Sarah Everard: Gavin Newlands on why the case that shocked UK isn't shocking

But the really shocking thing about this is that it isn’t shocking.

More than one third of women and girls will experience a form of domestic abuse in their lifetime, and two women are killed every week by their partner or ex. Over half of the perpetrators had a history of violence against women.

Tolerating a society that means women and girls are expected to alter their behaviour to keep safe from the behaviour of men and boys should no longer be the norm.

The norm should be that those perpetuating such behaviour are in no doubt how unacceptable their actions are.

That is exactly the goal of the White Ribbon campaign – to challenge the actions and attitudes of men and boys that lead to us, shamefully, tacitly tolerating a society where over half the population feel the safest way to live their lives is by fundamentally changing their behaviour every day of their lives from the earliest of ages.

The individual stories I’ve seen on social media this week have been as shocking as they are depressingly familiar. As a society, we are effectively imprisoning millions of women from living what should be normal lives – but normality for women is very different from normality for men.

How often this week – and all our lives – have we seen messages from authorities advising women not to leave their house after dark or carry keys in their hand in case they are threatened or not to travel alone.

Those sorts of warnings may be well-intentioned, but they sustain a narrative that gives the impression that women who are victims of male violence and abuse are somehow culpable for the sins of others.

The culpability lies clearly with those who carry out these actions, but more widely with the kind of society and culture where the behaviour that leads to misogynistic abuse is allowed to continue unchecked.

Men and boys have a responsibility to challenge these sorts of action whenever they rear their head, whether that be in the workplace, the changing room, the pub, or anywhere else.

It should not be left to women to shoulder the dual burden of receiving abuse while trying to tackle it. This is a male problem – and men must be the ones to help solve it.

READ MORE: Anger grows over UK's four-year failure on abuse of women

This cannot be yet another week long media storm, only for the issue to recede from the headlines and our minds once again. We need to get behind men like Davy Thompson, leading White Ribbon in Scotland and putting the message out night and day that it’s up to all men to tell our peers their words and deeds won’t be tolerated any longer.

Changing male behaviour and attitudes may not be easy – but it is surely the only way to fundamentally and hopefully permanently tackle a culture which has a devastating impact on women and society.

We may have to start small by making some men realise that change must happen. When we open their eyes to this cold hard fact, the rest is that bit easier.

Gavin Newlands MP is the chair of the White Ribbon all-party parliamentary group