Challenging the Masculinity Myth

As we find ourselves well into 2026, the global rise of extremism and gender-based[1] violence is an unavoidable reality.[2]

Globally a woman is murdered as a result of gender-based violence every 10 minutes.

It’s only early June and already 30 women and 11 children have been killed as a result of violence – most often by someone they knew and at one point trusted and loved.

Concurrently, we are seeing a rise in extremism in our communities, from the Bondi Junction mass killing in 2024, to violent machete attacks in Victoria, to the Bondi shootings in 2025. It would be remiss to regard these as isolated incidents. Rising extremism and its ties to misogyny are well founded in the research.[3]

There can be no doubt—patriarchy, misogyny, domestic abuse and mass murder are associated, and have been for a long time […].[4]

Violent extremism has been identified as an emerging national security concern in Australia and identifying and addressing the drivers of radicalisation has become an important area of research for the Australian government.[5]

What a growing body of research both here in Australia and globally is showing, is the causal links between misogyny, violent extremism and community understandings gender and masculinities.[6]

A 2024 policy brief out of the University of Melbourne highlights the need to provide a ‘holistic approach to redressing racist and misogynistic attitudes [amongst broader general community] as a matter of security urgency.’[7]

Similarly, researchers Johnston and True (2019) state that their findings clearly demonstrate that support for violence against women is the common underlying driver that predicts violent extremism.[8]

And at a time where we are facing a national crisis of violence against women in Australia, with growing calls for a Royal Commission into Femicide[9], it’s time we begin to seriously examine the drivers of violence, it’s inextricable links to understandings of masculinity, and how we must as a national priority, challenge the masculinity myth. If we are to ever realise gender and social equality in a violence free world, we must see that this work will have to take place right across the continuum: from prevention and early intervention to crisis response and therapeutic recovery.

So, what are the drivers of violence?

Backed by decades of extensive and robust research[10], we know that there are four broad factors (drivers) that help us to predict gender-based violence:

1. Condoning of violence against women and girls: occurs both through attitudes and social norms and through legal, institutional and organisational structures and practices that justify, excuse or trivialise this violence or shift blame from the perpetrator to victim survivors. This where we see, for example, the privacy of victim survivors vetoed through subpoena of medical and therapeutic records, while perpetrator identity and right to privacy is simultaneously upheld.
2. Men’s control of decision-making and limits to women’s independence in public and private life: occurs when men make decisions about what a woman should, or should not be, wearing, or how women should be behaving. It also plays out in the public sphere were the gender pay gap stubbornly remains at close to 27% – limiting women’s independence and decision-making. All of this informs community attitudes that condones a lowering of women’s social value and vis a vis renders women as less worthy of respect.
3. Rigid gender stereotyping and dominant forms of masculinity: societies, communities and relationships where there are more rigid distinctions between the roles of men and women, and more stereotypical notions that prioritise male aggression, dominance and decision-making typically sees more entrenched sexist attitudes and higher rates of violence against women.
4. Male peer relations and cultures of masculinity that emphasise aggression, dominance and control: following dominant notions of masculinity not only increases men’s reluctance to take a stand against violence, it also often increases the use of violence itself. This has become particularly pertinent in school settings where staff and students are reporting increased rates of misogynistic attitudes and behaviours from male students in the classroom.[11]

Inaction and an unwillingness within society, including in our own local communities to hold violence and misogyny to account should be giving us all pause. We are seeing in real time the impact of misogynistic and hyper-masculine behaviours and attitudes, playing out not only on a global stage and in our communities but also in our very own homes.

The rate of serious risk and harm is on the increase in all family violence incidents right across Victoria. At CNV our data is telling us that year on year there is more demand on services, more complexity of need, and concerningly a rise in the number of lethality indicators present in our risk management screening of victim survivors.

In 2024-2025, staff at CNV completed comprehensive risk assessments (MARAM Assessments) for 2,443 victim survivors, against 17 lethality indicators. These findings reveal a significant escalation in the severity of risk experienced by clients.

Notably, the proportion of victim survivors presenting with 10 or more lethality risk factors increased from 27 per cent to 42 per cent, representing a rise of more than 50 per cent.

Perpetrators of family violence are also frequently recorded with high-risk factors.

In 2025, of the 55,437 unique perpetrators identified, 86 per cent had at least one high-risk factor recorded. Within this group, 10 per cent (n = 5,351) were classified as ‘highest risk’, with 10 or more distinct high-risk factors recorded by police in the most recent year.

Taken together, these data points demonstrate a clear pattern of escalating and intersecting risk: as perpetrator risk intensifies, so too does the severity and complexity of harm experienced by victim survivors. This dynamic is particularly pronounced in regional and rural communities, where higher concentrations of severe risk are observed.

These disparities underscore the urgent need for increased investment and resourcing to strengthen early intervention, risk management, and integrated support responses to improve safety and wellbeing in regional and rural communities.

The latest Victorian Crime Statistics[12] have also echoed this rise in the number of reported family violence incidents right across the state. The data also shows a distinct rise in the number of children present during a reported family violence incident.

In reflection of this, we welcome some of the recent changes to the Justice Legislation Amendment (Family Violence, Stalking and Other Matters) Bill (also known as the Women’s Safety Package) that prevents children from ‘ageing out’ of protective orders when they turn 18.

Children and young people must be recognised and responded to as victim survivors in their own right. By providing tailored resources that focus on a child or young person’s experience of family violence in our practice approaches, we are able to increase victim survivor safety and wellbeing and hold adults using violence to account.

The long-term impacts of family violence on children are well documented and can include negative impacts on:

• physical, neurological and emotional development
• sense of security and attachment in relationships
• mental health and cognitive and behavioural functioning
• ability to cope and adapt to different situations and contexts

The latest Victorian Crime statistics have also reported a rise in the number of young people (under 17 years of age) who have previously experienced family violence entering the youth justice system.[13] Criminalising children, who more often than not have experienced family violence themselves, through adult legal frameworks (ie. children as young as 12 having an intervention order made against them or ‘adult time for adult crime’) does little in recognising the underlying factors that drive violence and importantly present challenges to achieving long-lasting change and improved wellbeing.

The rise of the ‘manosphere’ and its negative impact on the attitudes of boys and men in Australia has been identified as a growing concern, not only by governments but also within the education and family and sexual violence sector. However, we push back on knee-jerk policy reactions that seek answers solely through a criminalisation lens.

Instead, we must remain focused on providing wrap around supports for children and young people, particularly with those who have or are experiencing family violence and through this work, address the drivers of violence.

Importantly, therapeutic early intervention for children and young people experiencing family violence is a crucial part of this approach. CNV has been working to develop a suite of tailored resources and programming for children and young people, including our newly launched Healing Together therapeutic resources as part of our Safe, Thriving and Connected (STC) program. Through these tailored resources we are able to work with children, young people and their protective parent and/or caregivers and community to provide holistic, trauma-informed and preventative support to increase the safety and wellbeing of children and young people experiencing family violence.

The reality is that solutions to ending family and sexual violence are well known: gender equality sits at the heart of all peace-building, conflict resolution and falling rates of gender-based violence. We just need governments to recognise that gender and social equality in a violence-free world is possible, but solutions cannot be found in punitive approaches – it requires us to do the deep work of challenging the drivers of violence to stop the violence before it begins.

[1] Yardley E and Richards L 2023. ‘The Elephant in the Room: Toward an Integrated, Feminist Analysis of Mass Murder,’ Violence Against Women 29(3–4), 752–772.

[2] The United Nations has recently reported that reported conflict related sexual violence cases have more than doubled in 2025. To read more: Conflict-related sexual violence cases more than doubled in 2025, UN warns | UN News [accessed: 2 June 2026]; see also: UN Women 2025. ‘War on women escalate as global conflicts reach record highs’, press release, October. Available from: Wars on women escalate as global conflicts reach record highs | UN Women – Headquarters [accessed: 2 June 2026]. In the two years since 2023, the UN Secretary-General’s report on Women, Peace and Security highlighted that ‘Civilian casualties among women and children quadrupled compared to the previous two-year period, and conflict-related sexual violence increased by 87 per cent in two years.’ See:  S/2025/556

[3] Phelan, A, White, J, Wallner, C, and Paterson, J. 2025. ‘Gendered Narratives and Misogyny as Motivators Towards Violent Extremism: The Case of Far-Right Extremism in the UK and Australia’, Terrorism and Political Violence, 37(7), 961–978. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546553.2025.2498505

[4] Yardley E and Richards L 2023. ‘The Elephant in the Room: Toward an Integrated, Feminist Analysis of Mass Murder,’ Violence Against Women 29(3–4), 752–772.

[5] See: Australian Government 2025. ‘A Safer Australia: Australia’s Counter-Terrorism and Violent Extremism Strategy 2025’. Available from: A Safer Australia | Australia’s Counter–Terrorism and Violent Extremism Strategy 2025 [accessed: 2 June 2026]

[6] See: Johnston M and True J 2019. ‘Misogyny and Violent Extremism: Implications for Preventing Violent Extremism’, Policy Brief, October, Monash University and UN Women and Meger S, Johnston M and Riveros-Morales Y 2024. ‘Misogyny, Racism and Violent Extremism in Australia’, Policy Brief, June, University of Melbourne: Melbourne.

[7] Meger S, Johnston M and Riveros-Morales Y 2024. ‘Misogyny, Racism and Violent Extremism in Australia’, Policy Brief, June, University of Melbourne: Melbourne.

[8] Johnston M and True J 2019. ‘Misogyny and Violent Extremism: Implications for Preventing Violent Extremism’, Policy Brief, October, Monash University

[9] More than 100,000 people have signed a petition to the Federal Government to initiate a Royal Commission into Femicide. See: Hill J 2026. ‘Australians want a royal commission into femicide. What haunts me is wondering if it’ll be enough to make leaders act’, The Guardian, 28 May. Available from: Australians want a royal commission into femicide. What haunts me is wondering if it’ll be enough to make leaders act | Jess Hill | The Guardian [accessed: 1 June 2026]

[10] See: Our Watch 2021. ‘Change the story: A shared framework for the primary prevention of violence against women in Australia (2nd ed.)’. Available from: https://www.ourwatch.org.au/change-the-story/change-the-story-framework [Accessed: 18 February 2026]

[11] Westcott S and Roberts S 2024. ‘Gendered violence in schools: Urgent need for prevention and intervention amid rising hostilities’, Politics and Society, 26 November, Monash University: Melbourne, and Victorian Women’s Trust 2024. ‘Malevolent Influence: Schools and the Shadow of Andrew Tate’, Webinar, 1 May. Available from: https://www.vwt.org.au/watch-malevolent-influence-schools-and-the-shadow-of-andrew-tate/ [Accessed: 19 February 2026]

[12] Victorian Government 2026. ‘Crime Statistics Agency releases 2024-25 Victorian Family Violence Database’, Media Release, December, Crime Statistics Agency: Melbourne. Available from: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/media-release-crime-statistics-agency-releases-2024-25-victorian-family [Accessed 3 February 2026]

[13] Victorian Government 2026. ‘Crime Statistics Agency releases 2024-25 Victorian Family Violence Database’, Media Release, December, Crime Statistics Agency: Melbourne. Available from: https://www.crimestatistics.vic.gov.au/media-centre/media-releases/media-release-crime-statistics-agency-releases-2024-25-victorian-family [Accessed 3 February 2026]