Over the past two weeks, allegations of sexual assault involving some of the country’s most powerful institutions – the Swans and Sydney’s Scots College – have forced an uncomfortable question about how Australia responds when women say they have been harmed.

But behind those cases is an even more troubling shift. New research suggests some young men are becoming more hostile towards women, while misogyny and sexual violence is being normalised online. 

And with pressure building on leaders and governments across the country to confront it, the question is whether the response is keeping pace with the problem.

Today, Minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek, on the institutions failing women, the forces shaping a generation of boys, and whether governments are doing enough to stop it.

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Guest: Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek

Photo: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas