A new report commissioned by Our Watch found one in three young people don’t think exerting control over someone else is a form of violence, and one in four don’t think it’s serious when males insult or verbally harass females in the street. 

And one in four young people don’t think it’s serious if a normally gentle man sometimes slaps his girlfriend when he’s drunk and they’re arguing.

Emma House manager Pat McLaren said she was stunned by the results.

“It’s so disappointing,” she said. “I don’t know whether we’ve moved forward at all.”

The report also found one in four young people think it’s “pretty normal” for boys to pressure girls into sex, 16 per cent think women “should know their place” and more than a quarter think it’s important for men to be tough and strong.

Ms McLaren said for a cultural change in attitudes to take place there needed be better education for young people.

“Schools need to be provided with the adequate resources to show what respectful relationships looks like,” she said.

“It’s a hard struggle when everywhere around them they are being told the opposite.”

Ms McLaren said an underlying cause of domestic violence was the inequality of women.

“Inequality and sexism allows men to believe they are superior to women,” she said.

“It allows women to become second-class citizens. Their opinions are given less weight and their opinions disregarded.

“All women need to be treated equally. We’re heading there, but it’s taking a really long time to get there.”