacinda Arden: ‘She's a clown, Jacinda Ardern; a complete clown.' 'I just wonder whether Scott Morrison is going to be fully briefed to shove a sock down her throat.'
This is not the first time he has suggested violence as a means of dealing with women who don’t comply to his personal or political beliefs.
In 2017, seeming to refer to Lord Mayor Clover Moore, he tweeted: ‘$11.3m - can you believe it? You can guess what many people would rather hang 58 metres over George Street...and it's not a Cloud Arch,’
In 2017, referring to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian, he warned that her head "was in a noose" over her government's mining policy in the Liverpool Plains.
In 2012, he suggested then PM Julia Gillard should be "shoved" in a "chaff bag" and taken "far out to sea".
Violence against women in Australia is a serious problem. The statistics below are sobering:
On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner.
1 in 3 Australian women have experienced physical violence since the age of 15.
1 in 5 Australian women has experienced sexual violence.
1 in 6 Australian women has experienced physical or sexual violence by current or former partner.
1 in 4 Australian women has experienced emotional abuse by a current or former partner.
Australian women are nearly three times more likely than men to experience violence from an intimate partner.
Australian women are almost four times more likely than men to be hospitalised after being assaulted by their spouse or partner.
Women are more than twice as likely as men to have experienced fear or anxiety due to violence from a former partner.
More than two-thirds (68%) of mothers who had children in their care when they experienced violence from their previous partner said their children had seen or heard the violence.
Almost one in 10 women (9.4%) have experienced violence by a stranger since the age of 15.
It is not appropriate for anyone, let alone media personalities, to suggest violent acts against women with whom one disagrees. Violent language, metaphorical or literal, contributes to an environment where women are not free to speak, and in some cases may validate the violent behaviour of male perpetrators.
We call on Alan Jones to publicly apologise for his comments pertaining to the treatment of Jacinda Ardern. We suggest he positions himself instead as an ambassador against violence towards women, working on the ignorance and societal conditions that lead to it continuing.
We call on 2GB and it’s sponsors to consider their association with Alan Jones, given his repeated damaging language directed at women he disagrees with. We believe this is particularly important in our current society where violence against women is pervasive.
We call on Australians to turn off 2GB whilst this language is aired.
We must all work together to combat violence against women.
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