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'We're all the human race and we can't simply divide by gender' - Larissa Nolan on 'Not All Men'

The pressing issue of violence against women has grown new and much more uncomfortable legs follo...
98FM
98FM

08.36 19 Mar 2021


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'We're all the human race and...

'We're all the human race and we can't simply divide by gender' - Larissa Nolan on 'Not All Men'

98FM
98FM

08.36 19 Mar 2021


Share this article


The pressing issue of violence against women has grown new and much more uncomfortable legs following the discovery of Sarah Everard's body last week. 

On March 3, the 33-year-old was kidnapped and murdered while walking home from a friend's house, later to be found in a woodland in Kent.

The case has, understandably, sparked a wave of protests across Ireland and Britain campaigning for women's safety. Last weekend, vigils organised to remember Sarah were broken up by UK police in a widely-condemned move.

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The reaction thereafter was that of fright and anxiety, as a number of women have come forward to share stories of times they felt unsafe walking home.

However, freelance journalist and columnist Larissa Nolan wants to defend the good men in society.

'We're all the human race and we can't simply divide by gender' - Larissa Nolan on 'Not All Men'

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Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Nolan said:

"If it was just as simple as asking men to stop, we would have done it solved this a very long time ago.

"I'm a former crime correspondent and have covered a number of these very, very serious issues and I think they're worth mentioning by name, like Jill Meagher from Australia and Sharon Whelan from Kilkenny.

"It is an extraordinary event, we must keep the perspective that this is an extraordinary event and you can't decide that because almost all of these cases against women have been carried out by men, that all men are all evil and violent.

"The same logic could apply to aeroplanes – all aeroplane crashes happen on planes, so we should take down all planes.

"We're all the human race and we can't simply divide by gender and say this group is evil and this group is virtuous. I truly believe that whatever happens with one of us affects the other."

Referencing the push in the UK to make misogyny a hate crime, Nolan continued by saying:

"I've been wondering about the wisdom of dividing us into two groups. Women are aggressive as well as men, what we see in women is a social takedown rather than physical – is it a case that there should be a hate crime against men as well? If we do the same for one should we do the same for the other?"


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