Lainie Anderson: It’s not just the culture at Adelaide High School, is it?

The students who walked out of an Adelaide school over toxic male behaviour are confronting a problem Australia continues to hide from, writes Lainie Anderson.

Minlaton High School in the 1980s was a pretty uncomplicated affair: which Katies frock to buy for the end-of-year social; Sterling Special Mild or Alpine Lights for the odd clandestine cigarette; mullet perm or full perm?

Maybe that’s why it was so utterly depressing to see 100 Adelaide High School girls forced to choose this week whether to stay in class or walk out in protest over the school’s alleged “toxic, sexist culture”.

Speaking to The Advertiser’s Rebecca Digirolamo, one girl told of her photo being sold to male students for $5 a time without her consent. Another said it was a daily occurrence to walk through the school halls and hear what male students would do to the girls sexually. Others spoke of sexually degrading and threatening remarks too graphic to publish.

I share the anger of these girls who should be studying the theory of toxic masculinity rather than experiencing it in the schoolyard, but I also sympathise with the school principal, who says she’s striving to make the 1500-student school safer and invites direct contact from any student who feels concerns aren’t being acted upon.

Something is clearly not right when 100 young women feel so unheard that they walk out of class and plead to media for schoolyard perpetrators to be held to account, and for better education on sexual harassment and respectful relationships.

Adelaide High School students Rira, Sophia and Martha, all 17, helped organise the walkout. Their caregivers provided permission for this image to be published. Picture: Tom Huntley

But it’s not just the culture at Adelaide High School, is it?

It’s a national scourge of disrespect that sees one in three Australian women experiencing physical violence over the age of 15 and one in five experiencing sexual violence.

It’s a national shame of silent complicity that sees only a fraction of women ever pressing charges for sexual assault (often because they doubt they’ll be believed) and even fewer perpetrators ever being brought to justice.

In Canberra on Monday, federal MP Christian Porter dropped his defamation suit against the ABC over an article he claimed identified him as the subject of an historical rape claim by a South Australian woman, known as Kate.

Mr Porter vigorously denied the claim and was never charged. The ABC and Mr Porter have both claimed vindication, but I personally think that’s beside the point.

Minister for industry, science and technology Christian Porter follows Prime Minister Scott Morrison into Question Time on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

The key issue here is that when Mr Porter announced his decision to sue the ABC back on March 15 – the same day tens of thousands of women joined the March4Justice against a toxic culture in Canberra – the announcement effectively silenced calls for an independent inquiry into the historical rape allegations against him.

That’s because his lawyers categorically stated that Mr Porter would use the opportunity of the defamation case to give evidence under oath. Mr Porter’s decision to discontinue the defamation case means that opportunity no longer exists.

Which takes us right back to March. We don’t need Mr Porter to tell us this case is closed, the ABC is humiliated and he’ll be seeking re-election.

If the Morrison Government wants us to believe it stands for women, we need an independent examination that would allow the claims against Mr Porter to be tested and the complainant’s voice to be heard.

Until that happens, Mr Porter should not be a member of Mr Morrison’s cabinet. And until that happens, how can we honestly tell Australian schoolgirls to go back to class, because everything’s going to be OK.