The battle against female violence starts in childhood home – not street

when really it is male violence that is the problem.”

Demonstrations, although laudable, surely will not have the same power, for example, as husbands and fathers who model and instil in their sons respect firstly towards the women in their homes.

Violence stems from a lack of respect for the personhood, as well as an objectification of, the individual. Changing this requires a deeper transformation than attending a demonstration. By contrast, marriage, commitment and parenthood anchor men by confronting them with their responsibility as leaders of their families in a way the emerging culture of instant commitmentfree sexual gratification afforded by online dating, as I have recently explored in this column, does not. Men must choose a lane.

This applies to pornographic material which, most often, also objectifies women and, in my opinion, diminishes their personhood with the same offer of gratification. For instance, it did not take long to identify, according to one report, “brutal pornography” as a motivating feature in the actions of Wayne Couzens towards Sarah Everard.

Women deserve better but, as men must make a choice, so must women who respect themselves hold potential partners to a higher standard.

The wider truth is, violence is being waged not only against flesh and blood but also upon the entire notion of womanhood and femininity and this battle will also not be won by protests or placards.

Gender recognition reform, for instance, currently marches through the corridors of power and if these reforms do not preserve single-sex spaces, there is a demonstrable and growing body of evidence which supports the concern that violence against women by men presenting as women will increase.

My fear is public demonstrations may not change hearts and minds because they will tend to attract men who already agree violence towards women is unacceptable and stop short of engaging with public consultations on legislation like the Online Safety Bill, which is currently under scrutiny in the House of Commons.

This Bill aims to limit the increasing accessibility of violent pornographic material as well as instilling an institutional duty of care upon companies to keep users safe.

For any prospective suitors seeking to secure my blessing when the beautiful young daughters I am raising come of age, the first question for those young men will be to identify whether they listened to and respected their mothers when growing up or not. That will tell me more about the state of their hearts and minds and level of respect they will show my daughters than how many protests they attended or how many placards they held.

Demonstrators get their important message across at the ‘Reclaim the Night’ march in Dundee.