Criminal Law

Warning: This story contains mentions of sexual assault, violence, and pornography.

Recent publications by the ABC have revealed a predatory culture that existed in Byron Bay in the 2000s. Thirty-five people spoke to the ABC regarding their experiences, with fifteen women alleging that they were sexually assaulted or raped by older boys and men.

Some of these allegations occurred from when the women were as young as twelve.

Although one known perpetrator was sentenced, the women stated that he was not the only older man pursuing young girls. The women noted the culture of the community at the time.

Across Australia, the role culture plays in driving men’s violence against women is still highly significant, especially with concerns of a growing online manosphere,

“Culture shapes sexual violence through norms,” stated Professor Michael Flood, a sociologist at Queensland’s University of Technology who has extensively studied masculinity and the prevention of violence against women,

Professor Flood stated that some of these common norms include “men pressuring women into sex, men not taking ‘no’ for an answer [and] men seeing women only as sexual objects”.

Whilst some of these norms have existed in a long-term cultural context, Professor Flood believes new contexts are also emerging.

“I think there are three emerging contexts that are likely to be increasing the levels of sexual violence perpetration by boys and men in those contexts…One is pornography and pornography use”.

As a result of online availability, access to pornography has greatly increased. Men and boys are higher consumers of the content, with boys aged 14-17 years old being among the ‘most frequent underage consumers of pornographic material’.

Another factor associated with an increased sexual violence risk is the significant amount of pornographic content showcasing sexual aggression.

“The prevalence of strangulation is a good example of that”, says Professor Flood.

Non-consensual and quasi-consensual genres are prevalent too.

In March, CNN exposed a large network of “sleep” content on a porn site, Motherless.com. The monthslong investigation occurred as part of CNN’s Equals series on gender inequality. On the site, users had uploaded over 20,000 videos, many of which involved women who appeared sedated. Men would perform ‘eye checks’, lifting the eyelids of women to prove that they had been sedated. One user claimed to sell “sleeping liquids” through a Telegram account linked to the group.

The site had 62 million visits in February alone.

Material on platforms like Motherless.com is one example of the accessibility of violent pornography.

The second emerging context Professor Flood noted was “to do with backlash”,

“There’s long been sexism among a minority of boys and men, but there’s some evidence that those levels of sexism are increasing and are increasingly assertive and hostile.”

The increase is often described as backlash, or antifeminist attitudes.

Earlier this year, a Louis Theroux documentary ‘Inside the Manosphere’ aimed to expose parts of this cultural shift. The documentary spoke with multiple young men, who promoted a “red pill” ideology. The ideology references the movie The Matrix, and suggests that men must become alert to the supposed theory that society favours women over men. When ‘repeated, normalised and reinforced in online groups’, these ideologies can contribute to gender-based violence.

The third context Professor Flood saw emerging links closely to anti-feminist backlash, being growing “online misogynist communities”.

He described the manosphere and other anti-feminist communities as a network, that promote “men’s sexual entitlement towards women, men’s patriarchal dominance over women, women as liars, women as manipulative, women as only good for one thing, and so on,”

“Think of pickup artist culture, which trains men to push past women’s resistance, to manipulate and coerce women into sex”.

Professor Flood says that cultural change is a critical and vital means for preventing and reducing sexual violence. However, it is not the only reason for violence, or the standalone means to address it.

“We also need law and policy to address economic and political inequalities”.

Last year, the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) released the report ‘Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence’. The Inquiry considered a variety of areas, like consent laws, support services, and the impacts of laws and legal frameworks on groups disproportionately represented in sexual violence statistics.

The report makes 64 recommendations. Many of these recommendations fall into the ‘pathways’ of safe, informed and supported engagement, non-legal options, reform to both the civil and criminal law system, and restorative justice.

The report acknowledges that despite how common sexual violence is, the rates of reporting, prosecution and conviction are all low. Importantly, it suggests an interplay between cultural beliefs and high attrition, which means when reports ‘do not progress through to different stages in the criminal justice system’.

Some of these cultural beliefs include the view that complainants who show distress are more credible than those who don’t, and the misconception that false reporting rates are high.

These misconceptions can also be held by those who administrate the justice system, deepening the interplay of context and justice that furthers inequality.

Both cultures that normalise sexual violence against women, and economic and legal systemic flaws must be addressed to see holistic change.

Positive steps are being taken through action like the National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022 – 2032. The ten-year framework is presently in the First Action Plan phase, with actions targeted at improving both cultural failures and legal system failures. It noted the Recommendations of the Inquiry into Justice Responses as one of the progress highlights in 2025.

Together with cultural change and policy change, Professor Flood says that “intensive intervention” must occur into high-risk contexts too.

With a multifaceted approach, and by listening to victim-survivors, hope for change can exist, despite emerging concerns.

If this story has raised concerns for you or someone you know, do not hesitate to contact the services below:

Full Stop Australia: NSW Sexual Violence Helpline

Call 1800 424 017 or online chat

1800RESPECT

Call 1800 737 732 or online chat