Families are still grieving, and many Australians remain saddened and shocked, after the killing of four women and girls in four days earlier this month. And according to Australian Femicide Watch, 37 women have been killed this year.

Many of us have been asking: what more do we need to do to stop men’s violence against women?

There are many evidence-backed answers to this important question. But calling this violence a “two-way street” and misplacing the responsibility for violence back onto victims, as One Nation leader Pauline Hanson did this week, is not one of them.

Words are powerful. And the words of our leaders can be especially powerful due to both their authority and their reach.

While Hanson did describe domestic violence as “wrong”, her comments made excuses for it, such as people being under pressure financially, and that women “can lose their cool” too.

For victim-survivors of men’s violence, and especially for the families of loved ones who have not survived, these words are not just deeply hurtful. They are dangerous.

Far too many victim-survivors of men’s violence already feel afraid, humiliated, shamed and isolated. Misinformation about domestic and family violence makes this worse. And rather than supporting women and children to access help, such misinformation can actually prevent them from telling others.

Here are some of the facts.

Let’s be clear on this. All violence is wrong, and we should take multiple courses of action to address violence in all its forms.

At the same time, while both men and women are similarly likely to experience any........

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