When Eurydice Dixon was raped and murdered in Melbourne, Victoria, she went from private individual to public property. Daniel Andrews, premier of Victoria, thought it wise to take to Facebook and opine at length:

’Eurydice Dixon was 22 years old. She was an aspiring comedian. Smart, funny. She lived in the inner north. Surrounded by friends.

She had a phone.

She was using it: “I’m almost home safe.”

She was keeping an eye on her surroundings. Looking out for herself. Being responsible. Doing everything we expect.

But Eurydice did not make it home safe.

In a few days, women across Melbourne will gather in Princes Park for a vigil of her life.

And they will do so firm in the knowledge that Eurydice died because of her attacker’s decisions – not because of her own.

They’re right. And we need to accept that fact, too.

We’ll never change a thing until we do.

We’ll never change this culture of violence against women. All women.

We’ll never change the fact that one woman in this country dies every week at the hands of a partner or former partner – someone they loved, in the safety of their own home.

We’ll keep asking “Why didn’t she leave him?” instead of asking “Why did he hurt her?”.

We’ll keep asking “Why was she alone in the dark?” instead of asking “Why was he?”.

We’ll keep ignoring the real problem, instead of actually fixing it.

So our message to Victorian women is this: Stay home. Or don’t.

Go out with friends at night. Or don’t.

Go about your day exactly as you intend, on your terms.

Because women don’t need to change their behaviour.

Men do.’

If male Australians really think violence against women is ok, and all men must accept their share of the blame for the heinous crime, why is there so much upset among men at the death of Eurydice Dixon? Why can men be blamed – millions and millions of them – for the actions of one man? You begin to wonder who has the problem. Andrews is at pains to be the wokiest bloke in the chamber. But laying the blame for this appalling crime at the hands of all men and a country’s culture only excuses the actual criminal and recasts all women as victims.

NOTE: Men are perpetrators and victims:

A 2005 report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC), Homicide in Australia: 2003 2004 National Homicide Monitoring Program (NHMP) Annual Report found that:

36 per cent of homicide victims were female and;
49 per cent of female victims were killed as a result of a domestic altercation (as compared to 15 per cent of male victims).

Domestic violence is a doubly cruel crime, leaving the victim with nowhere to run. But it’s not all men. To say it is demeaning.