Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Trigger warning: Discussion of sexual harassment, violence and abuse.
- “We do not, in any way, hold all men responsible for sexual violence. But we do need them all on board to tackle it.”
What would a world look like without violence against women; the Duchess of Cornwall’s speech on women’s safety rang out with tributes to lives lost, and how we must move forward to tackle violence against women.
Speaking at a reception for the Shameless Festival! alongside guests including former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, and Carrie Johnson, the Duchess of Cornwall relayed a speech of her concerns of normalised violence against women.
Paying tribute to the lives lost, in her speech, the Duchess of Cornwall reflected on the statistics that, “on average one woman is killed by a man every three days”. And since the tragic death of Sarah Everard it’s been reported that in the 28 weeks after, around 81 women lost their lives where a man was deemed a suspect.
She said, “Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa, Wenjing Lin, Geetika Goyal and Bennylyn Burke are names which, with all the others, must never be forgotten,”. The Duchess emphasised how family members would “continue to suffers in the wakes of their deaths”, before reading part of the statement released by Sarah Everard’s mother.
Sarah Everard’s brutal death, was catalytic in women coming forward and sharing their own experiences causing the government to reopen their survey in March 2021, in order to shape a strategy that mattered. 180,000 voices came forward to create the Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy which was published a number of months ago with a team consisting of Home Secretary Priti Patel, MP Victoria Atkins and Nimco Ali.
Stigma and Shame
Throughout, the Duchess emphasised just how many women are and have been affected by violence, rape and harassment, stating, “On the same day that Wayne Couzens was arrested, a survey was published stating that 86% of young women in the UK have been sexually harassed in a public space,”
Within that survey it was found that 96% of the women didn’t report their experiences; leading the Duchess to question why.
“shame is one of the most powerful emotions felt after sexual violation”
The event in which she attended was a collaboration between both the WOW (Women of the World) and Sexual Harms and Medical Encounters- also known as SHaME. The Festival itself, looks at focusing on the attitudes towards violence against women through art and activism.
Speaking of the emotion felt by victims she said, “shame is one of the most powerful emotions felt after sexual violation the victims feel invaded and dirty weakened by having been put in a position of helplessness”
Continuing to say, “Often, this sense of shame causes the victim to blame herself, mistakenly take responsibility for the crime, and want to hide away from others – and yet she has done nothing wrong,”
The speech can be seen in full here:
“an entire community”
Breaking stigma and speaking up was the Duchess’ first point of overcoming one of societies biggest challenges. However, her second point highlighted the need for men to also be involved, and involve themselves in the conversation.
“And it takes an entire community – male and female – to dismantle lies, words and actions…”
Acknowledging responsibility of the male population she said, “We do not, in any way, hold all men responsible for sexual violence. But we do need them all on board to tackle it. After all, rapists are not born, they are constructed.
“And it takes an entire community – male and female – to dismantle the lies, words and actions that foster a culture in which sexual assault is seen as normal, and in which it shames the victim.”
Keeping in message with the theme of the event, “building a shameless society” with both men and women participating is the future, the Duchess envisions.
In a truly powerful speech the audience was left with one final question:
“How many more women must be harassed, raped or murdered before we truly unite to forge a violence-free world?”
This speech in particular has seen the Duchess praised for how lasting and impactful her words were. In recent days, members of The Royal Family have been speaking up on issues they feel passionately about, with Prince William launching the Earthshot Prize and Prince Charles addressing leaders on climate change at the G20 in Rome.
Having more figures like the Duchess speak up on violence against women and women’s safety can only make the progress of change more optimistic.
Featured image courtesy of Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash. No changes or alterations were made to this image. Image license can be found here.
Neve Gordon-Farleigh
Neve is a 21 year old freelance journalist, and our Head Current Affairs and Instagram Editor for Empoword Journalism. She specialises in social media journalism and runs the Journo Resources Tik Tok page. You can find her on Twitter @Neve_GF.