TV and video games normalise violence

There are many causes of violence by men against women and the problem will not be solved by more street lighting, a few more police, telling boys to be nice to girls, or telling girls not to go out at night.

It is just one result of the psychological pressures of daily life now poverty both physical and intellectual, overcrowding in poor accommodation, ever-increasing rules and surveillance - but the situation is not helped by the endless stream of television dramas which almost always depict male on female violence to the extent that it is almost normalised, almost expected, and we are shown myriad ways to torture and kill a woman.

Most young men spend more time playing computer video games than watching TV and many of them routinely play “games” involving violence to women.

There seems to be no attempt by anyone to curtail these things. That would be censorship and we don’t like that.

Children, who are not allowed cigarettes, alcohol or drugs because they are dangerous, are allowed, from a very young and impressionable age, to have smartphones which encourage, through social media, the most appalling behaviour often leading to violence and death.

The code of behaviour provided by religion, with its rewards and sanctions, has gone and nothing has replaced it.

Instead we have “You deserve it, you’re worth it”. People are encouraged to take what they want. Biological drives must not be denied.

Schools can play an important part but they are no match for this constant flood of

lurid media.

We CAN do something about this. Why don’t we?

Janet Sherwin Shepton Mallet