A third of young Australian women avoid public places after dark for fear of being attacked, a survey has found.
The nationwide study, A Right to the Night, conducted for child rights agency Plan International Australia and domestic and family violence organisation Our Watch, surveyed 600 girls aged between 15 and 19.
The survey found 23 per cent of respondents thought it was not safe to travel alone on public transport and 17 per cent thought a girl's clothing would make them at least partly responsible for any harassment or attacks on them.
It also found 67 per cent of respondents did not think it was OK for men to cat-call, wolf-whistle or make sexual comments to girls on the street.
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Comment: Our victim-blaming culture needs to end
Plan International Australia deputy chief executive Susanne Legena told SBS News she was "alarmed" that a perception of potential attacks was forcing girls to change their behaviour.
"I was alarmed to see that in 2016 in Australia that girls aged 15 to 19, one third were saying they felt unsafe in public spaces after dark and one in four were saying they wouldn't take public transport," she said.
"It is really concerning that girls are curbing their behaviour."
Ms Legena said the same survey had been done in different countries around the world and the results showed women in places like Nicaragua felt safer than Australian women.
"It means they're just not participating in things you would expect teenagers to be participating in that their male friends, their brothers, feel safe doing," she said.
"It creates spaces that are dominated by men and boys and I'm not sure that's what they would want."
Ms Legena said she suspected some boys did not realise that their behaviour could make women and girls feel unsafe and intimidated.
"They might think it's acceptable behaviour, like wolf whistling or calling things out, but if you already have a perception of fear of violence these things might terrify you," she said.
"These things can contribute to your sense of fear if you're a girl."
A culture of victim blaming shaped the way girls thought about their public safety and how they behaved in public, as did the saturation reporting of random attacks on women and girls, Ms Legena said.
She said a recent newspaper headline had quoted a lawyer who had suggested if a sexual assault victim had not sat in the front seat of a taxi, the taxi driver would not have sexually assaulted her.
"We have a really strong victim blaming culture in Australia that shifts the responsibility on to the victim rather than the perpetrator," Ms Legena said.
"We have to shift that perception on to the perpetrator.
"If an attack occurs in a public space there is an overwhelming public response, even thought an attack on a random person is very unlikely."
Our Watch chief executive, Mary Barry, said "women and girls should not have to modify their behaviour to avoid being targets of harassment and abuse".
“It’s not okay to ask “why was she out after dark?” or “what was she wearing?” as this lays blame on the victim and removes accountability from the perpetrators of harassment or violence,” she said.
“Perpetrators must learn that aggressive and disrespectful behaviour and harassment against women is unacceptable."
Respondents to the survey said education and better public transport would help them to feel safer.
"Educate boys and girls on the issues," a 19-year-old woman said.
"Teaching boys not to be offenders rather than telling girls not to go out at night [or] wear certain clothing."
A 15-year-old girl called for everyday sexism to be challenged while an 18-year-old woman said there needed to be safer public transport.
"Provide safer transport for women who are traveling late at night and improve education for young women on how to avoid situations that are risky or dangerous," she said.
"However, I don’t think women should need these improvements because I believe males should be brought up to believe that females are equal and it is not okay to be violent towards them."
Both Ms Legena and Ms Barry said more education and awareness was needed of respectful relationships between boys and girls to help women and girls feel safer in public.
Ms Legena also suggested women and girls should be consulted and involved in public planning to help create environments that would help everyone feel safe.
"For me it is a return to girls in the domestic sphere and 'a girl's place is at home', not 'a girl's place is everywhere,'" she said.
