Busselton White Ribbon event | Student speaks out on sexism and consent

Ms Sandor was the winner of the Country to Canberra leadership competition 2020 and was recently selected for the Country to Canberra National Youth Advisory Council.

Ms Sandor will join guest speakers South West Police Family Protection coordinator Don McLean who will talk about coercive control and Changing Lives Australia founder Katherine Houareau who works to empower people to use their voice to make a difference.

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Solutions to end violence against women starting with education will be a focus of Ms Sandor's discussion.

"The more consent education we do, the more aware everybody becomes and cuts off those disrespectful ideas that come up when people are young," she said.

"Instead of saying, 'boys will be boys' it is making people aware about the consequences of those attitudes .

"Once we can do that we will see an end to the violence."

Ms Sandor said the root of the problem was casual sexism which created disrespect for women to the point of almost dehumanising them were people thought it was okay to assault or take advantage of them.

"That needs to be stopped early on," she said.

"Sadly, a lot of girls my age have been sexually assaulted and that is something we are not made aware of until it happens, often at a young age.

"We need to teach more on this issue otherwise it will continue.

"The biggest thing is a change to the curriculum, which a few points mention relationships there needs to be in-depth lessons on consent and respect.

"Even the texts we study at across the curriculum should be representing men and women equally, so we don't pigeonhole people into stereotypes."

The Year 12 student said while feminism continued to shine a light on violence against women it was still something that some people did not consider important.

"In my year group I have seen changes in people's attitudes within the 12 months we started having those discussions," she said.

"There has been a huge shift in everyone's thinking, the more we talk about it, the more awareness we bring to violence against women, the more it will change.

"There is still a long way to go but progress has been made."

White Ribbon Committee Cape Region chairperson Sue Riccelli said these awareness campaigns gave victim survivors the strength to come forward and seek the help they need before it was too late.

"Many victims of family and domestic violence think what they are experiencing is normal until they hear stories from others that have been brave enough to come forward," she said.

"Opening up a conversation is crucial.

"In Australia, one woman is killed every nine days by her former or current partner, one in four women have experienced emotional and/or sexual and physical abuse since the age of 15.

"More than 84 per cent of Australian women have been sexually harassed.

"One in three young people do not think controlling someone is a form of violence and one in four young people think it is normal for guys to pressure girls into sex.

"These are our mothers, girlfriends, wives, daughters, colleagues, and friends.

"The mission of White Ribbon Australia is to change the attitudes and behaviours that support or excuse this violence against our women and girls in Australia".

"Please help us show our community where we stand on ending men and boy's violence and abuse against women and girls".

The White Ribbon event is suitable for anyone in the community aged 15 years and over, and will be held at GMAS from 5.30pm to 7.30pm on Monday, August 16.

Tickets are $10 and can be purchased from trybooking.com/BSVCZ (teens aged 15 to 18 years are free).

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