I cried for Brittany – we must ensure better protection for women when they speak out
Brittany Higgins outside the supreme court in Canberra in October 2022.Brittany Higgins faced endless victim-blaming attitudes from men in power and in the media. She faced torrents of online abuse, rape and death threats – and was hospitalised due to stress.It has been almost two years since Brittany Higgins first made her rape allegation and complained about her treatment by the police and by the Liberal party after reporting what she said had happened in Parliament House that night.
It meant Brittany had to remain silent. And the media was warned to be silent too. It also meant we redacted everything about her story from our book.It was described as “the Higgins trial” by much of the Australian media – at least until people rightly pointed out that it was Lehrmann on trial, not Brittany. The description was wrong in principle but, as Brittany herself would later say, it accurately described her lived experience: it had felt to her like she was on trial, not him.
Her words and sentiments echoed those Keina Yoshida and I had heard from women around the world we had interviewed for our book – of the silencing, of the failure of the criminal justice system, of the re-traumatisation women face when they report their abuse, and the many reasons why women choose not to report.
Last week, Shane Drumgold, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, announced that there would be no retrial. Drumgold explained that the charges were dropped and Lehrmann would not face trial owing to the “significant and unacceptable risk to the life of the complainant”. Drumgold added that Brittany had “faced a level of personal attack that I have not seen in over 20 years of doing this work.” It has since been confirmed that Brittany is currently – again – receiving treatment in hospital.
Defamation claims around the world about allegations of rape and domestic violence are chilling public interest conversations about violence against women, and silencing women from speaking about their abuse. We cannot act if we do not know.
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