Thread by @clementine_ford

1. Some thoughts. It was not a lack of ‘situational awareness’ that ended the life of Eurydice Dixon - it was a person who made a conscious choice to exercise extreme violence against her. #eurydicedixon

2. I didn’t know Eurydice, but I have no doubt at all that she had ‘situational awareness’ and an awareness of her own personal security, because she was a woman who lived in the world and as such had been learning those infuriating lessons since she was a young child.

3. Here are some lessons too. Inspector Stamper urges people to call triple-0 if they have ‘any concerns at any time’, but is he aware of the high level of derision directed at women who are seen to be ‘wasting’ the time of people with ‘better things to do’?

4. The language used towards women when we exercise caution is contradictory at best and disdainful and mocking at worst. Exercise caution, but don’t overreact. Be prepared for danger, but don’t treat individual men like they might be a threat to you.

5. Don’t put yourselves in harm’s way, but stop being hysterical about every little shadow that crosses your path. Be wary of strange men, but don’t you dare be wary of me.

6. It’s little wonder we’ve learned to question our own instincts and sense of personal risk. How can we possibly be expected to guard against threats when we’re straining so hard to even see them under the dim glow of the gaslights?

7. Besides all that, it isn’t up to women to ‘prevent’ violence from being enacted against us. It’s up to society to work together to dismantle misogyny and the particular kind of male rage that informs these acts of aggression.

8. Sexual violence & homicide might b the extreme end point, but the spectrum they sit on stretches right back to ‘harmless’ casual sexism, rape ‘jokes’ & threats and the attitude expressed towards women on a daily basis by groups of men socialised to view themselves as superior.

9. These toxic behaviours don’t manifest one day out of nowhere. They are cultivated. Abusive, violent men aren’t unavoidable weather patterns who tear through our natural environments without warning.

10. We don’t just have to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm, convinced that nature's invincible force means there's nothing we can do. Because even if we manage to get ourselves into a protected bunker, the storm is still going to hit someone.

11. The narrative of prevention as women’s responsibility does nothing to stop sexual violence and homicide - at best, all it might do is direct that rage towards someone else.

12. We need to change the narrative around gendered violence, and we need to do it now. Eurydice Dixon was a 22 year old woman walking home after work, something so many of us do every day. She had a family, friends and colleagues who loved her.

13. A person chose to take that away from her, and to do it violently, wilfully and hatefully. The motivations for that kind of behaviour won’t go away, even if women do.

14. Situational awareness? Fuck you. We are all too fucking aware of the reasons we might not make it home at night. When will you stop making that our fault?

15. This violence isn't inevitable. Don’t let another woman robbed of her life be turned into a cautionary tale, just because the people who have the power to change things think it’s easier to keep us afraid than it is to make men accountable.

16. RIP Eurydice. You won't be forgotten.