Thanks to the dedicated work of people like Rosie Batty, this nasty issue has finally been brought out into the open, and now the realisation that there is no easy fix is finally sinking in. 

Nevertheless, we have been presented with a plethora of stigma-smashing slogans, the most popular of which seems to be all about what ‘real men’ do and don’t do, mostly to women.

Our former Prime Minister was no slouch when it came to telling us what real men do, and there is no denying the slogans have had some sort of an impact, but perhaps all this focus on what real men do only detracts from the point that violence is never condonable. Violence committed to hold power over another is unforgivable. 

The vast majority of domestic violence cases are undeniably those of men against women, and all are abhorrent acts, but when did our attention shift from condemning violence to a rant on how to be a real man?

Instead of talking about the real effects of violence in our communities, on our children—even before birth—we seem almost entirely fixated on what men are doing, or not doing.

Is it not high time we realised domestic violence will not be fixed by a one-liner and a funding package? 

Is it not time for us to start doing what good people do, instead of worrying so much about what real men do?

There is no denying our culture of masculinity is built, in many ways, around violence and men need to change that, but there is a big difference between being a good person and a real man. 

And it’s about time we started acting like, and teaching our children to act like the former.