Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "I went to the college and each time they did nothing about it. They made me feel like I was making a big deal out of it and I was sooking, seeking attention." Host Tony Jones: “When did this happen?” Layik: “Last year.” Jones: “What time of the day? Was it daytime?”

Layik: “3am." Jones: “3am? So people broke into your room while you were sleeping?” Layik: “Yes.” Jones went on to ask: “A lot of people will be asking why these guys - there are so many whys - but why did they throw raw meat at you?” Layik: “They knew I was vegan, they thought that was something they could personally attack. But really, the reason is kind of pointless. It doesn't really mean anything.”

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young explained why she decided to use the word "slut shaming". Credit:ABC Government panellist Simon Birmingham, who mostly drowned in a sea of talking points during a program that delved into the sexism of political parties and related issues, took this one vaguely head-on: "That’s appalling. Those three should be tossed out of the university college rather than you… that’s the wrong outcome and it’s an unfair outcome." But it was Butler who drilled to the core: "Who cares why? That’s a criminal act. It’s a stupid thing to bloody do. It’s not what any human being should be doing." This was a raw and enlightening edition of Q&A, with several moments like this as the panel - featuring Butler, Hanson-Young, Birmingham, Labor’s Amanda Rishworth and people’s panellist Sali Miftari - traversed the minefield of the #MeToo movement and sexism, here and abroad. This may have been Hanson-Young’s finest moment on the national stage, as she tried to explain the impact of the attack on her earlier this year by fellow senator David Leyonhjelm. She called it for what it was: slut-shaming.

Jones: "You chose to write about why you use the term slut-shaming. It is a term I find hard to say, but you have… not that you have embraced it, but you use it for a purpose." Loading Hanson-Young: "I do. Look, when I first named what was going on with me as slut-shaming, I had to say it a few times in my head before it came out because it is confronting… but the reason I used it is because there is no better description of how this is used to disempower women. It is the power of slut-shaming itself… it has this incredible power of silencing the victim because the moment you name it, there is something, even just a little bit, where people go, ‘maybe she is a slut. Maybe that did happen. Maybe this happened’. That is the power of that type of intimidation, rumour and innuendo. It is used as a weapon."

Hanson-Young also opened up about women on the other side of politics who had experienced similar treatment - one high-profile conservative woman in particular. "Peta Credlin, the chief of staff to former prime minister [Tony] Abbott… the things that were said about her, if she had been a bloke… it never would have been said," she said. "I must say at the time I regret not calling it out and defending her more then. I have since said ‘I’m sorry’ to her. It is something that affects a lot of people and naming it is what breaks the silence. Calling it out breaks the power. That is what we all have to do." For Butler, the debate about sexism, masculinity, male hostility and male vulnerability drew some searing honesty. He spoke about his battles with anxiety: "My wife turned on Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - that is how we dance with each other... she turned the music on and I felt my shoulders drop and she grabbed me and we danced. I started bawling my eyes out.”