The 'new year of the women'? Women, violence, and social change today

The year 2019 had a tragic start in Melbourne. On the night of 15 January, a young woman, Aya Maasarwe, was raped and murdered in the suburb of Bundoora.1 Her body was found at the edge of La Trobe campus on the morning of 16 January. Aya Maasarwe was in Melbourne on an exchange program from Israel. She had gone out with friends and was on her way back to her apartment. Shortly after getting off the tram and while on the phone to her sister, she
was attacked and ultimately killed. The murder shocked Melbourne. The city congregated in mourning for a vigil on the steps of Melbourne’s Parliament House. It was just six months after the murder of another young woman, Eurydice Dixon, sexually assaulted and killed in Melbourne’s Princes Park. Eurydice’s body was found at 3 am on 13 June 2018. On her walk
home, she had texted her boyfriend, “I’m almost home safe” (Alcorn). Both murders strongly echoed the notorious case of Jill Meagher, who was attacked and murdered in the early morning hours of 22 September 2012. These three Melbourne-based deadly sexual attacks find myriad of counterparts in other countries, Italy included, yet our society expresses mixed perceptions and attitudes towards femicide.