Wow! What a vicious little rant this is! One wonders exactly what punishment would satisfy Caroline? Love the bit where she says that no one in Australia is going to call Inglis a "torturer" anytime soon; this of course means that he IS a torturer and that we are all so in love with violence against women that we won't call a spade a spade.
This sort of half-smart rubbish is a sign of the intellectual deterioration of our universities.

Dear OLO,

If you wish to reduce the incidence of domestic violence, please stop running these type of articles.

Anyone who follows OLO knows what type of reaction this type of vicious criticism of men will create. I feel sorry for Sally Robinson. Most of us realise that positioning her as a victim is guaranteed to get people asking what she has done to solve her own problem. Insisting that she is blameless will only get people asking 'is this really true?'

Dear Caroline,

You have done immense harm to your cause. You have alienated the same men who you claim are able to stop domestic violence. You have shown your lack of understanding of domestic violence by painting it in simplistic terms. You have reinforced the stereotype of feminists as lacking empathy for men who find themselves in these difficult circumstances. Playing the helpless female who needs men to solve your problems will only bring condemnation from people who understand feminism much better than you do.

While I agree with Caroline that abusers should be punished and not allowed to get away with it, it is very often the women who not only facilitate the abuse but prevent punishment of it.

Greg's partner has made a statement claiming that it he was trying to save herself from self harm. The police are now powerless to act.

Given the attention, I cannot believe that she stayed with him simply because she feared leaving. She could have had him severely punished with no fear of retribution.

What is it? Do they invest too much in the relationship to admit defeat? Is Greg too good a catch who will simply replace them?

I don't have the answers, but women need to be able to take action themselves or this will never stop.

I agree that this wasn't a very good article on this topic, but really -

benk: << If you wish to reduce the incidence of domestic violence, please stop running these type of articles.

Anyone who follows OLO knows what type of reaction this type of vicious criticism of men will create. >>

Do you really think that OLO's resident misogynist men, having been whipped into a lather by yet another feminist critique of Rugby League thuggery towards women, are going to go home and give the missus a good slapping?

Even I give them more credit than that.

If this article paints a true picture of our current day society then I really need to get out more. I have never punched a woman, I don't know anyone who has, I don't know anyone who would find it acceptable, I don't know anyone who would want to know anyone who would do that. OK, we can probably qualify the aforementioned to exclude those women who do, just as men sometimes do, have it coming to them, that would be when they choose to use unneccessary violence, or instigate others to do so on their behalf, and even then there are many men (not me) who would consider it unacceptable because as they drone like chant "you never hit a woman". Add that my taxes are frequently used to fund campaigns which accuse me and my innocent like male peers of being violent and/or having attitude problems with regard to VAW (it's about time it was acronymised). The sports player mentioned has been charged, he's being dealt with by the law, he will probably face a stiff penaly, stiffer that if the victim was male, and I don't hear anyone making excuses for him. That's how it appears to me, or, perhaps I do just have to get out more because whatever this author is seeing I'm totally missing.

Memo to the federal Attorney General, you can get rid of all of that old fashioned court'n'laws'n'justice paraphernalia as soon as you like because Australia now has trial by the media with lynch mobs to carry out their sentences.

Oh and that rather quaint legal principle that any person charged with an offence is presumed to be innocent right up until s/he is convicted by a court, well that is long dead and buried too.

If you should need a legal precedent for trial by the media there are quite a few available, but the most celebrated case in some quarters is the 4Corners Johns/'Clare' affair where poor research and a whirlwind of emotional oratory resulted in victims on both sides and as Arthur Daly, from The Minder might have observed, you can't say fairer than that!